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Too many drafts -- is there such thing?



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Sat Jul 29, 2017 8:02 pm
tigeraye says...



As I cross into the 27 month mark from when I first started my novel, I've started over so many times that I've since lost count. I fear that I've lost the essence of what the story was originally supposed to be about, or what it represents, or what it really even means. I also fear that I've got so many conflicting plot points and character idiosyncrasies that my fictional world is a complete mess.

Do you think there's such thing as too many drafts when writing a novel? If so, how does one go about solving "draftitis?"
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Sat Jul 29, 2017 8:29 pm
deleted221222 says...



I essentially suffered through this before I started The Mage and the Immortal. I had lined out a series from start to end, which we'll call 'Ark'. Eventually, I had to restart the story due to writing complications. I did this a total of four times, and now those characters were a shell of what they once were. What was once a lighthearted comedy turned into a gritty dark action story, and I started to hate it. I didn't want to hate it, I grew to love my characters and world, but the story couldn't be written in a way I liked it. I had thought out my previous story for over a year, so I didn't want to let go of it so easily, but I had to.

I guess the real cure of draftitis is to give up on your story. While you can try to start from the beginning, making sure that everything makes sense, in the end, there'll be some connection to a previous draft that ruins the story. Start from scratch, with a new story, new world, and new characters. It can still be an action adventure or a romantic comedy or whatever you want, but everything else has to be different. Use whatever you know failed in your first story to make sure it doesn't happen in your new story.

It took me a bit to convince myself to give up on Ark. Eventually, three days later, I had come up with The Mage and the Immortal, and I find it much more entertaining and fun to write than Ark. Just try writing something new and see if it works.
  





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Sat Jul 29, 2017 8:40 pm
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Rosendorn says...



There is such a thing as too many unfinished drafts, but there isn't such a thing as too many drafts.

I do not suggest giving up on your story. You don't need to. if you love it and want it to be a certain thing, write it that way! But understand that you have to write the whole thing in order to get the end product to where you want it to be.

I've been writing my novel for 10 years and over 30 unfinished drafts with one finished one. I've been told to give up on it at least once, but I refuse to— because I love the story.

What I did have to do was admit the drafts wouldn't be what I wanted them to be, and I need to write a draft to get all my ideas out on paper and work out the flow of the story in order to know how to make it work the way I wanted.

You can't tell yourself that the first draft, or the tenth, or the fifteenth, will be anything close to what you want the story to be. You have to get the whole story down on the page, or at least close enough to the end you can say you've reached the point you can't tell how the story is supposed to end until you sort through the ideas.

So finish a draft. Don't care if it's anything close to the finished story, just get all your ideas out on paper to sift through them.

Find the flecks of gold in the draft, the plot points you love, the concepts that excite you.

Toss out all the mud and write another draft based around the flecks of gold you found before.

Repeat until you have the ring to rule them all, a finished, polished story.
A writer is a world trapped in a person— Victor Hugo

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Tue Aug 08, 2017 6:33 pm
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StellaThomas says...



Hey hon,

There's no such thing as too many drafts, but believe me, I get the feeling. I've had to rest a project because I felt it just got too bloated, I added too many subplots and characters. But that's the key word: rest. I'll get back to it.

What I would say to you is this: If you get sick of a draft and start over, you will never get it done. I think it's natural enough to dislike a draft as it goes on, as you get closer to the end, you realise what you did wrong at the start, and you want to go back and start again. My advice would be resist the urge to start over. Finish the draft. Doesn't matter if you hate it - you probably will. Then let it rest for a while. Read over it. Remember why you love the story - remember how you can write this story better this time - and start from the beginning - and go right to the end.

You can do it!

-Stella x
"Stella. You were in my dream the other night. And everyone called you Princess." -Lauren2010
  





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Wed Aug 09, 2017 1:13 am
Nimoon21 says...



I'm going to go against staying with it. There is a ... life, for a manuscript. There comes a point where you just can't make it better -- because sometimes there's something holding you back you can't see, or because you get to a point with a draft where it doesn't matter how much you try to fix it -- you've out grown it.

Many people get hooked on "first" drafts specifically, and I mean first like, the first book they've ever written. They rework and rework and rework. I did. I spent over a year on the same book. The thing was, there came a point where yes, I could have rewritten it again, but I wasn't excited as much anymore.

Starting a new manuscript is EXTREMELY healthy. You've probably grown a lot as a writer since you wrote the other draft, but its hard to see those things when you're editing. I bet you notice them when you start something new. Its also just exciting. New characters, new setting, new everything. From what you said, I get the impression you want to move on, but need someone to tell you to do it.

Start a new project. Why not? You can always come back to this draft later.
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