How many drafts...

[BiscuitHammer]

Of a story or a chapter do you generally do before you hit 'Submit'? Is there a standard number you use, or do you just sort of wing it, based on how it looks the last time you've read it?

For me personally, I've learned to not do the latter, since I inevitably think of something totally awesome I could have added AFTER I've hit the Submit button.

Does it interfere with my publishing schedule? Yes, absolutely. But I find that if I review and tweak about three times, then I'm usually happy enough with the result to send it on its way. Yes, I still think of awesome stuff later that I could have added, but at least I got a lot more of it in by waiting and reviewing a few more times.

How about the rest of you? Got a draft review MO you swear by? I still consider myself relatively new here (4 years and a bit), and want to hear what some of the veterans think.

 

[ThisNameIsntTakenYet]

Definitely don't consider myself a 'veteran' by any means, with only 3 stories posted here. I have been writing non-erotic stuff for a couple of years now, though. Anyway, I don't tend to add anything besides some clarifications or details after the first draft is done. I prefer to plan my stories out ahead of time, and I generally stick to that outline. Any drastic changes like adding important scenes or plot points happen in the outlining stage.

After that first draft I usually do one or two passes of adding some details I forgot, fixing inconsistencies and, of course, fixing grammar and weird sentences. Then I send it off to one or more other writers to proofread for me, work through their feedback and then go over the story once or twice again before posting. Usually there's at least a few days in between these different stages of editing and proofreading, unless I'm being pushed by a contest deadline.

 

[Heartsongs]

I don't use an outline. My stories develop as I write them. I am constantly reviewing and tweaking the plot, character interaction, etc. I'd say the number of times I review my story before I hit SUBMIT would be a minimum of twenty times, but probably more. The disappointing part is that errors still get by me - most of them minor.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I do a rolling edit process as I write, which means by the time I reach the end, the whole thing has been reviewed and tweaked multiple times. I usually read the full version through once or twice, run it through a spell check (but don't bother with a grammar check), do a few key word searches to find my known tics, and submit.

I'm lucky - 98% of what gets published is first draft. My edits are generally minor - changing words to get rid of duplications, tweaking phrases here and there so it's got the right beat. I don't scrub the text over and over like most writers in the AH seem to do. I'd die, doing that, and my prose would die too.

 

[MelissaBaby]

I don't do a full first draft, then a second full draft, etc. My process is more like, write a section of the story. Come back the next day and start at the beginning again, reading through and making changes until I get to the end of what I've written, then continuing on with new writing. Repeat., repeat, repeat. When I have finished, I go back through the whole thing once more for changes in the story, then I read the story aloud to myself before I submit.

 

[BiscuitHammer]

I tend to have the overall outline and goals of my chapters set in my head and work towards them, filling in the details. I sometimes get sidetracked by an amazing idea, and then have to adjust, but my one-goal is almost always set.

The only time characters ever hijacked my story from me and turned it into something else/more was my 'Alex And Alexa' series, which I originally thought might hit six or seven chapters at most.

It turned out to be seventeen chapters, and has spawned at least two spin-off series, one of which is about to be even longer than the original.

But my other series are all rocksteady for how they're planned out, which is a very good thing, given that I can't write a short story to save my life...

 

[Bramblethorn]

I do a rolling edit process as I write, which means by the time I reach the end, the whole thing has been reviewed and tweaked multiple times. I usually read the full version through once or twice, run it through a spell check (but don't bother with a grammar check), do a few key word searches to find my known tics, and submit.

I'm lucky - 98% of what gets published is first draft. My edits are generally minor - changing words to get rid of duplications, tweaking phrases here and there so it's got the right beat. I don't scrub the text over and over like most writers in the AH seem to do. I'd die, doing that, and my prose would die too.

Pretty much the same here.

 

[SimonDoom]

I'm a plotter and outliner. At the outset, I have a kind of mental picture of the whole story, including, more or less, how I want it to end. I usually write an outline, but I also deviate from it regularly during the actual writing process.

I edit and proof and revise as I go, and I don't write in a linear way. I will skip ahead to write a section if the inspiration comes, then go back and work on the earlier part of the story.

By the time my first draft is done, it's usually in pretty good shape, so my second "draft" isn't really a new draft so much as a better-proofed version of the first one.

I give the story at least three or more complete run-throughs, including a Grammarly check. I probably ignore about half the things it wants me to do.

 

[Jada59]

I don't do drafts. I just write then go back through it to look for errors and such. But I am a horrible editor and wind up having to read it back though many times, each time, catching more errors. Once published, there will still be at least one error!

