the craft. the zero draft as discovery.
“It’s not binary: writing doesn’t have to be perfect on the first try or it’s garbage. Art making is a durational practice. We work the material, and the material works us.” - Gabriela Denise Frank, “Against the Shitty First Draft”/Brevity Magazine
I’m struck by a few things in this passage. The first, “art is a durational practice.” This is such an important concept to me here in 2024. Since I started Good Morning, Love in 2017, it’s been nonstop writing. I’ve written two manuscripts, I have a piece of another, and I’m currently drafting something new. But this current work in progress is the first time that I’m not feeling any pressure on the timing to get it done. I think a driving force with those other manuscripts was, will I be able to publish another book? Like how do I not miss this moment, which who’s to say hasn’t already passed, but I wanted to feel like I would be ready for the moment if it came. Like publishing wasn’t going to be waiting on me because I didn’t have finished material. I felt like I was trying to write my way to something, and now I understand that I’m simply writing, and whatever happens, happens. A story takes the time it takes to come together.
The other part of this that resonates with me is “we work the material and the material works us.” That’s exactly how I feel about my current draft. I love the fact that I’m not even really sure what the story is about yet, but it’s coming together every time I sit down to write. I’d had some passages, literally just scraps of writing in a notebook, but essentially, I started this project from scratch at the launch of the 1k words of summer challenge. Forcing myself to write and seeing where it went, slowly started to help my story take shape in a way that I don’t think sitting around and thinking about it versus actually writing it, would have done. Magical things start to happen when you get words on the page.
This is one of the first times that a first draft truly feels like an act of discovery for me. Typically with my first drafts, I know that it’s the foundation of the story and yes, it’s bare bones, but I’m going to go in and beef it up. This story feels like the first time I might be writing a zero draft that I scrap and start over once I really know what the story is about. Maybe. LOL. That feels scary as I write it, but it’s possible. Normally, a lot of that happens in my head before I put pen to paper, but this has truly been an exercise in seeing what happens when that discovery takes place on the page. It’s been eye opening, and exciting, and everytime I have to stop writing, it feels like I’m peeling myself away from this world I’ve created, which is a beautiful part of writing.
I love the moments when I’m writing and something happens that I truly didn’t even think about ahead of time. The words, the rhythm of banging out writing with no real destination reveals these cool plot elements or things about characters that you didn’t even realize were going to happen. I remember in another manuscript, all of a sudden my character was in therapy and I didn’t know that was going to happen, but it came together as I sat with them and journeyed with them through their circumstances.
In Frank’s piece, she talks about the first draft and how so often we want to relegate it to being bad, when really, it’s simply a part of our process and we can decide to frame it however we see fit. In this season, I’m not necessarily worried about how good or bad this first draft is. It’s simply a first draft. It’s simply telling the story to myself. It’s simply getting to know the characters. I mean I literally first said my main character was from D.C. and later said they were from Chicago and I was like which one is it, sis? But now I get to feel that out. I get to say, where does it make most sense for her to be from? Same thing with a character that went from Nene to Nena. I don’t know any of these people yet and something about this first draft feels like my opportunity to get to know them.
I’m not worried about how intoxicating the language is or honestly how holey the plot may be. It’s all about exploration. This slight shift in perspective takes a lot of the pressure off. It allows me to be present in the work without putting so much emphasis on its final form. What I know right now is that I’m excited in a way that I haven’t been in a while. I know that I’m already on course to pass the word count of the other half written manuscript I have which means I’m a bit more passionate about this idea right now. And because I have a track record, I know that wherever the draft lands, I can make it into a real book because I've done that work before. It’s muscle memory at this point.
Every time we start a new project, there is a blank page. Then somehow, eighty thousand words later, you have a book. It’s some of the most rewarding work I’ve done in my writing career so far, taking these wild notions and ideas and turning them into stories that someone else wants to read. Creating characters that evoke emotion, building worlds that highlight themes I deem important and want to showcase through my works of fiction, is truly the stuff my writing dreams are made of.
My approach to every single manuscript I’ve finished has been a little different. That’s something that I didn’t anticipate. I thought, find the formula to write a book and stick to it. But that’s not creativity at all, is it? Creativity is breathing and alive, and at every new space you’re in as a human, your creativity will take on different forms. This version of me is much more free than the author who started Good Morning, Love. I mean I’m writing out of sequence for God’s sake.
But ultimately, I’m here for the duration of what it means to be a writer. I know it because of how thrilling it is every time I take to the page. Every time I can feel something electric happening between two characters in a scene. Even if I was to never traditionally publish again, you would never be able to stop me from writing stories and it’s my hope to continue to get even better with time.
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