I wasn't really sure what to expect with this first draft; how harsh I would be on myself or how detailed I would be with the formatting / scene descriptions. Was it better to nail everything as I went and fix problems early, or was it better to blurt it all out in one horrible explosion and then go back to pick through the wreckage later on?
Turns out I'm doing a little of both. I'm really focussing on the dialogue and paying hardly any attention to screen directions, scene headings or proper formatting; I'm just popping in basic notes to remind me when we change location or how someone reacts. This is really letting me go crazy with the dialogue - and even though I know I'm waaaay overwriting everything, at least it's helping me get into the heads of the characters (and gives me something to distil later on). But if I have an idea later on about something I want to change, or if something is bugging me, then I will still go back and tweak it before I move on. No major rewrites, just little fixes here and there. Gotta keep those pages coming!
I'm feeling pretty good about it at the moment, to be honest. And I think that comes with the fact that I'm allowing myself to (largely) just dump everything out of my head, with the knowledge that, for the moment, the goal is to just get the bloody story out - I'll make it good later on. It doesn't need to be perfect just yet. Which is hard for me to accept - but also quite liberating too.
I think this quote sums things up rather nicely. As long as my second draft isn't the same, then I'll be happy!
