1. Chow868

    Chow868 New Member

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    First draft advice

    Discussion in 'Revision and Editing' started by Chow868, Jun 18, 2021.

    Just asking for some general advice about first draft completion and next steps.

    I've finished my first draft (yay) bought the 'self-editing for writers' book, which was great, and re-read my book....

    Oh dear me, there are a lot of grammar and typo amendments that need doing, so that's fine, but what I have recognised is that my main character is really really quite unlikeable and the main inciting incident doesn't make logical sense.

    The main character is written as a coward and the central conceit is that he has travelled, one way, into an uncertain future age, an inherent act of bravery, betraying one of the core characteristics of my main character at the start of the story!

    What I'm feeling is that I need to completely revamp my main character but also the inciting incident. This will have a ripple effect that will mean I am going to have to re-write most of the story.

    Other characters and story beats will remain much the same but since all the details will be different I am going to be undertaking what, to my mind, is essentially writing another first draft.

    So, to get to the point. Is it normal to have to change SO much after a first draft?

    I'm hesitant to start work on it again knowing there is so much to change but without knowing whether the changes are necessary or will actually improve the story.
     
  2. Steve Rivers

    Steve Rivers Contributor Contributor

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    Does it have to be an inherant act of bravery? Could it be an accident or someone pushes him into it? Could it be tweaked to do such? If possible when editing, always look for the minor fixes before considering surgery.

    And on to the unlikeable character reasoning - what makes you think that, Chow? I hope you're basing that on more than him being a coward. Because as long as he has some character growth, isn't obnoxious, and makes choices the reader will agree with and understand, considering they know he is a coward, then the reader will give you some leeway on that front. Being a coward can create sympathy from the reader, and having a reader be sympathetic to your hero can be just as strong as likeability.

    I think when editing on the first draft for content you need to write a bullet point list and identify your main problems by pointing to specific text that makes you think something. Never base your actions to edit on your feelings alone, especially if self-editing. If its "I think my main character is unlikeable" then justify it by finding and highlighting the points where you think he does that. Then ask yourself "could I just tweak these lines I've found to make his responses to things more understandable or likeable to the reader?" Things like that. If you do it and he's still unlikeable, then you know you have a larger problem.
    I just finished editing the book of a friend who had a really unlikeable hero. She started out good, but devolved into a character that went around looking down her nose at people without the author intending it, purely because of the character's god-like powers. I highlighted all the dialogue responses that made me dislike her. I told the author to look at these statements coming out of the character's mouth, and to think how a reader would interpret them. Does this make the hero look callous or empathetic? Does it make them seem modest and humble or arrogant and dismissive? If it's the negative one, change it. The author realized and understood that if she changed the dialogue responses to how the character spoke then the character's likeability would shoot up dramatically. It didn't solve the problem entirely due to some of the actions the hero did, but again, they were highlighted and when tweaked should solve the entire problem of the hero's likeability without needing to resort to surgery on the story.
     
    Last edited: Jun 18, 2021
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  3. Idiosyncratic

    Idiosyncratic Active Member

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    For the first point, is it normal: pretty normal, yeah, especially if this is one of your very first first drafts. If you don't have the structure or major details down fairly solid (common for the first few first drafts you'll write) then the changes ripple out, as you have found, and end up in quite a bit of rewriting. You can try to finagle your changes so that they don't ripple as much. for example, I also had to completely rewrite my inciting incident but the character ended up in about the same place so it didn't end up needing too much rewriting after the inciting incident: it's all the smaller details and subplots I've changed that have added up and resulted in the need for far more rewrites.

    For the second, definitely try to figure out if the changes will improve the story beforehand. Personally, I tend to do this by re-outlining (even if I didn't outline the first draft), so I can test out changes and see how they ripple and keep track of what changes I would need to make each chapter to keep things consistent. If I'm on the fence, I'll often physically write down the pros and cons of the fix. If I'm not happy with a change, it's time to go back to the drawing board and brainstorm new possible solutions. Are there other ways to make the main character more likable without making him less of a coward, for example?
     
