From the first draft

Many writer like to start blogging from the first word of their manuscript or journal the journey towards the end. To be straight up with you, the perhaps new writer, if you don't have a rough first draft to start with you will only be wasting blog space. Every writer struggles with plot, character and the silly expression of 'My character has a mind of his/her own', it isn't new or newsworthy.

But...

If you have the first draft, all the wobbly writing the sketchy story line you do have something to crow about and start documenting the journey. This is where you take what is essentially a load of piss poor crap and mold it into something even your worst enemy will want to read.

I have started the rewrite of my novel (title deliberately not disclosed), or perhaps the writing of my novel into something that will proximate its final form. Some hard decisions had to be made. The first draft was a contemporary setting in my home city dealing with a troubled character and the harsh realities of living in a city. It all felt right but was it something I wanted to write - well at the time it felt like an important story, and I still believe that, but the contemporary setting just made it far too harsh and the reality very difficult to form into a story someone might actually enjoy reading.

Yes, there are time when it is the message that governs the eventual outcome, but I don't write to deliver in your face messages, I like to hide them, bury them under other interesting things and hope for people to discover them later.

The novel has indeed shifted so I could hide the strong social commentary while delivering a more interesting and entertaining story. I kept the original file and created a new one just for the story redirect. Now what I have is a gritty Victorian Steampunk techno thriller beneath the ocean in what could only be described as an alternate universe. That is a big jump to make, a whole different kind of mindset to start with.

So, can the first draft of one story end up the final draft of another, or the final draft be the same story only in a very different place and time? Perhaps. I am now writing the new second chapter which sits between the original 1st and 2nd. How do I feel after making it through a complete restructure of chapter 1 - better. much better. The story I want to tell is still there, but the entertainment I want to deliver is being injected into the work.

Until I had that completed first draft I essentially had nothing - now I have a book, a real book that has heart and soul.