How Many Drafts?
Major Silva asks: How many drafts do you normally go through until completion?
My current editing process has evolved over more than ten years. It's a personal thing. Everyone writes differently. Everyone edits differently.
Here's how it goes for me:
1) After reviewing my outline I type out a rough draft. My spelling and typing are atrocious.
2) I used to spend two or three revision cycles making my rough draft legible. Recently I've started using speech-to-text software and reading back what I have written. This saves me a huge amount of time (and probably carpal tunnel syndrome, too!).
3) I read through and polish this draft once or twice.
4) I then print it all out and read the hard copy. It has a different feel than reading on a computer screen so it's fresh in my mind. Much of my larger scale editing gets done here.
5) I input these changes and reprint the file in a different, more final looking format. This gives me another fresh read which I edit.
6) Ideally I let this sit for a few weeks while I work on the next chapter--after which it gets another edit.
7) Then it's ready for my readers who give me their opinions, which I incorporate as I see fit.
8) Finally, I reread the entire novel and make sure everything fits the continuity and has the right pacing.
9) I send it off to the publisher’s editor who gives me their notes, which I also (usually) incorporate.
10) After that, I get a version from the publisher’s copyeditor, and I incorporate or reject their notes.
11) At long last, I am sent proof pages which are in their final book-ready-to-be-printed format. One more pass on this.
So that’s about seven serious drafts and about five lesser revision cycles.
This is just a general guideline. It’s dependant on many things like what my deadline is. When I wrote A Game of Universe (one of my earlier novels), that was a big stretch for me and I learned a lot while writing it. I probably did twenty or more drafts on that one!
My current editing process has evolved over more than ten years. It's a personal thing. Everyone writes differently. Everyone edits differently.
Here's how it goes for me:
1) After reviewing my outline I type out a rough draft. My spelling and typing are atrocious.
2) I used to spend two or three revision cycles making my rough draft legible. Recently I've started using speech-to-text software and reading back what I have written. This saves me a huge amount of time (and probably carpal tunnel syndrome, too!).
3) I read through and polish this draft once or twice.
4) I then print it all out and read the hard copy. It has a different feel than reading on a computer screen so it's fresh in my mind. Much of my larger scale editing gets done here.
5) I input these changes and reprint the file in a different, more final looking format. This gives me another fresh read which I edit.
6) Ideally I let this sit for a few weeks while I work on the next chapter--after which it gets another edit.
7) Then it's ready for my readers who give me their opinions, which I incorporate as I see fit.
8) Finally, I reread the entire novel and make sure everything fits the continuity and has the right pacing.
9) I send it off to the publisher’s editor who gives me their notes, which I also (usually) incorporate.
10) After that, I get a version from the publisher’s copyeditor, and I incorporate or reject their notes.
11) At long last, I am sent proof pages which are in their final book-ready-to-be-printed format. One more pass on this.
So that’s about seven serious drafts and about five lesser revision cycles.
This is just a general guideline. It’s dependant on many things like what my deadline is. When I wrote A Game of Universe (one of my earlier novels), that was a big stretch for me and I learned a lot while writing it. I probably did twenty or more drafts on that one!
posted by Eric Nylund at 2:20 PM
9 Comments:
That's quite a few drafts. But what are the differences between drafts? How significant are the changes you make on those drafts?
That’s a tough question because it changes from project to project—heck, even chapter to chapter depending how challenging the material is. My most significant changes are made in my outlining stage. About 2-3 of the drafts I mention in this process, I might change, rewrite, or cut up to 10% of the text (this is a lot trust me!). The rest are minor changes: altering a paragraph for clarity, more cutting for pacing, and things of that order.
That might seem like a lot of cycles for very little payoff...but they are absolutely necessary (at least for me) to get a finished, readable product.
Ever get it right in one go :) ?
Wow. Simply, wow. Truly never had any idea that the number of drafts a writer goes through in a novel were as high as what you said. I thought about 3-4 for the entire thing, start to finish. Shows you just how much I know about writing at this stage :P.
Great read, and thanks for answering!
~MS
Benjamin – No. Never got it right in a single go.
And that is the point.
It is more important to believe you can fix and polish your writing (albeit through hard work), rather than believe that you have to get it right the first time through.
Who are these readers you speak of? Not by name of course. And how can you be sure of the quality of their feedback?
Mark-- see my previous posts on this here:
http://www.ericnylund.net/2006/09/critique.html
and here: http://www.ericnylund.net/2006/09/critique-part-2.html
which will answer your question.
--Eric
So, does Bungie ever incorprate your stories into their games? Will we see something relating to Ghosts of Onyx in Halo 3? (Spartan III's anyone?). Thx.
That many drafts would just about kill me, I think. For me, I can't revise and edit chapter by chapter like many writers. With what I'm working on right now, I can only foresee myself editing it like I've edited the short stories I've written (though not published, yet): at the end.
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