Well I’ve done it. This week I finished the first draft of the second book in my brand new and still top secret series. What I can tell you is that it’s completely different to anything I’ve done before. This is 1) a happy thing, because I love exploring new genres; and 2) utterly terrifying.
Writing A New Thing is terrifying for a lot of authors because it means venturing into previously uncharted territory, and possibly out of your comfort zone. It’s terrifying because there’s no guarantee the people who liked your other books are going to like these. If you stick to one genre there’s a good chance your fan base will stick by you through every book, but by meandering between genres, age ranges and styles that no longer becomes a given.
Most first drafts are a fairly terrifying experience in and of themselves, mind you. That blank page at the start is massively daunting, then there’s usually a bit in the middle when you wonder if you’ll ever reach the end, followed by a messy frantic dash for the finish line when it finally looms into view.
Because this was the first draft of something completely new I was doubly nervous, and I found myself doubting every story decision I made. The voice was wrong. The characters weren’t working. The plot was ludicrous. I was practically set for giving the whole writing thing up and living under a bridge when I remembered my own advice (although many others have said similar things in the past). I’ve mentioned it here on the blog before, and I’ve said it countless times at school visits, but because it really helped me through this past week I thought I’d make it look all nice an’ that and post it here.
By keeping the above in mind I freed myself up to make as many mistakes as I needed in order to get the draft finished. All the problems above are definitely still there, along with many others. The story and characters don’t fit quite right yet, and some of the pacing is way off.
But that’s OK. It’s not right. But it’s written. And with a first draft, that’s all that counts.
I encourage you to make mistakes in your first drafts. You’re not just allowed to, you should try to. From those mistakes great things may grow in the next draft. You may discover new elements to your story you wouldn’t have without those mistakes having happened.
There are plenty of mistakes in my first draft of… let’s call it Project BB for now. There may also be flashes of brilliance in there (but I’ll almost certainly remove them by accident during the rewrites). At the moment it’s all a bit of a mixed bag of words and sentences and punctuation, with something vaguely story-shaped lurking deep within. And that’s fine. That’s good. That’s just how it should be. It is written. It is officially a thing and – with a bit of luck – the next draft will take it one step closer to being “right”.