I'd really like to thank everyone who participated. I loved meeting new friends and reading the reviews.
Last night I was getting ready to sprint and I realized there are two things that are really helping me sit down and breeze through this first draft.
First of all, like I talked about last week, I have a loose outline. I had someone ask me what my loose outline looks like, so here's the one I used for last night's sprint.
- Bart is observing Lucy's questioning. Brings her water.
- Confrontation with James.
- Questions from Colby
- Bart scene with Attorney/Lucy
- Bart goes to his mother's condo, Lucy's words in his ears
- His mother reveals the secret.
- He makes security arrangements for her.
- He's having a hard time processing what he's just heard and everything that happened that day.
So, that's what I went off of as I was sprinting and laying down the foundation of the chapter. As I mentioned last week, sprinting is where I can write the first layer, then go back and add more to it later. I usually am dialogue-heavy at first, and when I revise I add in more description, body language, and setting.
Second, I did have a little personal revelation last night. Last week, I talked about knowing where the chapter is going before you start drafting, but one thing I noticed that is really helping me with my chapter goals is to ask myself why? Why is the character doing/acting/thinking this way? Why does he view the world this way? Why is this event important? It's sort of like a little mental checklist of character motivation, and making sure each event is relevant and important in moving the story forward and carrying me to the end. It made me write little notes in the corner to make sure I'm meeting my character goals and answering those 'why' questions for my readers---which will add to my word count and has already given me ideas for future chapters. Win/win!
Both of these tips are helping me get through my first draft in record time. What helps you draft?
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