Behind the Scenes of a First Draft

A Look Inside the Mind of a Writer

Or, at least, this writer 🙂 I can’t vouch for any others.

Just for fun, I thought I’d share some of what goes on in my head during the writing of a first draft*. As you’ll very quickly see, I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with first drafts.

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0 Words Written
Fresh page! New book! I can do anything I want! Oh wait. I can do anything. What should I do? Eek! This is slightly terrifying. And exciting. At the same time. So many options. Where do I start?

0 – 5000 words
This is awesome! So many scenes and ideas to write. They just keep coming. I love this book already!

5000 – 10000 words
Um. I’ve got nothing. How on earth did I think this story and the ideas I had were enough to fill a book?!?

10000 – 30000 words
It’s okay. I can do this. Keep writing. Keep moving forward. Keep asking, ‘what happens next?’ and write it. Who cares if I have to delete it later? That’s what the editing stage is for. This is a first draft. It’s supposed to be messy. No, you don’t have to look up that exact word. Or figure out whether butterflies like the cold. JUST WRITE SOMETHING, HANNAH!

30000 words
Yes!!! It’s all coming together. They’re going to love it!

30000 – 40000 words
No one is going to read this trash. Delete. Delete. Delete. I should dump the whole thing and start over. Maybe with a completely different heroine. Or hero. Or story entirely. These plots don’t even make sense, there is no tension whatsoever and … why is that character even there? No one is going to like them. I don’t even like them! This book is a complete disaster.

40000 words
Halfway there! Woohoo!!
Oh wait. Halfway?!? Is that all? I have to write that amount of words all over again just to reach the (absolute) minimum length? I’m so dead.

40000 – 50000 words
What was I thinking? I have no idea how to pull all these scenes together! I just want to read the stupid book, not write it. Why did I think I could do this?
Smile and nod, Hannah. Smile and nod. The book’s going great, for anyone asking…

50000 – 60000 words
This is awesome!! I finally found the heart of the story and the characters have come ALIVE! This is why I write. I can’t WAIT to share this book with everyone!! Eeeee!! Writing is the best!

60000 – 80000 words
Uh oh. That’s all I’ve got. Um…. Guess it’s time to go back to the beginning and read it through and fill in more details? Like, um, what the characters look like. I’ve probably forgotten that again. And the readers probably want to know what’s going on in certain scenes beyond the dialogue. Yep, that’s probably a good idea. Editors and readers like that kind of thing.

80000 – 90000 words
So close! So, so close. But. Still. Not. Done. Arghhhh!!!

90000 – 100000 words
DONE!!! FINISHED!!! Happy, giddy me. I should definitely celebrate with ice-cream. I LOVE this book!!! (Oh wait, I forgot ___, and ___, and ___. Really need to fix those before I let anyone read it. Oh, and ___. And ___. Cringe. But still…)
THE FIRST DRAFT IS FINISHED!!!

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And there you have it, the real story of my messy brain 😀

Can anyone else here relate? :p

*Yes. I am supposed to be working on a first draft right now. Yes, I am procrastinating. But it’s productive procrastination, right? I mean, you all want to know what goes on inside the mind of an author, right? And, um, writing blog posts and connecting with readers is very important as an author. And, um, yes, I know, I should really get back to writing… I’m going. Really.