As I’m working on book one of the Epic Fantasy Series, I’m trying out the concept of a really rough draft: leaving out names of places and people if I haven’t figured out what they are yet, writing notes to myself as reminders, and just throwing in mini-outlines at certain points if I don’t quite know what’s going to happen in a particular scene yet. This is a different method for a first draft than I’ve tried before, and it’s quite freeing! Rather than get hung up on the details at this stage, I can let the story flow for now, with the reassurance that I’ll go back later and fill in/fix up the things that I’m passing over at the moment.
It does leave me with some (to me, at least) semi-humorous bits here and there, such as:
“…and targeted at the ears of the horses. [is this even a thing? Are horse ears sensitive? As per that one tumblr post, seems like yes, but should look into this]…”
And:
“-C very emotional about losing drum
-they feed him, get him settled for the night?? What time of day even is it.”
(I think it’s late afternoon, actually, but I’ll work it out for sure later. XD)
~Ethelinda
ethelinda writes 
Dear Miss Webb,
Ok, that’s definitely rough, but it seems like a good strategy to me, especially since you’re enjoying the pace. And if you get a kick out of the notes as a byproduct, that’s just a bonus! 🙂
P.S. No Facebook post for today! We have to keep our non-Google+ Facebook friends in the loop! Otherwise they might miss out entirely on the horse ears!
It’s very rough, but it is definitely working thus far! 🙂
(Ah, sorry about that. Facebook and WordPress don’t always play nicely together, and I don’t always have the patience to muck around with it.)
First draft really is all about flow and getting raw ideas and emotions out there. We can always fill in the details later!
Indeed! I’ve generally written more “filled-in” first drafts in the past, pausing to decide on people and place names and things like that, but I think I’ll enjoy doing it this way much better. Having gotten most of the way through the process with one book now, I’m much more comfortable with the idea of multiple drafts and the editing process in general, so that definitely helps.