Writing a First Draft (Part 3)

Hi folks, welcome to part three of my series on how to write a first draft. Next week, I will be supporting:

So I'm going to do one post about revision, and then I will return my writing a first draft series. Check out Holly Cupala's blog and Jolie Stekly's blog. I met both of these author's in one of Peggy King Anderson's Advanced Writing for Children's classes. I'm a better author and a better person for knowing them, and mark my words, these two gals are two of the finest writers I've ever known, and they are both about to be household names. :)

So on with the first draft discussion, when creating a first draft, I have a whole notebook of supporting documents on my journey to write the worst book ever (every first draft ever written.) I clip photos of people that kind of look like my characters and stick them on pages. I do a character sheet on all my main characters. Author Chris Eboch offers this sheet, and I've found it invaluable. I write a page about the history of each of my characters. I hand write a page or two sometimes up to ten in first person from all my main characters, usually complaining about stuff but sometimes they are all positive.

Another important habit, I add a calendar to this stack of info. As I go, I mark major events on this calendar. Another absolute must is my map section. I draw maps of any complicated space so I don't have pages of someone turning left and right off the cliff. I have a list of quotes and major works that are inspiring me as I write. I create a discussion of all the major themes that I'm am intending to explore.

Well, that seems overwhelming enough for a day. I will continue this conversation in two weeks. Much more to come. My notebook is generally much longer than my manuscript.

Writing is real work. This is the one thing I have learned.


No doodles, yes, I know, it's terrible. Messed up. Universe, please, please, send my computer back to me.

My irreverent playlist hit for the day is She & Him singing "Why do you let me stay here." :)





My quote for the day:

Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls. Joseph Campbell