Novel First Draft Example Novels & Stories

Today I actually write it. I ask Elena for notepaper without explaining why. She brings it without asking, which is one of the small things I have come to appreciate about Elena.. she has decided, somewhere along the way, that her job is to make things run smoothly and not to understand why. She is very good at her job. I sit at the small desk by the window with the notepaper and a pen and I begin. The first draft is too cold. Two paragraphs of careful language that sound like a contract response, all acknowledgment and no person. I read it back and hear Gloria in every sentence.. the performed distance, the preemptive armor.. and I fold it in half and set it aside.

He worked on the book through the winter and spring and summer and into the next winter. Not every day. Not even every week, sometimes. The book was patient. The book waited. The book was there when he came back to it, the pages accumulating, the shape of the thing becoming clearer with each addition. The introduction was the hardest part. He wrote it six times. The first draft was too professional. It read like a restaurant foreword, the explanation of a philosophy rather than the account of a person. He'd used words like culinary philosophy and approach to ingredients and all the language that belonged in a press kit, not in a personal document. He'd read it back and thought: this could be

she said. "Yes," he said. "That's why I'm showing you." She read it. He waited. It was good. Not polished — it was a first draft in a notebook, written by a fifteen-year-old who was still learning the mechanics of the thing even as he demonstrated an instinctive sense of what the thing was for. But good in the way that mattered before the mechanics were mastered, which was that it was honest. It had a voice. It said something that was true about the experience it was describing and it said it in a way that was specific rather than general, particular rather than vague.

And still, she stepped closer, daring the storm to claim her. Cheesy? Maybe. But also kind of hot. I could live with that. For hours, I got lost in the rhythm of typing and deleting, of imagining and twisting the tension between two people who were clearly doomed but couldn’t stay away. My words came out smoother now and less self-conscious. Until I opened the wrong folder. Or maybe the right one. I hadn’t touched it since the day I left. The Original Manuscript. It was still titled “Breathless Nights”.

Because some things require the weight of paper and the commitment of a stamp and the knowledge that you held the thing in your hands before you sent it. I write four versions. The first one is too much. Everything I feel and all of it true and none of it for her to have without earning it. I throw it away. The second is too careful. So managed it says nothing real. I throw that away too. The third is three sentences and too short to mean anything. The fourth one I write at eleven at night at the kitchen island and Dominic comes out at eleven thirty and sees me and the scattered drafts and sits across from me without asking. He reaches across and takes one of the discarded versions and reads

However, I implore you greatly not to dump the book because of him, be patient and watch him beg me and you for forgiveness, watch him grovel down for our acceptance. The storyline is one of a kind I can assure you. The hint I can give about it is that you won’t regret giving this novel a chance if you’re currently giving it a chance. I have the most beautiful thing plotted out for you. That should be all. I’d also like to inform you that English is not my first language, Incase my grammatical skills acts as the trigger that wants you to put my book down. I’m heavily working on improving myself, and although the writing of this book might start out shabby for you. Best believe it got better.

First of all, thank you so much to everyone who has been following along with the story! The journey so far has been filled with excitement, anxiety, partial loss of sanity, sleepless nights, and many, many pushes of the delete button 😂 The story and characters are continuously developing, but please know that for right now, this is a first draft. I try to make it as perfect as I can to still post daily, but I know it is still full of mistakes. As the author, your feedback is extremely important to me. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

Author's note Hi guys i hope your enjoying the book so far i Know there are a few grammatical errors and spelling mistakes in the book please bare with me as this is my first novel and i'm getting a feel for the editing ect. Thank you guys again for following the book and i hope you'll leave a review! DanahLouise x