Why can't I make it work - in other words, how many first drafts do I need?

I've been trying to write Marked for over a year now. It's gone through many incarnations. It was Only A Name for a while. Then I put out a call on Twitter for a new title. I was given several suggestions. Marked is the one that stuck. I completely revamped it from the earlier version of the story and thought that was it. I'd finish the first draft and then move on to another novel, saving the first draft for future revisions.

I'm on version number three now, and I don't mean through edits. I'm on the third complete rewrite of Marked. In the two previous versions there was so much I didn't like that editing wouldn't have done me any good. I have both versions saved so I can refer back to them for the things I liked, and I've taken notes on that to help with the third version.

The problem is I'm not sure if the third version is going to work either. I've already taken a large chunk of it and put it into a side file for future reference because I didn't like how the story was going at the point it was at. I like it so far but what happens if I find I don't like how it's going again? I'll probably cut the offending text and paste it into another document to save for dissection.

Why do I do this? Well, the main problem is I have a hard time settling on one story. I'm also forever tweaking the world so even though I've done extensive world building things are perpetually in flux. I try to settle on one thing and a new idea springs up and I have to examine it. If I like it, it stays. If I don't like it, it doesn't get included and I move on. I've finally settled on the look of the world and the way politics are set up in one of the countries. But there are still two more countries and a lot of races to deal with that are only vaguely formed.

Now, you might ask how that works out for me. I'm a pantser not a plotter. I sketch out my characters and get an idea of their world and then let them go from there. I let them tell their story as I write it. For a few of the shorts I've written, though they do need to be edited, it worked out great. With Marked, it's not. But if I try to write from an outline the story falters and dies and I can't get anything done.

So right now I'm just allowing the story to flow forward as it wants to, stopping every now and then to check details and make sure I'm not changing things halfway through. I'm keeping lists of things so I don't forget them and making notes as I go. Those will help with my synopsis I'm sure when I'm ready to write it. But first I have to settle on one version of the story.

So tell me, how do you do it? What do you do that makes you love or hate the first draft of your story, and what do you do about it? How many versions of your first draft do you go through before you settle on one and go from there? Am I the only one with this problem?

National Novel Writing Month - October prep time

Me showing off my new swag :-D

This year, as I have every year since 2003, I am diving into the wonderful world of the National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo as it is typically known. Now, I haven't won every year. In fact, 2003 I didn't make it past the first week. I've had a few spectacular failures in the last 10 years. I've also cheated a couple times, and I've been a rebel at least twice that I can remember (either finishing up a story I'd already started or writing a series of short stories to hit my 50k).

The goal of NaNoWriMo is to get to 50k words in 30 days. This is usually attempted in November, though they do have Camp NaNo as well, this year in April and July. I attempted both camps too and while I succeeded in July, I failed miserably in April. I just didn't have my heart into it in April.

November has its own problems, namely Thanksgiving and family gatherings for the holiday. That can derail your progress if you're not careful. Now, you can do what I do which is write and bank a lot of extra words at the beginning of the month to make up for taking time off for the holiday. You can do what a friend of mine does, and let your family know that you'll make up for this in December but November is off limits for family gatherings. Or you can take your laptop/notebook/ipad/whatever with you to your family's house and write while everyone else is talking. Hey, at least you're there even if you're not being overly communicative, right?

This year I'm trying something a little different for NaNoWriMo. Normally I'm a pantser. I come up with a vague plot bunny in October and come November I start writing on it without any planning. This year, I'm doing up an outline, character sheets, maps, etc. before November 1st. I intend on having a plan for November instead of winging it like I usually do. We'll see how well that goes.

One of the things I've been able to do this year, which I haven't been able to do before, is support NaNoWriMo financially. I bought two t-shirts and a hoodie this year. The profit from the store as well as donations goes to keeping NaNoWriMo going. I'm proud to be able to help support this awesome organization. They have a Young Writers' Program to encourage kids to write. It's just an amazing program all around and I love participating in it each year.

You can find more information here on NaNoWriMo if you haven't heard of it before. Go, check it out, and join the madness.

Saturday Story Building - Putting it all together

I've talked about different pieces of building up a story. I've talked about the research, the character sketches, the world building. Now the question is, once you've gotten all this information, how the heck do you put it all together for a story?

The first thing you have to do is decide how much of that information you're going to use. You can have an entire novella/novel length book of world building, but is all of it really necessary for the story you're telling? Most likely not. You have to choose the most important items out of all of that work you did and find a way of putting them into the story. You might not have a purpose yet for that dissertation you wrote on the culture of a foreign country, but save it. You can use it in another story.

Characters. You've written these beautiful character sketches. If you're like me, they've got more information in them than you're likely to use. I tend to add a full background, a list of likes and dislikes, and maybe if I'm ambitious what their favorite foods/colors/etc. are. I don't do that lat one very often but I do tend to be very thorough in creating my character sketches.

Obviously, all that lovely information isn't going to make it into the book. If it does, you're probably going to bore your reader. So how do you decide which is the most important information? Think about how your story is going to go. Pinpoint the most important details that you can share in the story and make note of them. Those are the details you're going to use for your story.

Now, about that research you did. You've probably done a lot of reading and note taking on several different subjects. At least, you have if you're like me. You have all this lovely, useful information. The question again is how much are you going to use? That obscure culture you researched and referenced in your notes may be wonderful for a story some day but is it pertinent to the story you're working on now?

Once you've sorted your information out, then you can start writing your story. And even here you've got options. You can be a plotter - build yourself an outline, lay out precisely how your story is going to go, and work from that. Or you can do what I do - figure out the beginning and the end, and come up with a rough idea of some of the events you'd like to have in the story. And then just start writing and hope everything comes out all right in the end. Or you can avoid all of these steps and just start writing. Hey, it's all fixable in edits, right?