How many drafts do you have compared to finished stories?

[1950scuckold]

I currently have 49 drafts and 4 finished stories in my author's control panel.

At times I've had over 50 drafts but edited them down. It sounds like I should be a prolific writer with that many drafts and I'm frequently creating (and sometimes deleting) new ones, but most of the "drafts" are just a title or sentence of a story premise that occurred to me when I was horny and I haven't actually put any real work into developing it yet. Only a few are the actual beginnings of stories with thousands of words.

I have so many drafts I put numbers in front of the titles to keep the ones I'm most focused on at the top.

I just wonder how most authors do it here. Do you have way more drafts than stories or do you only keep drafts of serious projects that you're actually working on?

 

[KeithD]

In erotica, I have three drafts I'm working on against something over 1,500 completed/published entries (some of them are chapters of a story--not taking the time to count complete works, but maybe around 1,000) across my separate accounts.

 

[SimonDoom]

I've published 39 stories in four and a half years.

I have about 40 stories that I have started or substantially outlined but not completed. Some of those have been in the works for over four years.

 

[Blind_Justice]

I have 53 submissions posted (over the past nine years) and zero drafts in the system. I do have a few dozen story fragments on my hard drive, ranging from singular scenes to 75,000+ words half-finished novels. I prefer them close at hand. And properly secured through several backups, one of which is at my mother-in-law's place and the other in a bank locker, to make sure I'll always have a failsafe.

 

[NotWise]

My intention is that once I start a story, I'll finish it. I don't want to waste my time on unfinished projects, whether they're a story, a home repair, or a piece of furniture.

I have one story that I know of that I started and stopped in draft. I should find that and delete it. I have another story that's for a future contest. I'll work on that, and if it doesn't work out then I'll delete it.

I like my projects to work on fairly straight, unbroken lines.

 

[TxRad]

I have 328 stories started between 1k and 18k words and 268 stories published. I got behind on finishing stories when I started writing mainstream novels. One day I'll catch up or someone will get a treasure trove of story ideas.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Not that many drafts, actually. Most of the time I have about 80% of the final story in the first pass. There are some older stories that I thought needed a redo, so I rewrote them. They either went on other sites, or several are on this site with new titles and no one has noticed or cared.

I have maybe a dozen stories that I left unfinished for at least six months. I probably will get back to most of them, but I'm in no rush.

 

[HeyAll]

In terms of deleted stories, and stories that I took down and resubmitted as anthololgies, I have over 300 stories.

In terms of drafts -- stories that hit road blocks or lost interst -- maybe 15 or so.

 

[ElectricBlue]

One story in work, one started with every intention to finish it (but parked up), two that have languished by the wayside, one of which might get a kick start into a longer piece if the idea I had two nights ago takes off. I'm (mostly) disciplined in continuing what I start - it's these "quick side projects" that seem to get in the way. I think everything I've released this year has been a side project from my "main" piece - which is a continuation of my contribution to the first Geek's Anthology...

 

[LAHomedog]

I have 29 (one more dropping tonight) in my own name, and three others with co-writers published since late November. I rarely keep a draft, maybe two or three. I don't sit down to write a story until I have the outline fully in my mind's eye and then blurt it out.

I'm only good for 8,000 to 12,000 words and then I have little or no story left. It is how my mind works.

With the first draft, I just pound the keys and get it out. The 2nd draft is to refine the story. I then put it aside for a day or two and revisit usually for the last time. Then I send it to my beta reader, and when it comes back to me from her, a final rewrite, and then the proof-reader and Grammerly.

I have one 2/3rds done now, and another in the hopper. That's what works for me.

 

[MillieDynamite]

I have two hundred and forty eight word documents in box root directory. Each file has story ideas, news reports that intend to use as inspiration for a work of fiction. Scenes from real life which I saw at gas stations, restaurants, fast food joints, bar's, movie theaters (in the lobby or played out in the auditoriums not on the screens.) Along with a partial stories or outlines of stories.

On the finished side, 10 stories up here, 3 in the cue. 35 or so at another site, and 42 at third site. a dozen or so under two different pens at amazon and smashwords (and whatever sites smashwords supplies books to). So, way more ideas, outlines, starts, and nearly completes than ones that are up.

In addition I have ghosted 12 novels and 50 short stories.

Is this an answer to the question or did I misread it?

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I have 28 stories here since 2017, though there's 14 chapters of a novel-length series so really that's 15.

Probably have a dozen drafts of stuff that could go on Lit, one finished story which can't go on Lit so may look to post elsewhere. I have a dozen stories posted elsewhere plus a couple drafts for there. And half-a-dozen other drafts for community newsletters and such.

I tend to write a sentence that inspires, maybe a couple notes, then at some point get on a roll and write a few thousand words, get a thing drafted over a few days, then edit for ages.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

One file containing pages and pages of plot bunnies - ideas, short conversations or bits of description, concepts, even inspiring photos. Several dozen Word files with undeveloped individual stories with enough potential that they might eventually become published. A dozen have progressed far enough to merit the Draft title in my mind; all are unfinished and some may remain so as I may have lost either steam or interest. 77 published stories and poems.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Currently, I have 184 published stories here at lit. I have 80 or so unfinished works sitting on my computer hard drive that I will get to in some uncertain order.

 

[Comshaw]

41 published stories (on this site). 82 that I have on other sites. unfinished drafts: 177.

I don't rush to finish a story. If I hit a spot where I'm unsure of which way I want the story to go, I put it aside until my muse whispers the direction I need to take with it. When that happens it's usually a frenzied marathon of hammering the keyboard.


Comshaw

 

[gordo12]

19 published, 20-25 finished in my folders, 37 current WIPs, roughly 80+ ideas where I've sketched out WHY I thought it was a good idea.
I guess the answer to your question would be 37 drafts to 44 finished.

Edit: Forgot to mention I back everything up on a flash drive as well as Dropbox.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

I have 39 published here; 8 WIP, 124 concepts. Concepts are anywhere from a summary paragraph to a 2-3 page outline.

 

[TadOverdon]

In addition to what we've published and the book currently in progress, I have one short story by myself that I got a couple of thousand words into and lost interest. At the time I was thinking that "The Graduates" would be the pattern for occasional short fiction alongside the books, but neither of us has really done anything like that again.

I really don't like not finishing things. Prose from stories gets repurposed into other stories, instead.

 

[8letters]

If I have just a rough idea, I put it in my "Story Ideas" word document. I've got 41 story ideas in there. I have some additional ideas in my head that I haven't put in the "Story Ideas" word document yet. If I'm serious about a story idea, I'll create a Scrivener file for it. I have 28 Scrivener files, some of which are for ideas in the "Story Ideas" word document. I'd say I have 18 stories published over 8 years. So it'd take me probably over 20 years to write all of the story ideas I currently have.