Writing Tip: The value of the first draft and subsequent drafts and re-edits

I’ve written this bit of advice before, but I recently had it driven home to show me how important the statement is -- The fundamental requirement in writing is – write, rewriting and re-rewrite.

When I was beginning my writing, I was given some advice by an experienced writer. I was told - No one writes a book, they rewrite a book. I took that advice to heart and expanded it to another idea, which I have written in these Blog Posts. There is an effective way to best use the process of writing drafts.

Too many new writers get hung up on rewriting their manuscript. I understand how they can get almost lost in the maze of “what to do and when to do it.” Here is a method I have developed to help me through that beginning maze of getting a story off-the-ground. None of this is carved in stone as a must do. This is just a way I have found to save time, effort and above all, frustration.

There is an order to how I organize and do my drafts and redrafts.

• The first draft of anything I am writing is where I turn off my editing and organizing switch. I literally do not edit anything. As much as it possible, I make sitting at my computer a “Stream of Consciousness” exercise, with no filter. I simply think and type.

• I have an idea about the story and/or plot and I just let my mind and fingers go to almost anything.

• It’s amazing what kind of ideas you can come up with when you let your mind go.

• I try to put them in a rough story order, but I don’t spend much time doing it.

• After I got every possible idea down in my computer, I let everything sit for a day or so.

• In the second draft, or editing, I take those “Stream of Consciousness” thoughts and begin sorting.

• I begin to sort and/or remove some of those ideas.

• At the end of the second draft, the story, wither a novel, a short story of even a scene in a story, comes into shape.

• Now the writing begins.

• Characters are developed, expanded or contracted.

• The plot line becomes complex.

• Those delicious plot twists grow out of these rewrites.

These ideas about how to create an exciting story line and plot, work. I recently relearned that editing technique when I got involved in writing a novel, and there was a real time crunch. I didn’t have time to do the hit-and-miss way, write some, edit some and then write more. To jump start the process, I did exactly as I detailed above.

• Initially, in one or two sittings, I just began writing thoughts that might pertain to the story in my head.

• Then, I went through that first collection of ideas and moved, modified and threw out. I ended up with a decent flow of a story.

• My next rewrite was my polishing edit. Every sentence was studied to see if it could be improved, or even used. Every paragraph was considered and modified if needed to make it tight. I made sure every chapter had a hook, a reason for the reader to go a bit more.

• My last rewrite was just to pick just the right word for the meaning I had intended.

The novel was finished two days before the deadline. I feel that sticking to a preset and proven routine helped me refine my thinking and it helped me get the story done on time.

And, I was exhausted when it was finished. Exhausted, but I had a very good novel.