Is it bad if my first draft straight up lacks necessary plot elements?

[JoshRaed]

(filler text to post this question)

[moontokkym]

Just write the thing, leave a note in the margin for when you come back to edit about your intentions and what needs work. No one is going to see your first draft, it's for you.

[daeygurart]

The general process for novels, novellas, or short stories are rough/first where you put the bones down. Next, second draft where you add the nerves, blood vessels, and organs, then the third draft where you add the muscle, and the final draft where you add the skin.

As morbid as that sounds that generally helps me keep a realistic goal. Like constructing a human body.

[NickRowler]

Didn’t you ask a similar question a month or so ago?

People keep telling you to just write. If you are a beginner, yes your first work might be a bit messy, but you can use that to learn and grow.

These vague questions on the forums where you ask for feedback while giving zero details doesn’t seem very helpful to you.

[DiegoPalacios]

First drafts are not the final work, so don't worry about that. Now that you know some things that are missing, you can edit and improve, making a second draft.

Don't be afraid to make mistakes, we all make them and you can learn from them to do better.

This is part of your learning process, have fun and keep drafting.

[Lensing]

Write a short summary of that story please and share it here

[JoshRaed]

I didn’t want to get distracted in all the little details of why this problem is happening. Like if I said it was because x chapter had x stuff in it and x amount of chapters passed before a certain thing happened because x was happening instead and stuff, that only adds something important if I want people to start co-authoring and telling me how to edit my story in very specific ways like what scenes to cut or something.

[NickRowler]

Then why are you asking the question???

You are telling us your story is...

missing something

unable to contain certain elements without major editing stuff that I don't want to do in a first draft.

the pacing of certain character stuff is very much lacking.

slightly less than the bare minimum

So what kind of feedback do you want?

Or are you just ranting?

Are you looking for a "cheerleader" for emotional support?

I am confused.

[JoshRaed]

How short a summary? Do you mean like a wikipedia plot summary? Does it have to be coherent when read? Because if it has to be coherent that means including way too many details because they’re there before being fully relevant but eventually become too relevant not to establish in a summary.

Also what would you do with it when I gave it? I don’t see why it needs to be given.

[JoshRaed]

I’m just explaining why i’m asking the question. It’s about this story specifically but also it will apply to everything I write after this point. Like I just want to know if I should want to fix this stuff at this stage or leave it. Knowing the exact details won’t help anyone answer that, at least I don’t think it will.

For example:

Electra isn’t introduced until chapter three but then she’s basically not even in chapter 4 except for an out of place scene where she infodumps her personality in order to set up the ensuing drama of chapter 5, meaning we hardly get to see her show these traits, and she also doesn’t form any sort of relationship with Heiroe, positive or otherwise, for most of the story because she’s mostly off in her own plots. Chapter 6 mostly explores her relationship with her father who she mentioned once in chapter 5 and with Nobody, who she only started talking to in chapter 5 because chapter 3 was focused on her dynamic with Heiroe and briefly Red, and chapter four only had one scene between her and Red and that was her only non-action scene of screentime in that chapter.

Does this help answer the question of if my first draft should be missing scenes or not?

[JoshRaed]

So what kind of feedback do you want?

An answer to my question. What else would I ask it for? I’d leave the non-title space blank if I could just do that.

[JoshRaed]

I can’t find a single question like mine that isn’t similarly vague. The fact that I mentioned specifics about my story at all is out of the ordinary based on what i’m seeing.

[Lensing]

The summary is necessary to help you with your question.
We have to know what you got.
Otherwise it´s impossible to give you an answer.
Don´t answer this with further questions please

Example:
A hobbit named Frodo inherits the One Ring,
which can destroy the entire world.
With the recently reawakened evil being Sauron
after the ring to cement his reign,
Frodo joins with eight others to destroy
the Ring and defeat Sauron

[JoshRaed]

It’s like…

Heiroe thinks he’s the chosen one, destined to save the world from evil

But someone else is, an apathetic runaway soldier named Nobody

And he has to keep this person a secret because some powerful magic users want him back.

So he pretends to be the real chosen one to cover for him and they save the world together.

That’s the story I asked about initially.

[vapidink]

It's normal for first/rough drafts to be a mess, they're really just there to get the story down. It's also normal for people to worry about mistakes/issues in the first draft to the point it keeps them from finishing. It can be hard, but you gotta set aside your worries about the things you're doing wrong and just finish the story. You can fix things in the other drafts.

[Mallory]

Yo my first drafts literally have lines like "establish the Main Character's motivations seen in this scene earlier in the chapter" everywhere (except worse grammar).

Sometimes you gotta mix the paper mache before you can sculpt your final masterpiece. The first draft is that paper mache, which allows you to see what you need to do.

[EncryptedWriting]

That's what a draft is for. It is a draft, you build off it. My entire story right now is just a first draft. Do you think that if I went back and looked at my first couple (more than couple lol) chapters that I would be happy and say they are perfect? OH HECK NAH. It's bad, and I know that. Hence why it is a draft.

Here's what I would do: write it out, look at it, see what fits and what doesn't, fill in the plot holes, and try again. Keep doing this till youre satisfied. Drawing/writing a story is not a one day thing -- it takes a whole lot longer than that.

[Lensing]

This is a first draft which makes sense.
In the second draft you will be adding plot points which
are important for the story to happen and keep in mind
what story you want to tell.

You want to tell the story of Heiroe who wants to be the chosen
one and Nobody who is really the chosen and how they save the
world.

Work from big to small. Not the other way around. Are the 2
archenemies with homoerotic tensions important to tell the
story of Heiroe and Nobody? They are not, you can put
them in later if you want to.

Now make the 2nd draft of your story and put in imporant
plot points like the father of Heiroe

[JoshRaed]

Oh... Sorry. I was feeling passive agressive, realized that I had a second story i could ask this question for as well, and swapped out the subject of the question with that other story, because I was kind of bothered by how I had to give specifics plot-wise for this question to be answered when the question was the same regardless of the subject.

Thinking back on it that was really petty and accomplished nothing, and you probably had a good reason to ask this.

[JoshRaed]

I would try this, but the story cannot work without the other two main characters, since entire chapters and subplots hinge on their prescience, and also I already wrote most of the first draft without following this advice so it's too late to attempt it.