TECH: Four Drafts? (moldy olide!)
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writercisesOriginal Posting Aug. 11, 2017
Writer's Digest, February 2001, page 26 had a sidebar by James Scott Bell with the title "4-Draft Plan." While it's fairly short, it's an interesting suggestion about an approach to writing that doesn't look quite like outlining so much as organized discovery writing. Let's take a look at it.
1. What's Happening Draft
Write your first draft as quickly as you comfortably can. Set your word quota for each day, then just keep writing until you get to the end. Go ahead and push!
"The reason you press on is that your heart will be eager to take your imagination in hand and explore fictional possibilities. If you stop and get too technical, too concerned with getting it exactly right, you may never find the most original parts of your story. A promising road or rivulet may lay forever undiscovered! Be Lewis and Clark on that first draft."
And yes, you may have a chaotic mess! In which case, go to step two.
2. Story Draft
Now, use your head and look over what you've done. Figure out what's good, what's not so good, and what is the story that you really want to tell. Use the what's happening draft as kind of a combination outline and raw materials dump. "Change it, add to it, cut things, reshape characters, see what you need. Distill it all into a two or three page synopsis. You'll know your story now. Write it again."
You can either do a full rewrite, or cut-and-paste. Don't resist rewriting.
3. Refining Draft
Now, put the story draft aside for a couple of weeks. Then read it through again. This time, you want to tighten or cut scenes, deepen characters, work out the subplots. This is refining, making it great!
4. Polish
This is where you go through and double check the dialogue, make sure that every chapter and scene opening grabs the reader, and that chapter endings ensure that the reader wants to keep reading. Polish, until it shines.
There you go. Four drafts. One story. YAY!
Write!
tink
Writer's Digest, February 2001, page 26 had a sidebar by James Scott Bell with the title "4-Draft Plan." While it's fairly short, it's an interesting suggestion about an approach to writing that doesn't look quite like outlining so much as organized discovery writing. Let's take a look at it.
1. What's Happening Draft
Write your first draft as quickly as you comfortably can. Set your word quota for each day, then just keep writing until you get to the end. Go ahead and push!
"The reason you press on is that your heart will be eager to take your imagination in hand and explore fictional possibilities. If you stop and get too technical, too concerned with getting it exactly right, you may never find the most original parts of your story. A promising road or rivulet may lay forever undiscovered! Be Lewis and Clark on that first draft."
And yes, you may have a chaotic mess! In which case, go to step two.
2. Story Draft
Now, use your head and look over what you've done. Figure out what's good, what's not so good, and what is the story that you really want to tell. Use the what's happening draft as kind of a combination outline and raw materials dump. "Change it, add to it, cut things, reshape characters, see what you need. Distill it all into a two or three page synopsis. You'll know your story now. Write it again."
You can either do a full rewrite, or cut-and-paste. Don't resist rewriting.
3. Refining Draft
Now, put the story draft aside for a couple of weeks. Then read it through again. This time, you want to tighten or cut scenes, deepen characters, work out the subplots. This is refining, making it great!
4. Polish
This is where you go through and double check the dialogue, make sure that every chapter and scene opening grabs the reader, and that chapter endings ensure that the reader wants to keep reading. Polish, until it shines.
There you go. Four drafts. One story. YAY!
Write!
tink