Drafts

[Maze_Runner]

Do you normally have drafts? I've heard that pretty much ALL successful people (with writing books) have a lot of drafts. I've never have drafts. Is that weird? Do you have drafts?

 

[RepresentingWrath]

What do you mean by drafts? Do notes count? What about stories that will never be released? If those two count, yes, I have drafts.

 

[Noel_Elitia]

not here, though i keep revising what i write and make it error free and readable

 

[Maze_Runner]

What do you mean by drafts? Do notes count? What about stories that will never be released? If those two count, yes, I have drafts.

Like where you make a story then keep editing and revising it

 

[Florestes]

Aren't drafts basically your writing BEFORE it is put up for others to see?
Smallest example: You wrote a sentence, noticed a mistake, fixed it, moved on. Technically, you've had a draft and then finalized it.
I do a quick read of my draft preview before I press the publish option.
I imagine that some people keep a separate draft for notes, or testing, or something else.

 

[Toripuru-S]

I went with "sometimes" because sometimes I build up a stock by accident ?. Like the first round of a published chapter can be editing the same document over and over again (depending on how new the story is ?). Then, I make a new document/draft when significant edits or re-writes need to happen.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Like where you make a story then keep editing and revising it

Well, it's me being stupid, so don't get angry with me, and don't take my words as the only truth. But drafts are things that you will only have when you are writing a book to publish it into a hardcover. Writing a web novel is a whole different story.

 

[Representing_Tromba]

I have several drafts for my older stories. All the stuff I've posted until recently has been in the 2nd draft but recently I've been working on my older stuff and have released some of my 3rd draft. Though mainly, I'm trying to make it better before I take some of my older stuff off the site completely and self-publishing the final draft. I figure that 5 drafts would be good before sending it to some beta readers and finally sending it to an editor so it can then be published.

 

[RavenRunes]

I don't have drafts so much as colossal messes that need a lot of fixing

 

[RepresentingCaution]

I used to hate writing drafts. If I type something the first time, I get lazy and don't make many changes. My high school teachers would tell us to type the first draft so that making changes would be easier. I found that ignoring their advice gave me more room for improvement later.

 

[Ai-chan]

Do you normally have drafts? I've heard that pretty much ALL successful people (with writing books) have a lot of drafts. I've never have drafts. Is that weird? Do you have drafts?

Draft is basically earlier/nonfinal version of the final version. So if you write anything at all, and make edits, then you would by right have drafts by default. If you don't have drafts and practically just put out everything you got the moment you write it, that's bad practice. It may work for tweets and forum posts, but even for something that small you'd still make mistakes.

You will make mistakes, lots of mistakes. You will write poorly, and it will show. That's why editing is important. If you want people to read and tell you what they think, then you owe it to them to do your best with what you show them.

 

[CarburetorThompson]

I make a rough outline for a chapter. Write at the top what I want to happen in one paragraph and then write it very simplistically sentence by sentence. Like ‘Josh then goes outside, sees a tree, then dies.’ Until I have a full chapter. Then I use that to help structure my writing.

 

[lambenttyto]

Do you normally have drafts? I've heard that pretty much ALL successful people (with writing books) have a lot of drafts. I've never have drafts. Is that weird? Do you have drafts?

Is that a program? Because if it is, I've never heard of it. I thought most industry professionals typically use Word. I know Brandon Sanderson uses Word. And I do to! wink*

 

[Maze_Runner]

Is that a program? Because if it is, I've never heard of it. I thought most industry professionals typically use Word. I know Brandon Sanderson uses Word. And I do to! wink*

No it's not a program
It's just where you make a draft of your chapter?

 

[Monaka]

I have drafts but no books.

 

[lambenttyto]

It's just where you make a draft of your chapter?

I'm confused by the question. If you write something, it's a draft. Are you asking if I do multiple passes (more than one draft) or if I plan the chapter out before I write it?

 

[Maze_Runner]

I'm confused by the question. If you write something, it's a draft. Are you asking if I do multiple passes (more than one draft) or if I plan the chapter out before I write it?

Like you make a first version of a chapter then you revise it multiple times

 

[TheEldritchGod]

No it's not a program
It's just where you make a draft of your chapter?

Uhh...

- Rough Outline
- Write it out quickly as your mind thinks it without back tracking. Get the idea down in words.
- Re-read and rewrite
- Hand to someone else to read.
- Rewrite
- Re-read the rest of your story to make sure it has continuity.
- Rewrite
- Put it in Text Edit for 'Text To Speech'/LISTEN to your story.
- REWRITE
- Go back to the start and check for useless words (Just, Really, like, feels, As. A lot, A bit, Sort of, used to) These words tend to be useless. make sure you ACTUALLY need them. If someone is talking, in speech it is fine, but if they aren't spoken then make sure you need them.
- Go back and check each paragraph to make sure each paragraph has as many unique words as possible.
- Go back and try to avoid using large words more than once a chapter.
- Go back and check your prepositional phrases to make sure you NEED them. We often duplicate information with prepositional phrases. If you have said the info somewhere else in that chapter, remove it.
- Make sure your Pronouns are in the right order. A pronoun that says HIM refers to the last male Proper Name said. Her is last Female. New Paragraph? Start with Proper nouns.
- Remove 'say/said/replied/spoke/etc' - You can use ( David looked at Joe, "XXX" ) and people will understand. ( David looked at Joe AND SAID, "XXX" ) is A WASTE OF 2 WORDS.
- Give it to someone else to read.
- Re-write the chapter.
- Do a final pass through Spell checker.
- Put it back in the Text to Speech and re-listen from the beginning.

REPEAT THOSE LAST TWO STEPS UNTIL YOU CAN LISTEN TO THE CHAPTER FROM START TO FINISH WITHOUT WANTING TO FIX ANYTHING.

You have now finally made your FIRST DRAFT.

A) Realize that it doesn't fit the story. Throw it all out.
B) put it with all the other chapters until you finish the story.

Then rewrite the story for your second draft.

Hand it to an actual professional editor.

He will make it a final draft.

 

[Temple]

I've never have drafts.

Like you never edit anything the moment you type it?

 

[Maze_Runner]

Like you never edit anything the moment you type it?

No like I don't keep revising it afterwards. I just do what I have right away