Drafts and Layers

 I thought it would be an interesting to discuss how authors might work on different parts of their story in different drafts. When I start a first draft, I generally have a sense of where I want to start and end and maybe a few bits in the middle. I still tend to discover most of my scenes and plot points as I write. (I guess no matter how much I try, I'll never be a full-on plotter.) In my first drafts, I tend to focus on story and dialogue. Description may be scant in the first draft. Since I'm a pantser, my second drafts often require a lot of work. I may change the scenes I initially wrote if I come up with something better. Often, details about the characters may change as well. I'm trying to be more mindful about the emotional aspect of my stories, both in developing character emotions and reader responses. Sometimes my work needs additional drafts before I feel it's solid. Then at that point I can focus on improving my sentences and word choices. The final pass is dedicated to removing typos and fiddling with the story until I get tired of it.

I think I write the way I do because it's easier for me to work on certain aspects of the story than others. I tend to be sparse in my descriptions because I feel more uncertain about them (in that I may make a mistake). I feel more confident about my dialogue, however, and it flows more easily for me. Hopefully as I keep writing and improving I can juggle more story elements in the first draft. I'm certainly more aware of them than I was as a beginning writer.

Do you feel that your first drafts focus more on certain story elements and others require more development? What are your story element strengths and weaknesses? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

 

Discussion: Name Brands as Description

Yesterday, as I was reading Jane Lindskold's Thirteen Orphans, I came across a section where one of the POV characters, an elderly lady, was described as wearing a Chanel suit. I came across a similar description in Louise Marley's Mozart's Blood. Other urban fantasies often drop brand names when describing the protagonist's clothing; most often, these are high-end brands.

As a reader, I don't get much out of these descriptions. Sure, the Chanel label carries a certain cachet, evoking not just wealth, but a classic sense of style. But I'm not familiar enough with fashion to look at someone in real life and say, "Oh, she's wearing a Chanel suit." I'd notice color and styling, perhaps maybe even figure out the material, but unless the label is plastered all over the suit, I'd be clueless. Maybe there are readers out there who can do this; I could be the odd woman to lack this ability, since I don't dress up for work and don't read fashion magazines. Even so, I'd personally get a better visualization out of "a pink silk suit" or "a black suit with big gold buttons" than a brand name.

I'm interested in hearing other's thoughts on this. How do you feel about using name brands as descriptions of clothes? Do you find it helpful or not when you find them in books you read? If you were reading an e-book (I know not everyone likes them, but please bear with me for a moment) and came across a brand name that linked to an ad for that piece of clothing, would you find it annoying? If you were the author of that book, would you drop name brands as another source of revenue?

Description in Fiction

First, I'd like to say "hello" to my new followers. (I'm just one shy of 50 now!) I assume you found me through the blogfest. I haven't had a chance to read everyone's yet, but I hope to look at some more character interviews tonight. It was fun interviewing Anne and Clarice, and I learned something about them. I'll have to try that with some of my other characters.

I've taken a break from the story I'm writing about Anne and Clarice to reread Across Two Universes, as I feel it's sat long enough for me to look at it with fresh eyes. There are things I want to tweak here and there, but I don't feel I have to rewrite the whole darn thing, so I suppose that's progress. We'll see what the next set of readers think. One thing I have noticed, however, is that it could use more description; in fact, it seems more vivid to me in the places there is description. I never feel comfortable including description, so I have to go back over a rough draft and weave it in. Hopefully I can do this here without increasing the word count too much.

How do you feel about description when you're reading a book? I don't like huge tracts of it, but it does help bring the world to life, especially if you appeal to several senses. It seems that some of the subgenres I read, like paranormals or urban fantasy, tend to be sparse on describing the setting and focus more on action. When there is description, it's most likely to be involving a character. Have you noticed any other trends in description?