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HOW TO HANDLE YOUR FIRST DRAFT

NOTES ON WRITING BASED ON J.S. BELL 'WRITE GREAT FICTION: PLOT AND STRUCTURE' - by Lisa Agosti

Once you are finished writing the first draft of your novel you are faced with a new question: AND NOW WHAT?!

First of all, walk away. You need to detach yourself from your darling creature to be rational enough to judge its contents and edit it. After a few days, spent writing other projects (or more likely being lazy without feeling too bad about it), go back to it and review it, following these simple steps.

How to handle your first draft:

1. Let it cool.

2. Get mentally prepared, get pumped by telling yourself things that help your self-confidence and professional self. Print a hard copy of your novel.

3. Read it through, better if all in one go, in a quiet spot. Don't check the details, you want to get an overall impression, taking only a few notes. Mark the passages that will need editing and jot down whatever idea you will want to add. Focus your attention on some fundamental questions you will have to answer:

• Is your Lead character a compelling, unique, growing, valid choice?
• Is the Antagonist an interesting, well developed, believable choice?
• Is the Conflict between them crucial and unavoidable?
• Are the Scenes original, strong, of the right length?
• Are the Minor characters colorful and purposeful?

4. If your first draft is worse than you expected, do not panic. Think of Hemingway, take a break of a few days, jotting down notes on the way.

5. Write the second draft. Some people like to write down everything anew, others cut and paste on the first draft. See what works best for you. Be prepared, great writing is A LOT of work.

6. Refine. Take a week break (yeay!) then read your completed second draft. Cut scenes, define characters, revise subplots. Be heartless in cutting the parts that don't fit in, even if you spent hours and days sweating on them.

7. Polish. Check every scene and every dialogue. Reading out loud may be a big help, as author Lisa Malabanan has wisely taught me. 

Good luck and have a good novel!

THE COMMITMENTPHOBIC MAN

This character has an immediate deep impact on the audience, he will immediately arise strong feelings, especially if the reader is a woman.

Why is that? Because every woman has met at least one commitmentphobic man. Most likely, she has dated him and loved him and had her heart crashed by him. The result is a complex combination of empathy and distrust that will win your audience right away. 

The commitmentphobic men (if you want to know more about the creators of the term and the subject, I strongly recommend the eye-opening book "He's scared, she's scared" by Steven Carter and Julia Sokol) is a person who is scared of long-term relationships, contracts or appointments.

The classic stereotypical exemplar of commitmentphobic man is very approachable to start with, probably attractive and easygoing, sometimes even too straightforward in his chasing women as well as life opportunities. After an enthusiastic beginning of hopeful, steady, increasing progress, our Lead character reaches a point where he feels that the relationship/job/project is stable and safe. Right away, he starts panicking.

At this point, the partner/colleague/friend of the commitmentphobic (in literature known as "side kick") starts receiving mixed signals, ambivalent feelings of love and fear, approach and withdrawal. One day the most loving, caring, attentive partner turns into an elusive shadow barely answering his phone.

Creating a commitmentphobic character will ensure you the full attention of your readers. They will to through their personal experience and use your novel to find out the "cure". They want to know if there is a "technique", some way or "method" to fix the commitmentphobic and turn him into a perfect husband/worker/partner in crime. 

Is there such a "cure"? 
Wouldn't you like to find out already? That's why it's gonna be a bestseller!

Have a good novel!