Writing a First Draft

Getting it All Down Through Question and Answer

Jan 21, 2009

A good first draft is a creative mess that will later be crafted into an attractive story form.

A story may originate with an idea, event, piece of dialogue, or a setting. With this initial spark of creativity, the writer can begin to record without regard at this stage for the ultimate form of the story. These first glimpses of story elements serve to stimulate the writer's imagination during later stages of writing.

Basic Steps in Writing a First Draft

Record Ideas

Ideas can surface in a writer's consciousness and grow quickly so it is important to record and capture these ideas. Begin by quickly jotting down a description of the interesting person, place, or event and let the imagination run with it.

Choose Viewpoint and Tense

Identify the main, point-of-view character. This is the character whom the story is about and is usually the character who tells the story. This is also the character who grows the most and who has the most to gain or lose during the course of the story.

Decide who will tell the story and whether it will be told in first or third person and present or past tense. The writer usually makes these decisions based on which choices feels right. First-person stories feel personal but limit the scope of description whereas third-person stories feel slightly less person but expand descriptive possibilities.

In first-person stories, the main character narrates his or her own story directly using "I." For example, "I gently locked my apartment door behind me, snuck across the hall, and tapped on Mr. Hamm's door." The first-person story is limited entirely to the point-of-view character's senses. Anything seen or otherwise sensed and described is sensed directly through the main character.

In third-person stories, the author narrates the story objectively using "he" or "she" or the character's name. For example, "Jane gently locked her apartment door behind her, snuck across the hall, and tapped on Mr. Hamm's door." The author of the third-person story describes what the main character sensed, but also perhaps what the character did not sense.

Develop Ideas

After the pen slows, after exhausting the initial rush of creativity, it is time to develop these original ideas. Read over what has been written. Identify the setting. Does it have a mood? If the setting is a real place, readers will expect it to be portrayed truthfully.

Identify the characters and ask them questions. What do they want? (This is especially important to know.) What is happening? Why is it happening? How might the characters interact with what is happening to get what they want or to get in the way of what they want? Ask as many questions as come to mind regarding who, what, when, where, how, and why. Answer using all of the senses including sight, sound, touch, taste, smell, and emotional feeling). Write it all down.

Clarify Theme

Keep a journal for recording insights and ideas about the story as a whole. Make note of possible themes, including elements of universal appeal and reasons for writing the story. A story's theme is subtle rather than preachy. It is a reoccuring mood or feeling throughout the story and for the story as a whole. It is portrayed via symbolism and ambiance rather than overtly through statement.

The goal of a first draft is to get it all down without worrying over the story's final form. Crafting, editing, and polishing come later. The first draft begins with the recording of ideas and their continued development through questioning and answering, pushing the story forward toward its inevitable conclusion.

The copyright of the article Writing a First Draft in Writing Techniques is owned by Sara McGrath. Permission to republish Writing a First Draft in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.