Thread: Making major errors when writing the first rough draft…

As just one example, let’s say you’re writing a first rough draft of a scene that has three characters as the scene opens. Maybe two sailors are helping a woman carry her belongings aboard a sailing ship and into the passenger accommodation area. Two hundred words further on, you realise one of the sailors is not accounted for in the way the story has developed on the page. You’d simply forgotten he existed.

This type of thing might happen 250 times in the drafting of a 100,000-word story. What do you do? Stop writing more new stuff and go back and fix it immediately, or simply mark the text, keep writing, and say to yourself, “I’ll fix that during the next draft?”

Your reasons would be helpful.

I think I'd make a note of it and go on if I'm on a roll with what I'm currently writing. If I'm not I'd ponder why and see if that forgotten character is the missing element that would liven things up.

Write on. In my last novel I created a scene where the sons of my main character were driving along a highway in a vehicle owned by one of their high school friends. I needed a reason for the police to pull them over, so I made the younger sibling incur a diabetic attack. No mention was made in earlier parts of the novel about this condition. It was, as they say, a spur-of-the-moment decision. I later decided it was inconvenient for the simple reason that the brothers were very active and it was something of a nuisance for the younger one to constantly keep check of his blood-sugar levels and administer insulin at the proper time. In other words, it did not work with their lifestyle.

I continued writing, making no mention again of the condition. When I finished the novel I went back to the scene and edited it. An earlier incident in the high school provided me with the reason for the car being stopped. A student with a vendetta against the older brother tossed a half-brick, left behind by construction workers doing renovations, at the car. A broken tail-light is an offence for which an officer may stop a vehicle. Problem solved.

This was a 200,000-word novel and I wrote on. Hope this helps, OX.

If you are using Word it has a feature that allows you to insert notes. I am someone who writes the whole story before I go back and make any changes, because if I go back at all I will end up editing the whole document and never get any further So if I realize I have made a mistake, I go back to the approximate page and insert a note and tell myself to check it out and fix it. Then once I am done with the first draft I go back and check my notes and fix anything that is broken. Then I send it off to my real editor and then to betas. But thats just me. Everyone has their own process, you have to decide what works best for you.

I'd fix it in the next draft. Minor plot holes should be able to be glossed over/corrected without too much trouble. Major holes may require significant reworking. I second the idea of keeping notes on any inconsistencies you notice so you don't forget them.

Originally Posted by bysharonnelson

Then I send it off to my real editor and then to betas.

And where do you find your betas? The few I've heard about sound like more trouble than they're worth.

I have several sources. My first choices are people from my writing group. It is a small group, a couple people from a creative writing class I took a while back, a friend from work who is a writer also, and someone from my book club. They don't all always have time to beta so when they aren't available I have a couple people as backups that I have met through forums. On another forum I frequent its also common for people to do beta swaps. So you can post that you are wanting to do a swap and add something about your book and normally you know who is who and if their advice is worth having if you've been around a while. Sometimes I dont get anything constructive but sometimes they do spot major plot holes or even small ones. I try and do 3 to 4 betas on each book before I release it.

Part of the writing/editing process (and a danged important part) is keeping up with your own story. There are times when you just don't feel like writing. That's a perfect opportunity to go back and read your work. And take stock of what you have--and haven't--accounted for. That's when I fix it.

The thing is OX (and you already know this), we all have different techniques for getting our thoughts down. And while one technique may help a percentage of the writer population, it may be less than worthless to the remainder. I believe that's the real value of this forum (and others like it): We get to share our thoughts and ideas, hoping that they'll be helpful to others while realizing we may just be pissing in the wind.

Hope this helps!

Originally Posted by KarlR

I believe that's the real value of this forum (and others like it): We get to share our thoughts and ideas, hoping that they'll be helpful to others while realizing we may just be pissing in the wind.

This put a whole new spin on moderating the place. I don't know if I should be passing out buckets, raincoats, or If I should just electrify the lawn.

I tend to have to fix it right then and there if it's small, like a dog that vanished.
If it's bigger, I have to really think about what I am going to do to fix it. Could take me a while. There are so many freaking possibilities...
I color text to draw my attention to problems for later attention.
If it's complicated, I add a note to one of my myriad documents on the story.

Aha! Someone who understands the correct usage of the word "myriad".

I bask in the sunshine of your approval.

I am just finishing up the fourth (final) draft of my manuscript. At this point I'm down to the real nit picky stuff, although I know an editor will find more as I have the grammar handicap of being out of school for almost 30 years.

I didn't stop on the first draft, I gave each chapter a once over and moved onto the next. When I finished I took some time off, and then went at it again.

When I finished that I set it down again and boom, started the third draft.

Now I am down to the last 100 pages, looking for things like overuse of certain words, double words and wordiness.

So Ox to be honest I think the best thing to do is just run with the story and not get bogged down. Look at the mechanics later.

That's the formula that works for me, but I'm sure you'll find one that works for you.

I don't know about anyone else, but I found this to be incredibly enlightening. The way I've always handled those sorts of problems has just been to skip over it and assume I'll fix it when I come back and edit the whole story later. I've never even marked those tricky spots. I don't know why, really. I don't know how to do the note feature, but I'm sure it's not too difficult to learn. I'll definitely start at least marking those trouble spots by changing the color of the text. I don't know why I've never thought of any of this before, but I'm really glad you all decided to answer this question!

Originally Posted by novicenovelist

I don't know about anyone else, but I found this to be incredibly enlightening. The way I've always handled those sorts of problems has just been to skip over it and assume I'll fix it when I come back and edit the whole story later. I've never even marked those tricky spots. I don't know why, really. I don't know how to do the note feature, but I'm sure it's not too difficult to learn. I'll definitely start at least marking those trouble spots by changing the color of the text. I don't know why I've never thought of any of this before, but I'm really glad you all decided to answer this question!

If you're using Word, click on Insert, then Comment, and you'll figure it out from there. (Just follow the bouncing ball, as my old Granny used to say. Kidding, look for the cursor)