One of my worst works in terms of having to go through it again and again was written on an early version of Word. It indicated that I needed many semi-colons. So many that about 1/3 of the sentences had them. At some point, I realized this made for tortured writing and set about removing them and in some cases, re-writing the sentences.

Then for some reason, my computer at the time kept losing my changes and backing up to an old version. I think that was when I was running the horrible WinME with it's near constant crashes.

I had to redo that story so many times, it finally lost all appeal to me. I never tried to publish it.

 

[SimonDoom]

One of my worst works in terms of having to go through it again and again was written on an early version of Word. It indicated that I needed many semi-colons. So many that about 1/3 of the sentences had them. At some point, I realized this made for tortured writing and set about removing them and in some cases, re-writing the sentences.

T

Yikes. Sounds like a mutant, demon version of Word, trying to make life hard for you.

My experience with all application-based grammar checkers is that they are useful but have to be used carefully and not reflexively.

 

[ThisNameIsntTakenYet]

Anyway, I don't tend to add anything besides some clarifications or details after the first draft is done. I prefer to plan my stories out ahead of time, and I generally stick to that outline. Any drastic changes like adding important scenes or plot points happen in the outlining stage.

Wanted to clarify: my outlining is very basic. For a scene I might write down something like "X and Y talk about their feelings and kiss." My outlining is more so about the structure of the story, about when and where the key points of the plot take place. All the details are things I leave to the actual writing phase, but I've found that I tend to ramble if I don't at least know what the purpose of the scene I'm writing is, or where I'm going with it.

My experience with all application-based grammar checkers is that they are useful but have to be used carefully and not reflexively.

Agreed. I use Grammarly too, for the final polishing of my story. I always read why it thinks a change is needed, and evaluate if I agree or not. It regularly interprets the sentence wrong, or sometimes it is technically correct, but it's in dialogue and I disagree because my character doesn't talk in grammatically perfect English.

 

[RelentlessOnanism]

Not enough. I consider it a great weakness of mine that I don't rewrite enough. I don’t plan ahead or do an outline; I just start writing and see where my muse takes me. Once I’ve done my first draft, I'll go through it a few times, to weed out typos etc. But I do think I'd be better off if
I did more substantial rewrites, but laziness precludes me from doing so.

Of a story or a chapter do you generally do before you hit 'Submit'? Is there a standard number you use, or do you just sort of wing it, based on how it looks the last time you've read it?

For me personally, I've learned to not do the latter, since I inevitably think of something totally awesome I could have added AFTER I've hit the Submit button.

Does it interfere with my publishing schedule? Yes, absolutely. But I find that if I review and tweak about three times, then I'm usually happy enough with the result to send it on its way. Yes, I still think of awesome stuff later that I could have added, but at least I got a lot more of it in by waiting and reviewing a few more times.

How about the rest of you? Got a draft review MO you swear by? I still consider myself relatively new here (4 years and a bit), and want to hear what some of the veterans think.

 

[oggbashan]

I don't do a full first draft, then a second full draft, etc. My process is more like, write a section of the story. Come back the next day and start at the beginning again, reading through and making changes until I get to the end of what I've written, then continuing on with new writing. Repeat., repeat, repeat. When I have finished, I go back through the whole thing once more for changes in the story, then I read the story aloud to myself before I submit.

I tend to work the same way. For the complete story when written I will probably have only three drafts - the first completed story, the spell-checked version and the final version with tags for italics etc.

 

[TornConflict]

I write my story or chapter in one go usually over a week or two, sometimes longer if my muse fades from real-life getting in the way. I don't outline at all. I find when I do outline motivation to write goes away. I hate having to write the same thing twice and outlines feel like that's what I am doing. I don't mind rewriting a page or two if I find it isn't working but I often find my outlines are just less descriptive versions of my story.

After finishing I usually let my story sit for a few days then I run it through Grammarly. I was editing before that and found it was making edits that didn't look right. After Grammarly edit then usually publish.

At this moment I have one story that needs to be edited and sent through Grammarly but I just haven't had the time to do that. I often do my writing from my phone in weird places I find I have downtime like lunch, or waiting in lines, or things like that.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I do a rolling edit process as I write, which means by the time I reach the end, the whole thing has been reviewed and tweaked multiple times. I usually read the full version through once or twice, run it through a spell check (but don't bother with a grammar check), do a few key word searches to find my known tics, and submit.

I'm lucky - 98% of what gets published is first draft. My edits are generally minor - changing words to get rid of duplications, tweaking phrases here and there so it's got the right beat. I don't scrub the text over and over like most writers in the AH seem to do. I'd die, doing that, and my prose would die too.

