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Creative Update
I got the chance to read the first draft of a story of mine in front of a group of people this past weekend. I’m starting to see how the creative process is more like cleaning up a mess than anything else. I remember learning in art class long ago that Michelangelo (the sculptor, not the ninja) was once asked how he created his statues. He replied that he simply took a piece of marble and cut away anything that was not the statue. The art of writing is kind of the same way. When I read my story aloud, it my spidey sense was tingling. There was too much exposition… too many words… too much repetition.
Much like Michelangelo’s chunk of marble, the first draft of a story needs to be cut, molded, and shaped. There was a whole hunk of stuff in there that was distinctly not the story. I tend to repeat myself when I’m charging through a rough draft. It helps me keep certain details of the tale close-at-hand in my short-term memory. Unlike the sculpting of marble, we writers can’t just dig a story draft out of the ground and start cutting.
We have to put our story ideas into a bucket and pour them out in one big lump. That lump is the first draft. Hidden inside the lump somewhere is the story you’ve envisioned. Once you’ve finished the first draft, it’s time to start sorting through the muck and separating what is the story from what is not. But you have to get that lump out there, otherwise you have nothing to work with. That’s why first drafts are allowed to suck.
I actually have a bit of a problem with this. Psychologically, when something has an ending on it (e.g. a first draft), deep down inside I feel like it’s finished. It’s on the paper and out of my head. I haven’t actualy started on my second draft of that story yet, and that’s something I need to work on this week.