It's Drafty Here

[skip.knox]

Does anyone else have trouble figuring out what draft they are on?

My project says Draft 2, but Draft 1 was honestly only about 70% done. I had to write entire chapters to get where I am now. I'm about ready to claim Draft 3, but that's mainly because I'm getting discouraged being still on Draft 2.

I mean, I've had The End written for two years now. I've known the basic shape of the novel for even longer. I've shown full chapters to my critique circle and got good reviews, but I wouldn't present the entire thing to a beta reader yet. I'm close on that.

I see other people talk about writing the first draft as if they have this completed manuscript clearly in need of revision but which has no significant holes. I'm envious. Mine has plenty. Well ventilated, it is.

How do you manage?

Also, when moving to a new draft, I basically duplicate the previous one, which I then archive. Is that how you do it? I don't really go back to that earlier draft, but I can't bear to think it is no longer around. Is that a method you use?

I don't have a real point here; just feeling at loose ends. Not to be confused with split ends. Or defensive ends.

 

[buyjupiter]

I'm one of the rare (?) writers who just writes over the draft. Most any time I'm editing, I'm putting words in and taking comma splices out rather than editing massive blocks of text. Any time I do feel any doubt about which version is better, I block off the new version like this:

['ello mate]

And then move onto editing other things. That said, I don't have a numbered draft system...although maybe I should get one?

I usually feel that the new stuff I've added, and the very limited stuff I take out, is always better than what I had before. Mostly because of my tendency to write the basic structures in, so that I have to come back in and add layers of details, but also because when I write 2k words a day some of them are gonna be cruddy.

Although, this system may bite me in the rear soon. Luckily, for a story I need to take a huge step back from and reevaluate, I kept all the iterations it went through in my sent folder (and nowhere else). So, if I need to take huge chunks out of it and take it down a notch (or three), I have an old version to start from again.

And my first draft always has holes. For example, in the murder mystery short, I am full of plot holes. I reverse outlined the thing (original story 6k words, reverse outline? 2800.) and found where they were and what I was doing in each spot.

Because I don't number my drafts, I often lose track of which edit round I'm on--not that it really matters, since I don't stop at a certain number of edits or get results based on how many edit rounds I do--and I'm sure I exaggerate how many times I've gone through the piece. Just because it usually takes me a week to edit--thoroughly edit from top to bottom, think about every line critically and get feedback and reedit--one short story. (Think how much more work a novel is!)

Do you have anything shorter you could work on for a while, just to get your head clear of the novel for a week or so? That way when you come back to the novel, you're fresher? (And I've also been finding that reading GREAT books in a similar vein to what I'm writing gets me really pumped up to get back to writing/editing. Reading so-so beach reads does not get the same results, I usually go into "I can write better than this". Which I normally can, but I find that if I'm coming to writing out of a place of arrogance my writing's not as emotive, whereas if I'm excited about writing my writing is better all around.)

 

[MineOwnKing]

When using Word, I find it helpful to make side comments. That way I can read the side comments and not the manuscript to locate any bookmarked issues.

When you're ready to send it to an editor, you can erase all the comments and click on save changes.

I also have an archive of saves but they seem pretty useless after publishing. Unless you are writing a book on how to reinvent the wheel, I doubt anybody will ever want to read them.

I have no problems sending a first draft to my developmental editor. I follow the editing comments, plug any holes and send it off to my proofreader.

 

[BWFoster78]

Saving my old drafts gives me the complete freedom to modify the chapter for the new draft.

I understand that the new stuff I write is far superior to the old draft and that there is no real reason to keep it. But saving it keeps away that nagging doubt of "what if I need it because..."

 

[T.Allen.Smith]

I do revisions on a chapter by chapter basis. Some chapters require more work than others. I have chapters that have 10 revisions done on them, and others with only three.

I save every revision copy though, and keep them in one folder within the chapter/POV folder. Whenever I start a new revision, I just rename the document to the next POV/Chapter+revision number. Like this:

Skip-3,Ch6(v7)

Which translates for me to:
POV Skip
POV chapter 3
Overall chapter 6
7th Revision

 

[cupiscent]

My first drafts are hilariously well-ventilated. I have characters who disappear, who magically appear, who change personalities, roles, even genders halfway through. I have plot events that I pretend happened, along with big [MAKE HER SISTER THE ONE WHO DID IT] notes to myself. I have all the stumbles I made as I found my way in the dark to the end point.

