How Many Drafts?

I’m sure I’ve talked about this somewhere else, but it’s worth talking about again. Well, maybe. You tell me.

Most of the reason I have a blog at all is being a writer. That’s mostly fiction, but not entirely, and part of that “not entirely” is the outlet the blog gives me for random things. In earlier times, most of what I post would be considered journaling, but some of it would be closer to an essay or article, although most of those would have to be cleaned up and made a little (or a lot) less conversational to really pass for either.

In this case, you could probably call the rest of this post a “how to write” article, but I don’t want anyone to necessarily take it as advice or direction. It’s really more of a “how I write” article. This is what works for me.

My fiction usually works on a four-draft process.

First Draft: get the story out of my skull. Sometimes quickly, sometimes not so much.

Second Draft: fix the broken bits. The first draft of every story has things to fix, from changing eye colours or spellings to gaping plot holes. Take care of them.

Third Draft: make it pretty. Now that the story works, this is where I make sure that the word choices are what I want them to be and that the story says what I want it to say.

Final Draft: read it out loud. Because there’s always something that gets missed and if my tongue trips over something, that’s a good indicator I’ve found something to look at.

There’s a read through between the first and second drafts where I make the equivalent of notes in the margins to draw my attention to the problems that need fixing, but I don’t usually do more than fix the occasional typo on the reading pass.

At novel length, there’s also what I sometimes refer to as the zeroth draft. Most folks call this plotting or outlining, but the zeroth draft for me can be anything from writing a single sentence per planned chapter (which might get split or merged at some point, depending on length) to several hundred words worth of outline per planned scene.

At the other end of the length spectrum, micro fiction, anything under about 250 words, is probably done in two drafts, especially if it’s being done to an exact length. Write the story, identify the problems and fix them, tailoring to the required length if there is one.

I have occasionally written a flash piece (under 1000 words) in one draft, though I’m kind of cheating calling it one draft. I plan the story by making a series of point form notes and slow my composition rate so that I’m thinking about each sentence as I write it, how it fits with what’s gone before and what’s coming next. Then, I immediately do a read through and make any adjustments I think are important. It’s probably more accurate to say single sitting instead of single draft. Much love and respect to Dean Wesley Smith, but I can’t seem to work that way beyond flash length no matter how much planning I do.

So, there’s the process. If you’re a writer, your mileage may vary considerably. I’ve heard people talk about a story being done after the first draft (and I’ve been a slush reader – I’d suggest that most people are wrong about that) and about doing ten or more drafts before they think something is polished enough to let other human eyes see much less submit somewhere.

But to borrow a quote from Kipling, “There are nine and sixty ways of constructing tribal lays, And every single one of them is right.” My process works for me and is therefore the right way. The right way for you is whatever way gets you to a story you’re happy with. After that, finding someone else to be happy with is a bonus and might take a little more work.

Be well, everyone.