THE FIRST DRAFT & WHAT LIES THERE

So, if you've been keeping up with me (which you might not have since I'm not that interesting) you'll know that I just finished my first draft of The Scion. It was fun, it was exciting and it was awesome. Then, after typing 'the end' in shiny caps and dancing and squeeing in delight, it hit me. It's not done. The fantastic (and terrifying) thing about writing is that you're never done. And if you think you're done, you're fooling yourself.

And I have news for you folks: the first draft will never be perfect. Even if you outline. Even if you spent months planning, and re-planning and making complicated logistical diagrams the size of China. When you write 'the end' the first time, that just means you're getting a break. In a few days (or weeks) you will have work to do. But how do you know what work you have to do?

Sometimes you don't. Sometimes you have no idea and in your eyes your baby is the sparkliest, most intelligent, most beautiful strange vampire/human hybrid that never walked (or crawled) the earth. (Also, this is a lie. LIE.) So, to balance out your clearly biased opinion, you need to ship it off to beta readers. Don't tell them what to look for. If they're smart enough, they'll know. (And they should be smart, FYI.) They'll find that plot hole, or this character inconsistency, or they'll tell you: um, dude, THIS MAKES NO SENSE. WTF?! (Except, nicer. Always be nice.)

So my advice: have fun with your first draft. You're going to have to fix it anyway. Jot down thing you know  you'll have to fix and during your first read through, go back and fix it. Then when it's as shiny as you can make it, send it off to beta readers. That is all.