Oddbean new post about login | logout How it starts: An interchange of dialogue, a nudge of interiority, a dash of action. Brushstrokes of setting to fill in the gaps, a quick check for flow and logic -- and it's time to move on. For now. But this is just me. How does Draft 1 go for you? #WritingCommunity #writing
@7ccb675f By the time I finish Draft 1, it really should be called Draft 10 :) A push forward into a new scene, a retreat to add vital titbits to previous scenes, another push forward—and then an unstoppable rush as the end hoves into view.
@7ccb675f I wish. I try to chisel the character’s key festures in stone, only to see them collapse like ozymandius into a signpost. The key beats are assembled into a scaffolding missing numerous planks and supports. As I struggle to fill in details, I find myself regretting everything, including the initial log line. But. There’s a story there, waiting for me to assemble it.
@7ccb675f Draft 1 for me was a rough scene that I kept playing over in my mind months before I wrote word 1 to paper, and in its current form the closest thing to that scene is the very end of book 3. To me the characters have to come first. Once I know who they are and how they play off each other, I can set plot goals and know what will carry them there naturally.