First Draft of Medusa is Complete, So Now What?

There’s an old adage about writing first drafts that I’ve used as a mantra these past few months:

“The first draft, very simply, is to make the story exist.”

I start with this not to say that the first draft of Medusa; Or Men Entombed in Winter is not good. I happen to think it’s very good. But I start with this to temper expectations around potential release dates, beta readers anxious for something to read, and others comments around the lines of “wow, that was fast! Can’t believe you’re done already!”

Before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s start here: For those who did not see it on social media, I completed the first draft of my next book earlier this week.

It currently sits at 68K words, approximately 290 pages or so. When I finished the first draft of Whalers last year, it was 40K words. The final version, published in February, was 63K.

Yes, you read that right. 23K words were added from first draft to final published version. And Medusa is already longer than the final draft of Whalers.

That’s because first drafts are really, at least for me, no more than a skeleton of the overall story. There are organs that still need to be added. There’s muscle, and nerves, and skin, and hair, and freckles, and everything that makes a human being a human being that still need to be added. But none of that could hold any weight without a strong skeleton. If you don’t have a skeleton, you don’t have anything.

Think of it like this:

You write a story about waking up, going to the grocery store. Suddenly, there’s a robbery! You step up, stop the robbery, and go home. End of story.

That’s a great first draft! There’s a story there, somewhere. Theres a beginning, a middle, and an end. We’ve got something. It exists.

But then, the second draft starts — you think about how much it would add if the robber is actually a high school friend of yours? That really adds some weight. So, you need to go back and add some flashback scenes of the time that you knew each other. Maybe the things that are said during the robbery are much different?

Maybe, because he’s now your friend, you go about stopping the robbery in a different way than you previously thought. We should change how it’s stopped. Tie it all together. Perfect! Second draft is complete. We’re getting somewhere.

You may now notice notice that your story is really lacking any strong descriptions and vivid language. What does the bread aisle actually look like? You just said “the bread aisle”. Are their employees working? What are they doing during the robbery? What if two of the employees were in a relationship and they protect each other throughout the day? That’s beautiful. Add. Cut. Add some more.

Then, you send it to your editor. There’s a good chance they have a number of comments that you hadn’t even considered. Take them with a grain of salt. They are an editor, not a writer. You don’t have to use all of it, but there’s probably some good stuff there.

By the time this is all taken care of, what you finished with is far beyond what you started with. This is how I work.

Medusa; Or Men Entombed in Winter. First draft is complete. Now the hard work really begins.

I’ll keep you guys updated.

Love you guys.