The Epic First Draft

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Ernest Hemingway also said, "All first drafts are shit."

I take heart.

My critique group met last night at Marie Martin's house(http://mariefmartin.com). They offered me feedback on a first draft that once depicted an eccentric woman who watched people and made up stories about them... you know, sort of like me. Ahem! Things have changed.

My first draft has become epic and hardly resembles the simple story I set
out to tell. The group reminded me that my original idea wasn't interesting.   Once the story expanded and I got more comfortable with the characters, then the narrative grew exponentially.

So where does a writer find the balance between bad-writer-epic and riveting-simple-story? Experience shows that the third or fourth draft might reveal such a balance. But first I write half again too much content in the first draft, and my wonderful critique members suffer through with me. My favorite statement from last night's meeting: "You mean that you don't remember when Grandma Lurlene gave her the 1986 Buick for graduation?" No, they had not.

Photo taken from:  
brainpickings.org

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