So I've come across the concept of sh!tty first drafts, and it's what I am currently aiming for! I set myself a target of 300 words a day and I've been clocking up the words for the last 2 weeks, which is quite satisfying - I have a little graph and everything.
But the writing is dreadful. I know that's the point, just to write without self-editing and to get something on paper that can be edited, but I guess there are different ways things can be bad! I feel like mine is basically a detailed outline, all telling and no showing, and I think I tend to underwrite so I don't think it will be a case of cutting lots of darlings, more of rewriting each scene from a more suitable pov/starting point and layering in detail and description. I do think it is helping me think about plot, and how to get between major plot points, and understand why characters might do certain things, which I couldn't do in my head before starting.
I suppose it would just be useful to know what other's first drafts are like. Has anyone who has finished a submission ready/accepted manuscript started off like this and actually been able to wrestle it into something acceptable?! And/or have you been able to improve your 'first drafting' with practice such that towards the end of a manuscript or with subsequent novels less rewriting is needed?
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Sh!tty first drafts - just how sh!tty can they be?
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Trickytroggle2 · 13/10/2020 12:05
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