The Nano marathon is over, and I’m the proud owner of a messy, disjointed first draft. So, let’s maybe not dwell on the sheer amount of errors and such, and get into what comes next!

I’ve found that eventually first drafts become easy. Once, I used to shy away from even thinking of my first drafts as a ‘first draft’. That came with too much pressure (pressure only I put on myself, but pressure all the same). It used to be ‘zero draft’ and once I finished and moved on, it was awarded the ‘second draft’ distinction, bypassing the in-between completely. With a number of drafts and projects under my belt that fear of calling it a ‘first draft’ has luckily fallen away.

And the pressure of the second draft has oh-so-kindly taken its place.

Firsts draft are allowed to be messy. They can be disjointed. They can have little bits and massive pieces that lead to nowhere. Gaping plot holes and rampant inconsistencies and an unruly cast of characters are allowed to live and thrive in a first draft. But the second draft is when you are supposed to take this wild thing and tame it into something respectably readable. To be clear about this, writing a first draft in three weeks does not lend itself to a clean, legible story and that taming of the first draft turns from something small to an absolute beast.

I won’t win any accolades for ingenuity here, but the only way I can do it and not be overwhelmed is to take it step-by-step, starting with a simple read-through and some organization.

My drafts may come out messy but my process isn’t, for the most part (or I try not to let it be, when I can help it). So, once I have that messy first draft completed, I create a scene breakdown sheet. As I go through and reread the story, I can log and take notes on every scene. Eventually a number of scenes I will flat out delete. Some I’ll combine with other scenes. Others will be expanded or shrunk down. But I don’t know what scenes I have and can’t begin to attack a second draft before I know the nitty-gritty details of the actual story I wrote. Not the idealized version, or the one I think I have after the frenzy of drafting. But the one on the page. Essentially, I’m outlining all over again, but with some more concrete specifics.

To do this, I have a template in my Google Drive where I break down the following, which are specific to the scene itself I’m reviewing:

Section One: The Basics

• Scene Number: I use this to make referencing scenes easier down the line
• Chapter Number: Just your basic chapter number (or title if you have one).
• Scene Title: Again, this is just a quick way to reference if I don’t want to read through the summary. Just enough to spark in my mind what happens in the scene when I come back to it later.
• Time: To keep track of where we are in the timeline of the story (Sunday, 1926, 8am, July, etc, however best makes sense for my project)
• Location: Another self-explanatory one, being where does the scene take place.
• Summary: The bulk of the info! This part is a start-to-finish, bare-bones rundown of everything that happens. It doesn’t have to be lengthy (the shorter the better), but it has to be thorough.

Section Two: The Real Story

• Goal: Alright, so what does the character want? What’s the purpose of this scene? What’s specifically pushing things forward? Pro tip: if there isn’t a purpose, or if the same purpose keeps popping up for multiple scenes, it’s probably not a scene you need (or one you need to combine with another).
• Conflict: At its heart, what conflicts (internally and externally) are happening in this scene?
• Result: What is achieved or what is changed by the end of this scene? I find this one particularly helpful for me! For a couple reasons. If the characters/scenes keep ending up with the same result over and over again, that’s an issue. If I’m not varying the tone enough (or am all over the place) and the result is always hitting the same note, that’s an issue.
• Antagonist: They deserve their own category! Basically I use this to keep track of what’s happening with them and how they story is progressing, in direct relation to the main storyline.

Section Three: Character Arc Specifics

• [Insert POV #1 Character Name] Arc: I use this to track the evolution of the main POV character arc so I can see if my pacing is right, see how on or off target we are, and see if/how it directly relates and reflects within the story. It’s a good tool to keep focus on the progression that’s important.
• [Insert POV #2 Character Name] Arc: You get the idea. Repeat for all POVs.

Section Four: The Wrap-Up

• Notes & Suggested Changes: As I read through my first draft, any thoughts I have, changes I may want to make, and ideas on combining or simplifying or expanding (etc) all goes here.

And once all that is done, I have something detailed enough yet something that provides enough of an overview so I can see the actual workings of my story laid out cleanly. I’m not saying this isn’t work, or that it’s my favourite part, but it genuinely is helpful for me and keeps me from being sucked into the same pitfalls that cropped up once I hit the second draft. Maybe this won’t work for you or maybe only some parts will, but however you go about your second drafting, as long as your process works for you, that’s what matters.

NOW, disclaimer, this isn’t the only step I do during a read-through or the only piece of the puzzle to tame a second (and third and fourth…) draft. Scene breakdowns are great, but they aren’t ultimately executing anything. It’s all data collecting and a bit of brainstorming, but the actual implementing- and deciding what and how to implement- is what comes after this stage. Something I will detail out in the coming weeks as I go through my Nano first draft!

But for right now, I have my Scene Breakdown sheet all ready to go for Project Wraith, so it’s time to get reading!

Happy writing loves!