Meredith Mansfield, Author

On the surface, it’s obvious.  Writing a first draft is different from revising a second or third (or fourth) draft. 

Switching from revision mode, which I’ve been in for several months now, back to first draft writing mode isn’t so easy though.  I’ve got a reasonably good start on MAGE STORM.  I know where the story needs to be going.  I even think I’m managing to keep a pretty decent pace for a young adult novel.  The problem I’m having is switching off that internal editor again.  I’ve been giving it free rein during revisions of THE SHAMAN’S CURSE, THE IGNORED PROPHECY, and DREAMER’S ROSE.  Now I’ve got to turn it back off in order to write MAGE STORM and it’s fighting me.  I keep wanting to stop and search for the perfect word or go back and fix a sentence or two.  It’ll never get done, that way. 

A first draft is all about getting the story down.  It doesn’t have to be perfect.  Yes, of course, you try to write it as well as you possibly can.  Saves work later.  But the point is to get it written all the way through to THE END.  To do that, you have to avoid the temptation to keep going back over what’s already written to tidy it up.  That’s one of the things the second draft is for.

This is further complicated by some unexpected revisions to BLOOD WILL TELL (more about that in another post, perhaps).  Right now, I’m switching back and forth between revisions and writing new material.  I may have to pick one to work through and then come back to the other.