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  4. Chow868

    Chow868 New Member

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    This is excellent. Thanks for the good advice, I have a lot of work to do!

    On the subject of his cowardice, I should have been clearer, it was more that the bravery involved in wanting to travel into the unknown was contradictory to his cowardly behaviour, something I very much want to keep as part of his character.

    Your instinct of the act becoming accidental or something similar is what I'm thinking also, but if it is an accident it changes a lot of the rest of the story, however I think it is the way to go.

    Cowardice isn't always a negative trait but as far as he reads, I've given him loads of negative attributes but very few positive ones, he isn't pleasant to be around! Again, not that that is altogether a bad thing if he has an effective character arc but it drags down the story a bit to have such a mopey and whiny main character.

    I need to make him more rounded as a person. I've committed the most rookie of errors and created a character that only exists when the story starts.
     
  5. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    I think it can be done, but it's difficult to write an effective story with a weak (cowardly) main character. Story is conflict, and at least in your typical plot-driven genre fiction, characters need to be willful and strong, ready to stand up for what they believe and fight for it against all adversaries. Otherwise you end up with a passive character who just wanders around and witnesses things happening, other people doing things. And the MC is like a leaf being blown around by chance winds.

    Again, I think it can be made to work, but probably not by a novice writer.
     
  6. Catriona Grace

    Catriona Grace Mind the thorns Contributor Contest Winner 2022

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    Is it normal to have to change SO much after a first draft?

    Yep. Last year I rewrote a story that I'd originally written in 1981. It was a nice product when I finished and it was even almost the same story. ;)
     
  7. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    Yes, because most likely you've never tried to create anything as complicated as a novel. By the time you reach the end of the 1st draft you can see structural issues that weren't apparent until you had the entire thing in front of you to check.
     
  8. Chow868

    Chow868 New Member

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    This is exactly the problem. The main character is far too passive.

    A big part of the story is about running away from mental and physical harm instead of facing it head on and dealing with it.

    So in doing this I've created a main character that wants to run away at the first sign of trouble, and not actually engage in anything that is happening. Which is no good!

    I need to rethink the character completely. I'm going to follow some of the advice here and dive back in.
     
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  9. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    You could try to create a character arc that begins in cowardice and moves into courage, but still you'd lose most readers before they get to that point. Though you might have the arc already well underway at the beginning of the story, and give some backstory detailing how he was previously and why the change was necessary in his life. It can be exciting to watch a somewhat courageous character struggling to reach full conviction and then taking that deep breath and committing entirely, devil take the consequences. A "feel the fear but do it anyway" thing.
     
  10. AntPoems

    AntPoems Contributor Contributor

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    Cowardice isn't the worst personality trait for a protagonist. I'm reminded of Rincewind from Terry Pratchett's first Discworld novel, "The Colour of Magic." Rincewind is an inept wizard who describes himself as a coward and prides himself on his ability to run away at the merest hint of danger. But the flipside is that he's a street-smart survivor, which the reader can respect.

    At the start of the story, he's hired by Twoflower, a naive and incredibly wealthy tourist, as a guide, and the bulk of the plot consists of Twoflower wandering into some incredibly dangerous situation and Rincewind fighting against his instincts to save him so that he can get paid (and, increasingly, because he actually likes him).

    So, your MC can be a coward. Just make them an interesting one and find a reason for them to overcome that cowardice.
     
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  11. Oscar1

    Oscar1 Member

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    I read Terry Pratchett in two languages. Before I was even able to read it in English.
    And every time I read his books, I have to pause and wonder: How is it even possible that one person could have so many stories in him? And not repeat himself.
    Even on vocabulary level. If I check one TP novel for unique words I may get like 9000 or so, if I load another novel on top of that it can get to 14000. He is not even repeating his vocabulary. Well, well....

    Anyway, my first draft advice: rewrite and then rewrite and rewrite again. And repeat, each time taking a pause. You will be surprised what a month between rewrites could do. "Who wrote that drivel?" and "Why does he sound like a cartoon idiot?"
    I remember one well-know writer saying that he averages in about 12 rewrites. YMMW of course.
     

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