When we write, it’s easy to imagine we can get everything down in one draft. Our characters will be consistent but surprising, our plot will never sag or go off-course, and the ending will be explosive yet graceful. It rarely works out that way. It’s time for a second draft. Surely, this one will be better?
Not always. We dive into our next draft, but find that we still have a lot of the same problems at the end. In a post on Writer Unboxed, Yuvi Zalkow says you can avoid this by making sure every draft has a purpose.
“The purpose is sometimes vague, like for a first draft, it might be: ‘what the hell is this thing about?'” Zalkow explains. “But for some of the middle drafts, it can be very specific: ‘Nail down the POV for Kitty’ or ‘Fix that crappy dialogue’ or ‘Follow through with that pocket watch I introduce in Chapter 1.’ When I discover issues unrelated to the current purpose, I add it to a running list and get back to the current agenda.”
Sometimes Zalkow will cheat and work on a small fix, but he says this approach keeps him focused on individual challenges and calm enough to fix them.
