The First Draft
“The faster you blurt, the more swiftly you write, the more honest you are. In hesitation is thought. In delay comes the effort for a style, instead of leaping upon truth which is the only style worth deadfalling and tiger-trapping.” — Ray Bradbury
“Every first draft is perfect because all the first draft has to do is exist. It’s perfect in its existence. The only way it could be imperfect would be to NOT exist.” ― Jane Smiley
The first draft is just you telling yourself the story. — Terry Pratchett
Remember, the First quarter of your story is typically about setting up your character’s Mistaken Belief, or Lie. But from the First Plot Point on, that Lie’s days are numbered. Your task moving forward is to slowly and methodically unravel the Lie and help the character find the Truth that will allow them to change and grow in understanding or wisdom.
This first draft should be the entire first quarter of the story–even of very rough–and then just a hint at the First Plot Point, the turning point when something happens that moved the protagonist from passive to active, from their normal world, to the adventure, no-turning-back world.
Your task is to write the entire first section up to and including that turning point…