With the novel I've been working on, I created an entirely new Scrivener project for the second draft, to keep everything about the first draft - including all my crazy notes and binned half-chapters - intact for reference if needed. (It came in handy. There was a bit where I tied myself in knots trying to solve my middle-problems, and needed to refer back to how I'd solved certain things in the first place.)

I'm getting reader feedback on that now, and starting to prep myself for the third (and hopefully final) draft. I think this is the one that's going to be minor enough - smoothing and cosmetic, very few major renovations - that I'll just work over the second-draft document. But I'll be keeping the exported version that I sent to readers, just in case I mess up and need to put the walls back where they were.

 

[Chessie]

Oh, boy...drafts. My favorite thing ever.

I spend weeks to a couple of months working on a story's structure/elements before writing anything. When I have all the details mostly figured out, I write out a scene list down to details, then I start writing. The draft is just a "maybe this might be how it looks" type of deal. I write to the end, making notes about changes/what doesn't feel right in notes. Sometimes I tweak things BUT I have found that really sets me back, so I pretty much avoid doing that at all costs. When I'm done with the draft, I have something like this:

"Oh, look. A story completely different than what I thought it would be when I brainstormed and planned it out. That's okay. What did I like? What do I not like? What have I discovered?"

The first draft becomes a solid story with red flags and holes that need more filling in/changes. This is when I revisit my premise, plot, character motivations, etc and figure out what's not working (because I never get it right the first time, who does?). I spend a couple of weeks doing this, then go back and make changes to the original manuscript with my enlightened perspective, ending up with draft #2.

 

[Penpilot]

What I consider a Draft is what I call a major pass through the story. Within each major pass I may make multiple minor passes over a scene I want to smooth out. So by the time a story is finished, some scenes will have maybe 5-6 versions, while others may have over 20.

I use Scrivener which has a snapshot function. It allows me to take a snapshot of a scene in its current form. Each time I make a major or minor pass over a scene I take a snapshot before I start making changes. The snapshot function allows me to label, keep, look at, and revert back. It's also a great way to keep everything organized.

There's a tab in scrivener where I can see the old version of a scene and the list looks something like this.

Draft 1
D1-2
D1-3
Draft 2
D1-2

You can see where my major drafts are and the minor revisions versions between them.

As for holes in my drafts. I don't tend to have them, BUT I do have spots where I push through, and a lot of it turns out to be crap. My last book, I pushed through the last half of the book and ended up throwing the last half away and rebuilding from scratch. Some things I salvaged, but lots got thrown out.

It might seem wasteful, but the way I looked at it was when I pushed through, I discovered what didn't work and where I didn't want the story to go. The ending turned out way better because I had a firmer grasp of who my characters were and where their stories were headed.

 

[Philip Overby]

I'll detail my process because I think that's the best way to explain it. And I admittedly like making lists.

1. Come up with a concept. Knock it around a bit and see if it's something worth pursuing. Maybe mention it to writer friends and brainstorm it a bit.

2. Once I'm happy with the idea, I may outline it if it's something that may require a bit more managing (which always helps me; I'm not a pantser at heart I guess). Or in some cases, usually with short stories, I'll just write it straight out of my head until I get stuck, then I'll outline the last parts.

3. I'll start what I consider my first draft. For me this means writing from the beginning to the end with little to no edits. The completed version of this would be my first draft. I usually wouldn't show this to other people.

4. I content edit as much as I can. This would be my second draft. Changing parts, taking out stuff, adding stuff, etc. Giving the skeleton some meat to hang off it.

5. I line edit next. This would be a third draft. Sniping weird sentences, word choice, cleaning up the prose. I'm not very good at this part, but I manage.

6. I do a read over of what I've written so far. Any changes I make would probably still be considered my third draft unless I make huge changes to various aspects of the story. Then I may consider it a fourth or fifth draft depending on the changes. So for me, a draft kind of means a "version." So if in the third draft the dragon eats the villagers and in the fourth draft it's a chimera that eats the villagers, that's a big enough change that I'd consider it a new draft. If the villagers eat the chimera, then that would necessitate another draft. If the villagers all eat each other...well, you see where it's going.

