*smile*

[alixtii]

I found the notebook that had the Buffy/Giles in it! Now I'll just need to transcribe those portions, not have to recreate them from scratch (not that it would be difficult to do so, but one is never satisfied with it as much when one writes it the second time, because one always has an idealized version of the first time--as I'm sure you all know

Comments

[alixtii]

Objectively speaking, the two versions are probably always about the same--indeed, when I find the first version again afterwards, just how similar the two are is almost always shocking. I have two notebooked versions of a TLiH scene (one where Fr. Marcus picks up Faith, Kennedy, and Maddy at the airport) which are almost exactly the same, even the points which I thought were new and innovative. It's scary.

This is very different than when I write a second draft--for example when I make changes or add embellishments while transcribing something I notebooked. Those are all improvements--obviously, since I wouldn't make the changes otherwise.

But when I don't have access to a draft anymore, and fear I will never have access to that draft anymore, I tend to ideallize. I know that some of the turns of phrase I come up with the second time 'round are improvements, but I also know other fall short of my first version--there are always transitions which seemed natural in the first version, but are forced in the second version so as to artificially parallel what was already created organically the first time.

[alixtii]

If I'm writing for a 'thon (and pretty much everything I post anymore is for a 'thon), I make sure I have some idea of where the story's going before I start writing, because I don't have time the night before (or, more commonly, the day of) to explore. When I'm working on other pieces, I might let myself explore, but less so than when I started writing fic; usually I do most of that in my head. I guess there's a sense in which I always have that "first draft" in my head, though, when I'm writing for a 'thon.

I don't usually make drafts, but if I'm writing on the train I don't have a choice because then I need to notebook it and transcribe it later; and I write on the train a fair bit because the train ride is boring otherwise. (And when I transcribe, I also often have to go back and put the prompts in, because I can never remember what they were supposed to be all that well when I'm on the train.)

Also, sometimes when I'm notebooking on the train I'll just start writing and explore, because it's not like that's lost time; I have to be on the train anyway so I might as well amuse myself however I see fit. "By Her Side" was really written like that; it wasn't due for several days still, but I started playing around with an idea. Which probably explains why the first draft jumps around so much (see what I mean here) compared to the sadly lost first draft of "The Eyes of Love."

And I think all of us, even those of us without kids, know the experience of losing a draft on a computer!