Tuesday's Inspiration - First Drafts - James Michener #MFRWauthor

This quote really struck me and I agree with it 100%. "I have never written anything that could stand in the first draft." James Michener.

I have read and enjoyed many of his books but my first drafts are those only I can love. Sometimes they ramble. Sometimes they are more outline than anything else. There are scenes that are filled in with a few words like. Fight scene. Love scene. Must look up what kind of food they would be eating at a particular restaurant. Things like that. Maybe there are some people who can sit down and write their entire book and never have to re-write or revise.

For me getting down the substance of the story is important. The details come later. Sometimes the scenes that were jotted down don't work and they are discarded.

There is nothing wrong with re-writing. Taking a scene and restructuring it to make the story stronger. Scribbling all over the rough draft works and the re-write always is an improvement.  For me this  is fun. What about you.

Revision for me is looking at the structure of the sentences, checking the words to make sure they're the ones I want to use. Catching those little mistakes before the editor or a reader finds them. Revision is also fun. During this phase, I look at the little notes like the time line. Found some notes for the last chapter of a book where timing was everything.

"Five days to forest. 2 days through forest.14 plus days to the old man's place." Making sure I had all these times correct allowed the characters to reach their destination on time and added a bit of tension to the story. In the rough draft all these times were vague and didn't work. So like Mr. Michener the storny didn't stand on the rough draft.