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

[TheLemmaLlama]

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.

If you just can't think of how to make the bones though, I say you might as well make the skin, if that's what's coming to you most easily. You CAN stuff the bones, muscles and organs in later, and if the skin rips in the process, just make some new skin It may not be ad efficient as an inside-out process where you don't risk having to remake the skin bc it got ripped, but it's better than not starting at all XD

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

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

Maybe he's legit just fine with general answers, even if he doesn't respond to them or hit the like button. I say just give general answers like you would if this thread was started by anyone else, and if he wants more specific feedback, he can ask for it.

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).

Oh hecc, in this case I guess I do have a first draft after all XD I've always thought of myself as having an outline plus some scene drafts but not a draft for the whole story; but yes absolutely; don't be afraid to just literally write down your intentions verbatim

(I've said something similar when it comes to summaries/descriptions for your series; if you can't write a nice/'official'-sounding, 'blurby'/'prosey' description, just write down your intentions verbatim; that certainly describes your series well enough for me to see if it's my thing and check it our if so XD)

[JoshRaed]

Maybe he's legit just fine with general answers, even if he doesn't respond to them or hit the like button. I say just give general answers like you would if this thread was started by anyone else, and if he wants more specific feedback, he can ask for it.

That’s actually what I wanted. It’s why I had any references to the story i was asking about edited out so it would be a question about no story in particular. Also the advice I got once I did summarize it could have been given without the summary (write the most bare-bones core narrative stuff and then add the side stuff that deviates from that in any way later on in the second draft).

I don’t get what’s different about my question that it needs to be elaborated upon. Like no one else does this and I didn’t ask “How do I make grognafh the terrible change his mind about stealing the amulet of truth in a believable way” or something, I asked a pretty basic and nonspecific question.

[JoshRaed]

Maybe this is unrelated, but is there a reason why this question didn’t stand on its own for you? Because I honestly see no reason why i’d need to know more about the story being written to answer this if someone asked me this question.

[Lensing]

The summary that you have written is what a first draft can look like.
Add all the fancy shit in draft 26.

The homoerotic couple doesn´t need to be in the first draft.
Build on your summary / first draft and add details later.

I´m looking forward to read the second draft

[JoshRaed]

Wait do you mean that the first draft is like an outline? Or do you mean something else?

Also what would the first draft for moana or for star wars if it followed this rule? How do you separate just the absolute core plot stuff from everything else in a way that is coherent and rational. Which parts of star wars would you cut and how would you add them back in in a normal feeling way?

Also I just explained that I did a weird dumb thing, and basically the gay rivals are part of a completely different story than the chosen wads. They’re not in ANY draft of it.

And why does the question have to be about me? I only asked this because I didn’t have the good sense to google it, not because it’s a personal question that has a different answer when I ask it then when someone else asks it. I honestly should have realized it was a google question and not a forum question when I realized it was literally a yes or no question.

[JoshRaed]

Add all the fancy shit in draft 26.

Does any well-written non-tv show story just have “fancy shit” sprinkled in that the story could have been cut but wasn’t, aside from game of thrones/lord of the rings? Where’s the superfluous nonsense in citizen kane? Or the hunger games?

Like… what would I cut? Electra has an entire chapter about a thing she does when she shows up, and an entire chapter centered on just her, and is the one who gets them across the dome to the dark zone, which cannot be cut from the story and has no reason to let them in without her influence? She also informs the main characters on what the dark zone is like when none of them have ever seen it. Or how about the sister, who is the way the main characters find the rebellion that becomes a core element of the second and third seasons, and is largely the glue that ties the whole team together as they all open up to her first emotionally. The king, who informs the main characters feelings and choices with his influence and basically kicked off this entire plot with his actions before it all started?

[JoshRaed]

@joannekwan can you close this thread? The question has been answered.

[JoshRaed]

I just realized that I never thanked you for this advice. It was a big help. Like if I'd stopped to research basic stuff and fill in the gaps in my story all throughout nanowrimo I would not have a finished first draft yet because I'd be two busy trying to find out how high a flea can jump or where the pink dress from "gentlemen prefer blondes" is being kept, either that or trying to fill plot holes/think of added scenes I could put in the story.

So thank you.

[joannekwan]