I'm Backkkkk
With Draft In Hand
(This will make much more sense if you start HERE)
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Well, here we are. One hundred and fifty four days since I first put pen to paper on this, draft number one is complete! (Or one hundred and eighteen days if you count from when I wrote anything past the first chapter…also not counting weekends–I made sure to never set concrete goals for the weekends; have to keep some semblance of sanity, right?) What started as a challenge entry has grown into something much, much more.
However you want to slice it, it was the most productive few months of my writing career: A second place, a runner up, and a nice crispy 170 page draft.
Don’t you dare play that Get Off The Stage music–this is my g’damn moment…Let me bask in this before I get to the hard parts…
But all of that leaves a very, very important question hanging in the air...
Well first and foremost, this needs to go on the shelf for a bit. At the end of the month, I’m off on a nice, much needed, vacation (Dear France, please let us in).
Then I’m going to put this crispy draft on the shelf for a few weeks to live, laugh, knock off some challenge entries, and generally berate Paul.
You know, classic mental health stuff.
After that, well…things get weird.
Then comes red pen time. My target word count for this is between 90-100k words. This draft came in at 70k.
“How can it be a first draft if it’s incomplete?” ask John and Jane Vocal.
Well, the story itself is complete. The arcs are complete, but this bad boy is riddled with holes, with good reason.
Normally, I draft in a linear fashion, which I’m sure is a common strategy.
This time, I went full pants on fire with it.
Scene in my head unrelated to where I was in the plot? Oh, you best believe we’re skipping ahead and dropping that bad boy in like a rock in a lake.
Scene needs a new character? He’s/she’s getting written in as if he/she was already fully fleshed out previously. Then they're getting rewritten in their intro. Then their allegiances are going to change.
Need a deeper emotional impact? Guess we have to find somewhere to kill off the bodyguard because this scenes starting at a funeral.
Caught on a scene? Leroy Jenkins! We’re skipping to the next one and leaving our hero’s mouth ajar, waiting until a later date for dialogue.
All that to say, yeah the plot is complete, but it needs some major cleanup. I found this method of jumping around wonderfully helpful for writing velocity. It’s easy to knock out 1000+ words a day when you start with a five minute writing sprint, then add a sentence here, a paragraph there, boom a brainwave of a scene, and next thing you know, we’re off to the races!
What this means though is there are scenes abruptly missing details. There’s repetition. There’s Gordian Knots all over the place that will need to get choppy chopped. Some of the characters need better developed voicing and others likely need to go entirely.
And all of that is OK! It's a first draft. It's primary purpose is existing.
Where I ended up felt like a good spot to stop, redline, evaluate, and identify where that extra meat really needs to get added. There's nothing wrong with pausing and reflecting.
So after a month or so, I’m setting a goal of five pages of redline a day. Once those are done, it’s back to the laptop to hammer through draft two. So on and so forth.
What else will I be creating then while I redline?
Time to engage Sicko Mode.
I really liked my process for this project. It was my solution for my worst writing demons. So I’m going to apply it to a second WIP. This next one I actually had about 40k words in already, and have an idea of what comes next, but I was bogged down in the current morass of the middle.
We’re going to blow right past those parts and get this baby to the finish line too. I’m going to take a longer, more mental friendly view with this draft and set a 3 month timeline to completion, but with a target of 80k words; a very generous target of 440 words a day. This world is more developed, meaning I can already put some more meat on the bone without getting too lost in the sauce.
Also, and maybe more importantly, I have a feeling A War of Skulls and Horses (still haven’t finalized a new title, oops) may end up growing into something well past 100k words. It may even end up getting split in half. There's a couple of plot points that I think need some aggressive expansion.
WIP #2, codename Armageddon, is much more concise in its total scope, and I doubt it’ll grow past the 90k word mark. (Famous last words).
Given the arc, the world, the plot, I think it plays better as a potential debut.
Maybe I’ll drop an excerpt as a little taster…who’s to say?
This means that my goal is to now not have one, but two books completed by the end of the year.
If that wasn't enough, plus posting here, and generally trying to have an enjoyable life, I’m also toying with the idea of compiling a short story collection.
But that’s just another teaser.
…and now play the Get Off The Stage music…
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A/N:
If you've enjoyed this, please leave a like and an insight below. If you really enjoyed this, tips to fuel my coffee addiction are always appreciated. All formatting is designed for desktops. Want to read more? Below are the best of the very best of my works:
About the Creator
Matthew J. Fromm
Full-time nerd, history enthusiast, and proprietor of arcane knowledge.
Here there be dragons, knights, castles, and quests (plus the occasional dose of absurdity).
I can be reached at [email protected]
Keep reading
More stories from Matthew J. Fromm and writers in Writers and other communities.
Past Lives
War made for odd couples. To Private Jim Mclellan, Sepp seemed a good man; better at least than some of the monsters he heard stories of deeper into the Reich. Real monsters. This Sepp almost reminded Jim of his uncle; the one from Wisconsin he met a few times at Weddings.
