Some people write “clean” first drafts that require very little editing. Alas, I am not one of those people. When I write a first draft, I’m concerned primarily with capturing the essence of a scene. If I worried about word choice or detail at this point, my writing would slow to a crawl as I obsess over every word.
Which means that after the first draft is done, I have to go back to the beginning of the story and wrestle that messy first draft into shape. Despite what some would have you believe, there really is no right or wrong way to do this. There is just the way that’s right for you. I know the general wisdom at this point is to go through that first draft and deal with major plot issues before turning your attention to fine tuning your prose. I, however, find it impossible to ignore awkward prose at this point. I have to polish my writing during the second draft, and make notes on those passages that need more intense editing, and then come back to those passages later.
That’s where I am right now. I finished this story some time ago, but it was then relegated to the back burner while I worked on other projects. But now that book one of my Landing a Lord series is with the editor, I can turn my attention to the novella I wrote to introduce the series – Dancing with the Duke. I’ve attached images of the first two pages of this story below to give you an idea of just how much hacking and slashing I do as a work my way through this first draft.
Bonus – If you click on the images below, you’ll see larger images and just might get a sneak peak at the opening for this book.
