The view from the mountaintop

One of the rea­sons for cre­at­ing mul­ti­ple drafts of your fic­tion is that you learn more and more about what you are writing.

Con­sid­er your first draft as a view from the top of the moun­tain. You see the con­tours of the land. You know where the for­est is, where large pas­tures lay. You may even have seen a riv­er pass­ing through. It is, how­ev­er, only when you descend into the val­ley, into the land­scape, that you see more and more. You observed a riv­er. But did you see all the streams, creeks, and rivulets which fed that riv­er? Did you see the geo­log­i­cal changes? You saw the for­est. But did you real­ize it con­tains spruce, fir, and lodge pole pine, nev­er mind the tiny blue alpine flow­ers hid­den in crevices? You may have even seen an eagle soar­ing over the val­ley, but I’m sure you did not see those sparkling jew­els, the hummingbirds.

It takes time to see the details of your own sto­ry, set­ting, and char­ac­ters. It’s like any friend: the more you are with them, the more you learn about them. I if you are real­ly lucky, you will dis­cern a few things nobody else has seen. Your read­ers will love you when you share those discoveries.