7. Happy with what I've come up with so far, I've done about all I can do. I give it over to alpha readers (or critique partners, which I assume has the same meaning). After I get comments from maybe two or three people, then I know I'm ready for a new draft. So I take (presumably) the third draft and make changes based on alpha reader suggestions. I try to clean up language I missed, deal with clarity issues, cut unnecessary characters, look at pacing, all that jazz. This would be my fourth draft (going on the idea that the previous one was the third draft).

8. I make whatever changes need to be made and give them over to beta readers (which means I hope it's as polished as it's going to get and I want a more "reader-based" perspective.) After getting some feedback there (this sucked, this was good, I liked when the villagers ate each other) then I'll take those suggestions and make a fifth draft.

9. From my estimation the fifth draft would be a FINAL (in all caps). This draft can be changed 100 times and I'm still going to consider it a FINAL. Meaning this is the version of the story I'm going with and any changes at this point are more than likely going to be very minor. The FINAL draft can be changed several times or no times. But in general it's going to be the closest I get to it being finished.

10. Once I've made the final changes based on alpha and beta readers, then made any last minute changes I want to make, then it goes out into the world. Either submitting it or sharing it or whatever the way I plan.

11. Then if I get reader feedback (hopefully) this makes me think about what decisions I made and molds the way I may make future decisions on future books. This prevents me from drafting for an eternity and never finishing anything because I want it to be 100 percent perfect. I'm not a perfect person therefore I'm not a perfect writer. So putting that bumper sticker on my head, I go out into the world ready for whatever challenge awaits me next and/or cry myself to sleep.

12. Repeat Step 1.

 

[Caged Maiden]

I'm probably not normal, so that's my disclaimer, but My process has changed a lot over the last decade, so here is the best I've come up with:

1. Write the whole complete first draft. If I stop halfway through and go back to the beginning to change stuff and then write the ending, it's still a first draft.

2. Enact target editing strategy, reading the completed manuscript for big problems. Take a tally of which scenes need to be cut and which need to be strengthened. Rewrite those elements and read through again. When that's satisfactory, that's good, move on to next step.

3. Focus on the inner rings of Target Editing, making sure everything makes sense and clarity is good and pacing is good and sentence structure is good. Once I'm thoroughly happy with the draft, I call it second draft.

4. Time for the nitty-gritty shit. Word choices, critter comments about finalizing clarity issues, getting into the little teeny things that either immerse a critter or jar them. Once those things are fixed, the second draft is "polished".

5. From there, any future things are considered part of my "final draft" by which I mean it's as complete as I can make it and I'm done except for time-stalling tinkering. My final draft is a second draft I've whipped into shape with all I've got, and it's gotta stand up on its own. Beta readers might offer some insights and i might make a couple changes, but I'm way past big changes, merely reordering sentences or changing words here or there for clarity.

I don't save old drafts because my computer gets clogged up with crap and I've too often found myself looking for edits on a draft, only to realize I was four chapters into editing an old draft and have wasted my time. I guess that's a hazard people with only one current novel wouldn't run into, but I've got a pile of work on my PC that I often don't look at for months, so...stupid as it sounds, I need to keep drafts current and once I've said, "yeah, I don't need that anymore", I chuck it out.

It isn't that I don't do a dozen passes on a novel, it's just that it sounds silly to me to call them all drafts, since my work follows a structure. If someone asked me to "crit my novel's twelfth draft" I'd think them a touch mad, not because I don't understand they've worked hard on it, but because I wonder what it means to have a twelfth draft. Are they a hopeless tinkerer? Rewriting the same story twelve times? I just mean that hearing a large number like that doesn't give me a lot of confidence my critting will benefit them in a huge way, if they can't make decisions on their own, or are struggling so evidently with their story. I think I've given my current WiP probably a dozen passes, but mostly it was because I had mysteries I had to keep going back and changing. That being said, this is the last time I'm going to have to learn some of the lessons I learned by biting off this huge project. Now that I'm more comfortable with editing in the first place, I'll be more decisive in future projects, which will hopefully result in less passes. But I don't count each editing pass a draft, because the changes weren't that remarkable in each pass.