‘Draft Zeros’ ‘Discovery Drafts’ ‘Dirty Drafts’... In this episode I share how writing a draft zero has really helped me move my play into its next phase of development. I think the biggest distinction between a Draft 0 and a Draft 1 is that a first draft needs to be written to a standard where someone else can respond to it. Whereas a draft zero is a way to tell yourself the story during its very infant phase.
I speak about:
The difference between a draft zero and first draft.
The purpose of a draft zero.
Realising I wasn’t really ‘on my way’ to meeting my own personal writing goals this year.
Finding a deadline that’s both meaningful and manageable.
How I created a very loose structure for my play and very simple writing plan to follow.
What to do with all the initial exploratory pages, scraps of scenes, process journal entries and story work I had already created.
Using each writing session to write through the very strange, very bizarre rollercoaster of a draft zero without going back to fix, change, polish, or edit.
Draft zeros are kind of like therapy - you just need to get it all out and surprise yourself with what you begin to excavate. You don’t want to tidy up the mess before you get to what the heart of this thing is really about.
Things I reference: Miro online whiteboard, Mark Ravenhill’s 37 Plays Podcast and Episode 20 Writing the Next Thing.
Thank you for listening. You can learn more about my work on my About page or say hi at @emilysheehan__ on Instagram.