By Matthew J. FrommExclusive • 10 months ago
CRIMSON
My hands are stained and trembling with a clear, crimson red. A rich and ugly sight to behold, I wonder who is dead. Who’s blood do I have smeared all over me? I don’t think to wash it off, it’s almost exposure therapy, to see how long I could last, evidence, for all to see, show them I am a bad person, so I can be free.
By Liberty Page5 days ago in Writers
Comments (15)
welldone
Great job, working on two books etc. I was fascinated & entertained to read your process. Two of my adult children have written fantasy books etc but need to edit etc. before attempting to publish somehow. I’m so impressed with all you’ve achieved… all the best with your next stages.
Yay Matthew!! Congrats on honourable mention for most discussed story this week!! 🎉
Yayyy, Congrats on making the Leaderboard! 🎉🥳 Good luck on your goals!
Wooohooooo congratulations on your Leaderboard placement! 🎉💖🎊🎉💖🎊
"How about another $3 to pay for your cover there, sport?" -- Johann Vocal
Wonderful 👌♦️♦️♦️
How wonderful!! Much better to have a lower word count draft that can be enhanced! Wish I had that and not a 150k one no one will touch... Congrats and major props to accomplishing what you set out to do! And you already have another WIP coming together! Just wow! Very excited to see the finished products someday!
Matthew, I love this update/ break down of your process! I also really appreciate that you come at this with such a healthy mindset!! Because you acknowledge that a first draft is supposed to be incomplete and its only purpose is to exist!! Sooooo good!!
How come everyone has a book but me? Don't answer that. Its painfully obvious. I haven't done shit about it. 😂😂😂 But you on the other hand, are knee-deep in the whole process and have set exciting goals. Super stoked for you!!! Thanks for the update, man! May you eat your weight in croissants and eclairs. Bon Voyage, Mon Ami
Fantastic work, Matthew. Though I must admit the jumping around style to me would sort of kill me and my writing style. Even if I'm stagnating I feel that I have to finish a scene before moving onto the next one. Sure, as I complete one scene at least 1-3 more pop up in my mind, but I feel if I don't go from scene to scene I'd screw up the continuity so bad that it's irreparable. Watching other writers have a good story and then come across a plot hole makes me scared that I'll have so many plot holes that my story would be like a road breaking people's wheels. When it comes to plot holes I always think back to "The Kite Runner" and when Amir writes a story and his friend asks him, "If he needs to cry in order for the cup to give him wealth in exchange for his tears, then why doesn't he just cut an onion?" Cause in the story the man did and watched sad things and then he murdeled-urdeled his wife in order to cry. Cause he was become emotionally numb but still needed/craved more wealth that the chalice could give him. So, having a simple fix in my story would be something that would be a nightmare for me. "Hey, Thavien, You do know that Your characters could've done this, right? They didn't need to resort to plan B or even C. Heck, this action isn't even a plan." The fact that you got to 170 pages and are at 70k words. Dude that's flipping amazing. I'm just trying to get to 50k for one of mine so I can get used to the publishing process. I think one of the worst feelings is that while writing your story you have this other story that's popped up into your head and it's aching just to get out, just to have life breathed into it, but it needs to wait its turn. Or when you're crafting a masterpiece, but You need to go through the school of hard knocks first to pave the road for your masterpiece, so that it comes out as unscathed as possible. Details... sometimes they help and sometimes they hamper. I got one story completely written and that's because I gave myself constraints: word count, specific amounts of chapters, the plot itself, small outline for the chapters, etc. This time I'm going off the rails because my advice to me was "just write freely." I'm stuck on one chapter and I don't know when it's going to stop. I know how, but not when. It's like if the paragraphs were run-on sentences. Worst case scenario, I may just have an ADHD brain. Ugh, I'm already dreading the editing and I'm not even halfway done. Since the work You've completed was initially something small on Vocal, do You think that the plot itself has expanded to fit its multiple arcs or that the storyline has expanded to have a series of plots? Also, do You think that the story has lost its initial flavor or that it stayed true to its source material? Hmmm... "A War of Skulls and Horses" sounds like a good title. If You're looking for inspiration always try some synonyms. Your title reminds me if the two parts of the brain that a person has. The rational and the instinctive. The master and the horse. "Attrition Trampled by the Masters' Hooves." Maybe something like that. I dunno, I'm just spittballin'.
The Devil works hard, but Matt Fromm works harder 👏👏
I'm so excited for you!! Looks like you're well ahead of schedule <3 This is so awesome <3
Bastid. You did it man, you did it! Well done, sir! I am completely disregarding what you said about moi, because no publicity is bad publicity. Anyway, most importantly is the fact that I love your idea of pushing forward with an idea and just working on it in a non-linear fashion to get the dots down, even if the joins need to be sorted later. Must feel satisfying to have a chunk done. Very proud and congrats! Loved hearing about the process and your future plans too! Inspirational is what this piece is!
Please do give us a taster a little tease if you will. Congratulations, I am still knee deep in my uncreated novel. First draft near complete, then as you say , take a break. Good luck and looking forward to reading the final product.