First Draft

I have heard and have read the above written statement so many times from so many authors... yet, I still have trouble accepting it. I'm not saying that my first drafts are perfect when they are written. They are far from that. 

When I start to write new book, I don't just write the first draft. No. Not a chance. I can say - I write two or three drafts almost at the same time. You're probably wondering how that's even possible, but for me it is. Many of you might disagree with my explanation, but that's fine.

I said many times, I'm not a plotter... I'm a panster to the core the moment I sit down and start to write and because of that, I get into trouble so many times. 

I write a chapter, two or maybe three... and simply somewhere in the middle of the story, my character/s decide to turn the story around. Fine. No problem, but... sometimes the turn doesn't fit in the story that's already down on the paper. And I have to go back and change the story to fit in with the new development at that moment. I can't just leave it the way it is and change it later when I finish it. I can't. 

I must say I admire all the writers that joins in the NaNoWriMo every November. To write the first draft in a month. For me - this is simply impossible. Not because of my day job, but because, sometimes I'm stuck with the turns my characters make. And there is one more thing - as soon as I know the ending of the story, I have a hard time writing it down. To finish it. To let the characters go. So, I change their fate few times, before I write the final words 'The End'. 

And this is why I say I write two or three drafts of the same story almost at the same time. It's time consuming, believe me. It is. But this is my process of writing. Simply me. I tried to change, but it's literally impossible.

So when my editor gets my novel into her hands, she gets fourth or the fifth version of it - and try not to laugh, she still finds holes in the story that need to be fixed. That need my attention.

First draft.  

Ummm... No! There are two or three...

Have you seen the weather on the first photo? That's me. That's the storm gathering in me, every time my characters start to whisper in my ears. 

Perhaps that's my way of being calm...