Do you tend to write short or long first drafts of short stories, novels or articles?
Short First-Drafters are those who like to get down the bare bones or key scenes before going back to fill in the holes.
Long First-Drafters are those who spill everything they can think of onto the page, and end up with more material than they need.
Is one way better than the other, or do both methods have their unique pros and cons?
Short First Drafts
Pros: Writing a short first draft means you might do it faster, you’ll get your most important ideas down first, and there’s less chance you’ll lose motivation early in the writing process.
Cons: You can write a first draft that’s too short and subsequently lose motivation during the revision stages when you realize you still have a long way to go. Also, (in fiction) if you skip the flesh and go for the bare bones initially, you’ll likely have to revise your key scenes once you fill in the details and discover more about your plot and characters.
Long First Drafts
Pros: Cutting words can sometimes be easier than adding words, especially once you learn to recognize unnecessary offenders that dampen your prose. By the time you finish a long first draft, all of your story or ideas will be fully-fleshed out, so you’ll be able to see any problems or logic holes during your first revision.
Cons: You might spend longer writing the first draft and perhaps lose motivation along the way. Once you’ve written more than the full word count you’ll need, you might find it difficult to let go of all that hard work.
Personally, I’m a short first-drafter. I’ve written about 55,000 words of my work-in-progress, and I anticipate writing about 10,000 more before I’m finished sketching in all the key scenes. I intend to go back and add another 15,000 words or so to take the total to 80,000.
Of course, I’ll probably write more than that number and end up cutting and adding–and cutting and adding some more–before I’m truly finished.
So, does it really matter whether you write a short first draft or a long one?
Nope.
In the end, they’ll both take you where you want to go, provided you don’t give up along the way.
Just to make things even more subjective, you can even be a fast long first-drafter, or a slow short first-drafter. I’m suppose I’m the latter, since I will have taken more than 7 months to complete my first draft.
I believe people have a natural tendency toward one method or the other, and I’m no sure it’s a good idea to force oneself into the opposite camp. For example, I couldn’t write a long first draft if my life depended on it, because I would lose motivation very early on.
- Are you a long first-drafter or a short first-drafter?
- Do you think one method is inherently better than the other?
- Are there other pros and cons you can think of for either method?
Definitely long first drafter. In all honesty I’ve tried both and find the longer version keeps the storyline solid and fresh for me. (Hugs)Indigo
I wish I was a long drafter as well, Indigo! I find it much easier to cut than add, but I just can’t maintain motivation without seeing the major scenes in print.
I’m a short drafter…I call it “lean writing”. 🙂 I don’t do it on purpose, I’m just naturally a very concise writer.
But I’m working on reaching a middle ground. What’s generally missing from my first drafts are back story and description. So I’m writing a little slower now, making sure that before I leave a scene, any back story I need is woven in, and the description is more than just “they sat in the living room”. My readers have been commenting more on my writing (I serialize drafts for free), so I’m on the right track, for sure. And I’m getting faster too, which makes me happy. 😉
Lean writing–I like it 🙂 The middle ground of which you speak is probably similar to my style. I do write description and backstory, but only the major aspects. All the less important details come later. Like you, I’d love to learn to be faster.
My take on this… long first drafts, if they’re OVERLY long, is a sign of a writer who doesn’t really know her/his story well enough. That’s not bad or unusual, a draft written this way is a valid “search tool” for the story. Just don’t make the mistake of believing it’s ready. Today’s publishers — ESPECIALLY FOR FIRST-TIME NOVELISTS — prefer short. Like, 60 t0 80K short. If you’re manuscript is over 100K, you can be certain it’s too long.
On the other hand, short drafts 50K and under, may be a sign that there isn’t enough meat on the bones, even if the requisite milestones are in place. The missions for the four parts of a story are just as important as the milestones that separate them, and in a short draft you may be giving them short shrift (love that word… shrift… I have no idea where it came from, nor does my spell-checker).
Good thoughts, Larry. I guess it can be tempting to throw down anything you can think of in the hopes you’ll be able to chisel out a story later on. In terms of my own draft, I suppose you could say I’m not really finished a ‘first draft’ until I’ve got back and filled in the gaps, but I like the motivation of feeling like I’ve accomplished something earlier 🙂
In any case, I agree with your word count range. Everything I’ve read about publishing indicates the same things.
Thanks!
I’m a long drafter. I just finished writing chapter two and its over 9,000 words. When in doubt, I tend to write everything, then go back and cut most of it.
I find it interesting when writers actually write in chapters, even during their first draft. My chapter breaks come later after I’ve written the whole draft and all the transitions. Perhaps it’s too linear a process for my scattered mind!
I’m a short drafter. I tend to write bare-bones (read: not enough description!) and then end up getting overwhelmed during the editing/rewriting process because I don’t know what else to add. I’m thinking about NaNoWriMo (for real) this year… It will be good for me to finally get back to work on the novel I shelved a few months back.
Sounds like you have a similar process to me, Jennifer. I agree, it’s more difficult for me to add than subtract, but I still can’t do a long draft. If you do NaNo, you’ll have to keep us updated on how it goes!
Guess I’m a long first drafter. I’m actually one of those write/revise/write/revise types. What I call a first draft is more like draft 25. I have to get it all out, then cut. The first cuts are hard, but they get easier as you go along and see improvement.
I think, in the end, we all have to write more than will get submitted. That’s what’s editing is all about. But, perhaps it comes down to how MUCH more you write than is needed?
I’ve done both! I usually write a detailed synopsis before I get going, and on the novel I’m working on right now I have done a long stream-of consciousness draft and am now writing a stripped-down version to hone the storyline. Then I’ll plunge back in with some of the original material to put flesh on the bones.
Nice post – I’m tweeting!
Thanks, Roz! Interesting that you can do both. That’s a unique advantage over the rest of us!
I suppose I’ve never thought about it! I guess I’d say I’m a long first drafter. I think it’s easier for me to cut.
It’s easier for me to cut, too, Julie, but my first few drafts are about adding. The cutting is the fun part, for me, but it comes at the very end. I don’t usually have to cut much, which is nice.
I don’t write fiction, but I guess I’m a long, slash and add type of writer. I always trim everything I write and reposition or delete. Sometimes the ideas come too quickly and they’re not in order. Cool post; something to think about. Cheers, Simon.
I’m exactly the same in that my ideas “come too quickly and they’re not in order.” That’s precisely why I’m a short drafter–because I get down the important stuff first, then go back to add more details. Thanks, Simon 🙂
So far, I write long first drafts and then cut like crazy – at least, that was how my first draft of my first novel went. We’ll see how the current one goes; I think it’ll wrap up about right (80-85k) since I’m at 76k now, but I don’t know. Then we’ll see what happens in revisions!
80-85,000 words doesn’t seem too long at all, actually. I’d say you’re probably right on target. Now, if you wanted your final draft to be 80,000 words and you initially wrote 100,000, you might be in for some hard work! Good luck 🙂
Formerly I used to be long first drafter. At the end, I find that I wasted a lot of time as I find that I tend to have many irrelevant points when I rush. So I changed to be a short first drafter. If I can’t get more ideas or points, I’ll just walk-off and relax myself as I find that with a more relaxed mind and without rushing,I write better. I’ve been keeping to short first draft ever since.
Yes, I think that’s a trap long-drafters can fall into. Writing too much can take you off on time consuming tangents.