Sunday, March 4, 2012

More complaining about second drafts

I feel like I've written four or five books, instead of three, though only one of them is published. Consider first drafts, for instance. I'm sure there are a lot of people who write first drafts and then don't turn around and totally rewrite the second. For me, the first draft is one to just get down on paper as quick as possible so as to get 'er done, as Larry the Cable Guy would say. The second draft is where I start the weeding process. I prune it and prune it until there's hardly anything left except a few of the strongest scenes, then I watch them flower. This is where I start getting really excited, but this, of course, is not the end of the rewrite, even when I'm done with the second draft. What do you think, another draft? Well, yes. This one will undergo more tightening and weeding, but it's also the start of some serious proofing. I don't want to get ahead of myself, but a stitch in time, saves nine. Let me tell you something about proofing. It's never done. Even the proofers of the best writers of the best novels don't get all the mistakes. It seems to me that errors seem to stand out more in ebooks, doesn't it? A lot of that, I think, is due to ebook glitches, but I still more proofing errors in my Kindle that when I'm just reading a paperback.

So, until next time, take care and God bless.

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4 comments:

  1. I agree about ebooks making the errors stand out more. I don't know how many times or how many people proofread my stuff, when I thought it was clean... I was wrong!

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    1. I actually use Kindle as a proofing tool for that reason, plus Kindle has the note and highlight options which is very cool for elaboration.

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  2. I am currently working on my second draft. I have decided that I think I want to have it in first person rather than third person, so I am making that change for a few chapters and then reading it again to see if I still prefer it or not. I thought about this initially, but then went with third person, but this main character really seems to want to speak directly. Geez, why didn't I listen to her the first time around? But anyway, I know what you mean...by the time this is finally "done" I think there will be four re-writes, at least.

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    1. It's hard to switch from first to third and back. It takes awhile to remember not to use "I" and "me" instead of "he" and "his." Good luck.

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