i know. i'm a little goofy. i'm ok with that. i'm on the fourth version of the second draft. maybe you're wondering why i don't just say i'm on the fourth draft. that would certainly be easier than calling it "Draft 2.4". i suppose it would be, but then that messes up my brain.
in my mind, the 3rd draft is where you find and fix those pesky "telling instead of showing" sections, get rid of info dumps, add better description, tighten your dialogue, etc.
the fourth draft is where you check for punctuation and grammar errors, clean up your margins, etc. the fifth draft... oh nevermind. i don't want to think about a fifth draft!
all that to say, this is not the fourth draft. i was going in one direction, got stuck, realized the story needed a slightly different direction and decided what direction that was. it might *look* like i'm going backwards and editing, but i'm not. i stopped, brainstormed, went back to plug in the new stuff, pasted in old stuff, and i'm moving forward with a better story. (i'm certainly not going to continue on with an old storyline when there's a better one.)
i'm discovering that i have to write and write and write to figure out what i don't want to write, then go back and write what i intended to write. i wish that weren't so. i feel like i'm wasting time. i wish i could write a great story on the first go around - or even the second or third go around. alas, i can't.
i'm still not totally ok with that, but i'm learning.
1 comment:
Tee hee hee (I'm not an LOL'er), Michelle. I thought I was the only one who used decimal points in numbering my drafts.
Whatever number of drafts it takes to get me there, I know I'm happy when it's finished.
God bless you in your writing.
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