Yep, pretty much how I do it. Very little gets changed from the first draft. Mostly what changes is typos and misuse of words.

I do however run it through Grammarly once or twice.

Do I get everything that's incorrect? Nope. But, my thought is, you get what you paid for.

 

[JPGmvny]

I tweak a lot, forever finding little things I missed the prior go-round. I don't plot but follow my characters with a sense of where they'll end up (writing Romances makes that necessary). I sometimes add or delete scenes.

I use Grammarly, but learned that it doesn't pick up everything (and I ignore a significant number of its recommendations) so I go through again. I used to do re-throughs on paper, but now post a draft on my website and read it on a table with a pad and pen in hand.

I also use Excel to try to keep my dates straight.

 

[Privates1stClass]

BiscuitHammer wrote: Of a story or a chapter do you generally do before you hit 'Submit'? Is there a standard number you use, or do you just sort of wing it, based on how it looks the last time you've read it?

After I've completed my final draft (and edited it a couple times), I send it to a couple alpha readers and ask for feedback. They usually have questions about why a character did this or that, or ask for clarifications. I find if they have questions, other readers would, too. So I generally make those modifications, send my story to a beta reader or two before I submit the story. These actions have prevented a number of embarrassing gaffes, and I'm in their debt.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Of a story or a chapter do you generally do before you hit 'Submit'? Is there a standard number you use, or do you just sort of wing it, based on how it looks the last time you've read it?

For me personally, I've learned to not do the latter, since I inevitably think of something totally awesome I could have added AFTER I've hit the Submit button.

I haven't revised a submitted/published story in over a year. The only reason I did that one was because it had what I thought were a sufficient number of typos and other errors that it merited a revision.

I do give myself a backup. If after some time has passed (sometimes more than a year) and I think I could have done a better story, I rework it and submit the new version to another site. Sometimes the changes are minor; sometimes it's been a major rewrite. Also, I get a fresh audience to look at it.

I've done that eight times so far.

 

[KeithD]

I only do one draft. The rest is review/cleanup. I usually review it only once to maintain its spontaneity and then send it off for edit. When it returns, I clean it up and review it one more time before either booking it for publishing or submitting it tp story sites. If it's something previously published that I'm submitting to Web sites, I review it again then. And there's always something to fix in each review. My stories also tend to expand with each review.

 

[UsuallyPresent]

I do a chaotic process, where I write what I have time for/inspiration for. At some future time I go back and edit, including Word grammar/spelling and Grammarly. This can happen repeatedly.

Some stories are pretty much done the first time I write it down, but others demand juuuust a little more effort. There are some that are 'done' in that they're coherent and come to a clean end, but I won't publish 'em because I don't think they're as good as they should be.

 

[Blind_Justice]

Between my outlines and character sheets, I had a good idea where each of my recent chapters were headed before I even did the full draft. I used to let my stories gestate for months or years, with revision upon revision until I was sick of it. Ever since running a Patreon, I tend to nail down a draft, shop around for a few beta readers, iterate on their feedback and, once the thing is wherr I want it, send it off to my editor for a final clean-up. To my own surprise, the ratings have gone up quite significantly since adopting this approach despite a much shorter revision period. My latest "chapter" sits at 70k words and was done in less than a month.

 

[SamScribble]

EB's modus operandi seems to work for me too.

 

[Hypoxia]

I do no drafts nor outlines. I exercise a few composition strategies: 1) know the sequence from a journal or script; 2) see an ending, build the story to get there; or 3) create a setup and a few plot points, see where it goes. Any revising and editing occur en-route. In USSR, story tells ME.

 

[JaxRhapsody]

I do a rolling edit process as I write, which means by the time I reach the end, the whole thing has been reviewed and tweaked multiple times. I usually read the full version through once or twice, run it through a spell check (but don't bother with a grammar check), do a few key word searches to find my known tics, and submit.

I'm lucky - 98% of what gets published is first draft. My edits are generally minor - changing words to get rid of duplications, tweaking phrases here and there so it's got the right beat. I don't scrub the text over and over like most writers in the AH seem to do. I'd die, doing that, and my prose would die too.

Kinda like how I do it. I just go through as I write.

 

[Bebop3]

How many drafts

I'll generally write the bones and the scenes that interest me most and that will be the first draft.

I'll then go back and hang meat on those bones, and that will be the second draft.

Then I'll listen to feedback from beta-readers and tweak obsessively all the way up to the submission process.