If you haven’t worked out what happens in your story in your first draft, don’t despair. I’m finding plotting the second draft so much smoother than I was expecting. The more you go on, and the more you know the story, the easier it is to make your project what you want it to be.
In today’s episode I talk about plotting, as Draft 1 and 2 are uniquely different experiences. I speak about:
- Planning the story.
- The 'good enough' plan is far more useful than the ‘ideal’ plan.
- Imagining the idealised version of our story doesn't make enough room for the shitty scenes and less-than-average moments that will inevitably show up in a first draft.
- The route we take through a story depends on our taste as a writer.
- Getting stuck in the first 20-page loop of rewrites.
- When we hit a point in the story that isn't where we thought we were headed, don't be tempted to head back to the beginning and start over with a new plan. Keep going and know you can take a different path next draft.
- Getting to the end before you start changing things. Then you have an embodied knowledge of your story to work with (not just an imagined concept of what would/wouldn’t have worked).
- The beauty of straying from the path in Draft 2 is you can take detours depending on your taste and aesthetic.
- You have decisions available in Draft 2 that are only possible because you've walked through it once already.
This episode was originally recorded in April 2021. You can watch the video diary here: https://www.instagram.com/tv/COWaftSHI7u
You can learn more about my work on my website http://www.emilysheehan.info or say hi and ask me a question via @emilysheehan__ on Instagram.