Is it a bad idea to linger too long on a first draft?
I'm currently working on the first draft of a screenplay, and it's not very good right now.
It's little things; some parts go too quickly or slowly, other dialogue exchanges need improvement, and the word choice could be better.
This isn't surprising, since first drafts tend not to be great, but I'm worried that I may be lingering too long on parts my first draft, when it isn't even finished.
I'm thinking that it may be a better idea to just get my first draft completed, then worry about the details during a second run through it. At least then I have a better picture of the overall plot. Would that be a good idea?
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1 answer
It's an excellent idea.
Your considerations are quite correct - a first draft can be absolutely terrible; most of its value is in fleshing out general details, structure and plot. It gives you a skeleton framework which you can the edit the heck out of. Therefore, there's no reason to worry if some parts are not all they could be. You know what improvement they need (if they remain as-is); you don't know what'll be needed for the parts you haven't written yet. So first, finish the draft.
Or look at it this way: there's no point in tightening up a dialogue and polishing it to perfection if next week you decide that your one-legged ballet dancer should actually be a tap-dancing robot. If you spend your time making the current scenes marvelous, that's effort that'll be wasted if you need to change just about anything - and you most assuredly will. So, yes, having a complete first draft will give you a much firmer foundation to build (and edit) around.
(Of course, every author has their own creative process; not everybody uses a first draft in this particular fashion. But my understanding is that this view of a first draft is exceedingly common and highly recommended - plus, it sounds like you're leaning in the same direction anyway :P )
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