{"id":3767,"date":"2012-12-12T22:27:31","date_gmt":"2012-12-12T22:27:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/?p=3767"},"modified":"2013-12-14T17:07:46","modified_gmt":"2013-12-14T17:07:46","slug":"two-ideas-to-get-you-through-the-1st-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/two-ideas-to-get-you-through-the-1st-draft\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Ideas to Get You Through (The 1st Draft)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you fol\u00adlow me on Face\u00adbook or <a title=\"Orcutt on Twitter\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/chrisorcutt\" target=\"_blank\">Twit\u00adter<\/a>, you already know that I began writ\u00ading the third install\u00adment in the Dako\u00adta Stevens Mys\u00adtery Series last Mon\u00adday, and that I\u2019ve writ\u00adten about 18,000 words so far.<\/p>\n<p>What you don\u2019t know, because I haven\u2019t spo\u00adken about it at all, is what a bitch this first draft has been.<\/p>\n<p>The ten\u00adsion of&nbsp;<em>not know\u00ading exact\u00adly where the sto\u00adry is going<\/em> is killing me.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s been a while, you see, since I had to write a Dako\u00adta nov\u00adel from scratch. The last time I sat down and start\u00aded a first draft was sev\u00aden years ago.<\/p>\n<p>Sev\u00aden years.<\/p>\n<p>Obvi\u00adous\u00adly, I\u2019ve writ\u00adten first drafts of oth\u00ader work since then\u2014stories, essays and speech\u00ades mostly\u2014but noth\u00ading com\u00adpares to the intri\u00adca\u00adcy of a nov\u00adel.<\/p>\n<p>Which is why I\u2019ve recent\u00adly tak\u00aden great solace in two quotes on writ\u00ading by two mas\u00adters: E.L. Doc\u00adtorow and Bernard Mala\u00admud.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-4896\" alt=\"93007665\" src=\"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/93007665-150x150.jpg\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/93007665-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/93007665-115x115.jpg 115w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\">Doc\u00adtorow com\u00adpared writing\u2014particularly writ\u00ading a novel\u2014to dri\u00adving at night through fog. <em>\u201cYou can only see as far as your head\u00adlights,\u201d<\/em>&nbsp; he said, <em>\u201cbut you can make the whole trip that way.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>When\u00adev\u00ader I\u2019ve found myself get\u00adting frus\u00adtrat\u00aded with not being able to see the sto\u00adry more than a chap\u00adter or so ahead, I\u2019ve thought of Doc\u00adtorow\u2019s quote:&nbsp;<em>\u201cYou can only see as far as your head\u00adlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The sec\u00adond quote, by Bernard Mala\u00admud,&nbsp;was direct\u00aded to writ\u00aders in gen\u00ader\u00adal:&nbsp;<em>\u201cTeach your\u00adself to work in uncer\u00adtain\u00adty.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>This is espe\u00adcial\u00adly apro\u00adpos to the writ\u00ading of a first draft\u2014the very def\u00adi\u00adn\u00adi\u00adtion of uncer\u00adtain\u00adty.<\/p>\n<p>Learn\u00ading to be com\u00adfort\u00adable with uncer\u00adtain\u00adty is imper\u00ada\u00adtive for a writer. Uncer\u00adtain\u00adty about where the sto\u00adry is going. Uncer\u00adtain\u00adty about how it will be received. Uncer\u00adtain\u00adty about finances. Uncer\u00adtain\u00adty of all kinds.<\/p>\n<p>These two ideas\u2014uncertainty, and see\u00ading as far as your headlights\u2014are get\u00adting me through the first draft, and they\u2019ll get you through, too.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014Chris<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you fol\u00adlow me on Face\u00adbook or Twit\u00adter, you already know that I began writ\u00ading the third install\u00adment in the Dako\u00adta Stevens Mys\u00adtery Series last\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,3,19,36,11,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chris-orcutt-books","category-craft","category-fiction","category-mystery-writing","category-dakota-stevens-mysteries-series","category-writingexperiences"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3767"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3767\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4898,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3767\/revisions\/4898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}