Some writers edit, some don’t (They say they do, but what they really do is proofread before posting). Some writers need two or three drafts, while others acknowledge 20 or more.
So, how do you keep from getting bored with your story and hating the editing process? In a post on DIY MFA, Gracie Bialecki says we should celebrate our manuscripts at each stage.
Bialecki prints her manuscripts so that she has a clear demarcation line between drafts (you can also export as a PDF and read your mss on a device). “In addition to being a mini-celebration, Draft Day has also allowed me to change my novel-writing process from an amorphous revision blob into a series of four distinct drafts,” she says.
Her draft stages include:
- Discovery Draft. “In this draft, all you’re doing is getting the story down,” Bialecki explains. “Instead of worrying about crafting flawless sentences or developing every single plot point, the goal is simple: to have a story that’s readable from start to finish.”
- Growth Draft. “While the Growth Draft course corrects and fills in the frame of the Discovery Draft, it can also go off in new directions,” she explains.
- Definite Draft. At this stage, Bialecki starts thinking about theme. “I might write a dramatic summary or an author’s statement, so I have a definite sense of what I want this work to achieve and ensure each scene is working towards that vision,” she explains. “This is also the manuscript I share with writer friends, or a writing group, to get an outside perspective on how the work is holding together.”
- Final (ish) Draft. “This draft is the best you can do at this given moment while acknowledging that it’s likely to change before it’s released to the masses,” Bialecki writes.
