Is your story supposed to change so much with each new draft?

The Chatters
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21

I was never interested in doing that for myself.

The only thing to do is to journal down what I added to the story so that I won’t forget.

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22

This is what I do :stuck_out_tongue:

Between Roses, my debut, currently has a character called Ace of Hearts as the bad guy turned supportive. But when I first wrote it, he was a terrible villain (but not very good at being bad).

So, things change. Took a while to get there, but it turned out fine in the end.

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23

Does this mean you edit while writing? How does your process work?

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24

No, I vomit up the entire project and then edit. I don’t edit as I go as I prefer to get it done quickly, if that makes sense? Once it’s done if anything needs adding or changing, I can just do that in ProWritingAid :slight_smile:

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25

I sometimes write chapter summaries.

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26

But you said you don’t do drafts, so, do you mean you just keep working on the same document over and over?

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27

If it works for you, that’s great :blush:

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28

Totally understand the confusion, haha! I write the book, I don’t look back at anything I’ve done unless I have no idea what’s happened. Shove it into ProWritingAid to fix grammar errors or typos. Done. If I need to add new content or change things like names, I do that in ProWritingAid or whatever. I don’t consider that a second draft in the same way I don’t consider it creating a new draft for an editing client. :slight_smile: If that makes sense.

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29

Hmm interesting :thinking: In my mind it’s like, the moment I write “the end” that is the first draft done. Editing it and finishing that version of edits is now creating a second draft. A third, fourth, fifth edit after is creating the third, fourth, and fifth drafts.

So, I was confused when you said you don’t do drafts, but you do edit afterwards. So I thought, after…you’ve written the first draft? :crazy_face:

So that means, for you, you didn’t create a first draft but a rough finished novel that needs some edits? But you consider the edits not as creating new drafts but just making more edits even if the story changes drastically?

Do you take notes on things about the world, or about characters while writing, or do you just write it all out and hope it’s all consistent and there are no plot holes? How do you deal with plot holes?

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30

Ha, to me, a draft means substantial revision took place. I don’t consider it a new draft when I correct the typos for a proofreading client, so I don’t consider it a new draft when I correct my typos. More often than not, I just spend 30 mins clicking ‘yes’ or ‘no’ in ProWritingAid haha, but that mainly applies to my shorts. My longer full-length works takes a bit longer to go through.

I’m not sure I’d consider it rough, either… basically what gets shoved on Amazon is 90% what I vomited up originally. Sometimes I make a typo because I mainly write in writing sprints, so I try to type as fast as I can, but other than that the bulk won’t have changed from what I spat out to begin with.

The story never changes drastically :stuck_out_tongue:

I don’t do any sort of planning so my method involves doing a chapter, then writing on the scene card in Scrivener so I know what I’ve done. I don’t get plot holes as a rule because I try to keep those scene cards pretty thorough. If I do have plot holes I’ve never noticed, no reviewer has mentioned 'em.

And just to clarify: this is just my personal approach over the past sorta year. It probably won’t work for a lot of people, but I’m also not the only one who has a “one and done” approach! :slight_smile: For me, if the story would change drastically, then it’s clearly a different story I wanted to tell, so it’ll be another project. Because I don’t plan, my work is malleable, and can go any direction I want to take it. I also avoid plotholes in my shorter works by having a specific Scrivener template specifically for my work that has a premade structure.

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31

I guess my question has been answered.

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32

Same! If I just fix a typo in draft one, that’s still draft one.

Second drafts for me are where I fix flow and consistency. Third drafts are where I make sure the character development is tight and might even add or subtract whole characters or scenes. Fourth and Fifth are about the same, but the only difference is that the Fourth, I’m adding quirks, and the Fifth is more about tightening everything up.

Second or Third drafts are what betas would see.

I see! :thinking: So that’s where it all gets cleared up. From my perspective, it’s like you’re editing/planning while writing, but not really. A very meticulous pantser, perhaps :stuck_out_tongue: Fascinating.

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33

That makes sense! I think we are in agreement about draft numbering, but we both go different ways about it. I stop at one, you keep going.

This makes a lot of sense, especially if you need to add more stuff!

Ha, maybe! It took me a while to find a method that is both fast and doesn’t result in problems. When I hit ‘finished’ for the first time, I’m done-done, lol.

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34

I just found drafts of Project Succession that I plan to tackle and rewrite again.

Though I plan to take bits and pieces of the drafts to combine into one third draft.

I’m going back to basics after I just complained about wanting to stop working on it.

I think I was mainly lost in what I wanted to do with the third draft.

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35

I see! Very interesting.

I keep saying “interesting” because it is :stuck_out_tongue: Seemingly similar pantsers and yet totally different processes.

That must be so nice. Because when I type “the end” I know I’ll have to get to the end at least 5 to 6 more times XD

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36

I’ve decided to go back to the original idea of Project Succession.

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