There have been many. Oh so many. Drafts of Pre-Apocalyptic (formerly Selcouth (formerly Drake Hill)) because the first writing advice I really internalized was to start over instead of editing first drafts.
But since the series changed so drastically with each new draft (I first had the idea at the ripe age of twelve), every draft was still a "first draft" and hardly nothing similar remained. Hell, Cel and Viv used to be dragons that lived in a high tech mansion imbedded in mount everest. We've come a long way! (I'm suddenly realizing that they do now live in a mountain again, funny, that was unintentional.)
But there has been one detail that has stayed consistent. The Coffee Shop Scene.
When I wrote that fabled first draft (the *actual* first) there was always going to be this scene. I could see it plainly. Sophia and Lilly waiting for a bus, it's storming outside, and they are drinking coffee after having run away from home. (In the first draft, they were told to go to "Drake Hill" which was a magically hidden city in the Catskill mountains that their parents grew up in.)
When they exit the coffee shop, Lilly trips and is helped up by a "grey stranger" (in demeanor and color pallet, not of the alien variety). Originally I had no idea where I was going with that, but I figured I would make it work. And make it important. Make them important.
Fast forward to now, many years and drafts later. The harper twins (Sophia and Lilly) are running away from home, they are heading to the Catskill mountains. Now, however, they are heading to a port city, a place slipped neatly between the fabrics of reality, not so much a tear, but maybe a dropped stitch? (My fiance who knits would be able to confirm that or not.) The port (Port Lace) exists in three places at once, you can go in, but you can't always leave the same way.
Sophia and Lilly are running, they don't know from what, only that their parents are gone, their aunt is gone, and they have a compass.
So they stop at a coffee shop, a cute little place near a bus stop.
And Lilly slips just before boarding.
But now I know who helps her up.
So I suppose, even if this is maybe the millionth first draft, this is progress.
