12. DEALING WITH THE FIRST DRAFT

FINISHING THE STORY Sometimes I have to stop just before I write the end of the first draft and re-read the story so far to gather my facts together and make sure they lead inevitably to the climax and resolution. This usually happens about 20,000 words from the end of a 130-140,000 word novel. In fact, even as I write this article I'm doing exactly that for my current work DOWN WEAVERS LANE. I know how I want it to end but have to make sure I've pointed everything in the tale towards that ending.

I know I'll still have to do a lot of work on the manuscript after I've finished the first draft, but to me, and to many of the authors I know, the polishing is the most enjoyable part of writing, and that's the part I want to focus on for the next few articles. So I always enjoy this stage of writing enormously.

WHEN THE FIRST DRAFT IS FINISHED It's a huge achievement to finish the first draft of any novel, but a first draft is just that-only a first stage reached. To achieve a professional standard in novel writing, you have to do a lot more than just write a story. You have to polish it to utter refulgence.

I would strongly urge you that when you have finished the first draft, you set the novel aside for a while before beginning to work on it. How long depends on you. At least a week or two, I'd say, for most people. The reason for this is that you're still 'inside' the story, too close to see it objectively. You need to come out of it and step aside until you can work on it with a careful and impartial craftsperson's eye. You should never be so in love with your work that you can't see its faults.

FIRST READ-THROUGH If you can, make sure you'll have some uninterrupted time for this crucial first read-through. Read it as a whole story, not as a collection of scenes and phrases and bits to be polished. Read it right through, making editing changes mainly to the story line. All right, you'll inevitably tiddle with individual words here and there as you go, but your major focus should be on the story itself.

* Check the continuity-have you got the story details correct? * Check the motivation and credibility of events-would these characters really have behaved in this way in this situation?

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