Second Drafts

Second Drafts

Writing isn’t easy. It is a lot of man hours and time spent learning, studying, daydreaming, and working. It isn’t for the faint of heart. At points I think my head will explode, at points I’m pretty sure it does, but oh how I love it! To see a story as a puddle of gooey words get its own legs is exciting.

 

This week, I'm preparing to embark on my second draft of my WIP, Paper White. The story has marinated in my brain for a couple of weeks. I've lifted the lid and taken a good whiff, and she's ready to give the once over of a second draft.

So, what does a second draft look like for me?

I read over the story start to finish. I don't worry with line edits at this point I'm only looking at big picture ideas. Also, I don’t actually change anything, but I do make lots and lots of notes.

Here is what I’m looking for:

• Do I have themes that emerge, some of which I’ve planned, some of which I haven’t? I liken it to a treasure hunt. Themes are always there, whether intentional or not. (Score! I’ve got some good ones. I’ll want to go back and reinforce those!)
• Plot holes – Oh yeah, they are there. They always are.
• Foreshadowing –Foreshadowing becomes a tightrope walk. Not enough and the story can fall to its doom and too much, then the reader will become bored.
• Can I delete any characters? Can I combine any characters? Are they interesting enough to want to read about? This WIP, I have one character that I’m waffling on. I like him, but I’m afraid he can be merged with another to round her out. But, dang, I don’t want to lose him, he likes to quote Batman.
• Is my timeline consistent? (Warning, I can get a little crazy with this one, and
  
  could write a whole post on this. For now, I will just say, that I make notes and graphs, working it all into my story/plot board.)
• How is the pacing? The arc? Is my story happening too quickly or is it slow?  (I can already see where I need to add more chapters. Which always makes me as happy as a cat with a bowl of kibbles. I might be using this example because I forgot to buy cat food, and I’m paying for it today. Every step I take a whiskered face meows at me.)
• Lastly, I begin to keep an eye out for words that I’ve overused on the same page. Once when I was editing, I’d overdone the word hand so much that it became hilarious. It went something like this: She held his hand with her hand and they walked hand and hand. I might be exaggerating, but you get the picture.
  

Tomorrow—I’ll be making a story/plot board, so I can systematically plan out how to fix it all!

So, what do you work on during your second draft? 

Verse this week:

1 John 4:7-8 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 

My favorite Movies...

Lists.

I heart them. 

Something about formulating a plan, always makes me excited. Recently, I've started drawing little boxes next to my lists, just so I can check it off when the item is completed. Now, I used to cross things off, but as of late, I like checking. (If I don't get the item done, then I cross it off, admitting a terrible failure on my part. *cue defeated music here. Believe me, that music has repeated this week, often.)

My list love, isn't just for a to-do list, I also love lists about almost anything: Bucket lists, top- favorite songs, top favorite movies, favorite places, names, goals for the week, goals for the month, goals for the year, well, basically anything. 

I even enjoy reading other people's lists. What do they find important? What do they like? What do they dis-like? What are they doing? It's a fascinating window into their mind. 

So, I thought it would be fun for the next few posts to share some of my own favorite lists. 

This week’s list - Movie favorites.

I'm not putting these in order, well, because, I simply can't. I might be copping out, but it would be like picking a favorite child.

• The Village- This movie reminds me so much of my childhood. Did we have monsters lurking about in the woods out my back door? Maybe, at least on occasion I thought so. Especially, when I read Pet Cemetery. We had a huge picture window that gazed out into a dense forest. Often, I would look up at the swaying trees and the rolling fog only to see shadows moving about. Seriously, the music, the secrets, this movie does it for me.

• Amadeus - I'm going to tell my age, but I watched this movie not long after I graduated from high school. Since then, I've made my husband watch it, over and over and over again. What's not to love? Hulce and Abraham, are fantastic, and I'm always drawn into the sheer charisma of this movie. 

• The Gladiator - Are you not entertained? That's all I can say about that. Okay, I can say more. Russell Crowe.

• It's a Wonderful Life - It's a family thing. Just last Christmas our local small town movie theater played it. I thought, hey, it will just be our family to watch it. Nope. I was wrong. It sold out and was still as good as the first time I saw it, better even. Turns out the lady behind me had never seen it. While I knew everything that was about to happen, you could literally hear her sigh, laugh, cry, and cheer through George Bailey's life. 

• West Side Story - I was in the sixth grade, and a local high school put this play on. After that I was hooked. I own the original, real, honest to goodness vinyl soundtrack of this movie, and of course the script. Often, I think of re-writing this movie with a sci-fi twist. (Yes, I know it is a re-write of Romeo and Juliet.) 

• Princess Bride - Rodents of Unusual Size. Maw-rage is what brings us together today. As you wish. So many good lines in this movie. It’s comic gold, and it will never go out of style.

• Labyrinth - I'm pretty sure I am, Sarah. My girls love this movie, and rightly so. What's not to love?  A few years ago, my nearly adult children made, oops, I mean watched this movie with their friends. Their friends quickly decided that there was something wrong with each one of us. No, sweet, dear friends, there is something wrong with you. Seriously, how can you not like this movie? And I kind-of-sort-of judge you by what you think of this. Okay, not really, well, maybe a little.

• Pan's Labyrinth - Dark and strange, hmm a little like me. This movie is a war fairy tale if ever there was one. It's heart breaking. For years, this movie has stuck with me. To this day the Pale Man still gives me the creeps. 

• The Lord of the Rings Series - This is the way a series should be done, not like the Hobbit. Why on earth was that made into a trilogy? Why? (Apologies, I’ll get back on topic.) When I was a child, this book and the Sword of Shannara was my life. I even fashioned a hobbit cape, dyed it brown, and ran through the woods barefoot. My mother thought I had lost it. Please remember, this was long, long before the movies, 1982 to be exact. Sorry, Mom, but I wish I still had that cape.

Are any of these your favorites? Are any of these on your stinker lists? What are yours? I’d love to find out, because I’m always looking for new favorites!

My memory verse this week, has really suited me because I really tend to want to isolate myself!

Proverbs 18:1 Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against sound judgement.