One Draft, Two Draft, Red Draft, Blue Draft...

[Chicklet]

How many drafts of stories do you write? How many do you find are needed before perfection has been reached? Once a story is posted on Lit, do you keep working at it? Was this too many questions to ask in a row? What do you think?

 

[sirhugs]

How many drafts of stories do you write? How many do you find are needed before perfection has been reached? Once a story is posted on Lit, do you keep working at it? Was this too many questions to ask in a row? What do you think?

one( but I revise it 2 to infinite times); perfection is impossible;no;not from you

 

[Quasimodem]

I have one story - not on this site - that came out: Bang! First Draft was Final.

At the other end of the spectrum, was one that took 23 drafts. I don't just mean spell checking, I mean changing verbiage, rewriting sentences, changing sequence of 'scenes,' turning dialogue into a quick narrator mention, changing narration into dialogue. Every permutation.

I know for certain it was 23 drafts, because I have "Damn Story-001" through "Damn Story-023" somewhere on a floppy.

So, my answer is from 1 to 23 at the moment. I hope it never gets worse.

 

[msacras]

On average I've done two drafts in the past for my stories. But now I'm trying to dig deeper with my editing so it require more edits.

 

[Kostly]

I continuously edit and revisit my work as I write. So I loose touch... but its a shit load... 23 wouldnt be un reasonable... I dont know how novelists read there huge stories 23 times... Imagine how many time Robert Jorden has read his works. and his books are a thousand pages.

Talk about YAWN!

 

[Chicklet]

23?!



I don't know if I could ever do that.

 

[Kostly]

Why do you think I have such a huge issue about plagerism... I mean it takes ALLOT of work to write.... and thats BEFORE I even consider sending it to my editor. She then reads it over and over again, makes comments sends them back to me, I then make changes, and I then send it back to her. This continus until we are both happy.

I guess its not an easy process... but I still do it... there is HUGE satisfaction when something gets finished and is PERFECT. but its not easy...

Imagine writing a book without the computer... I dont think I would be a writer then.

 

[gauchecritic]

eight hundred and eleven drafts for every single story.

Or something like that. I tend to continually read through the previous chapter/paragraph/line for feel of continuation and edit accordingly. Worse still I do exactly the same thing for posting to the boards.

If it's posted it's done. It's hung on the wall and someone has seen how bad it is already. They're not going to go back and give you a 5 instead of a 4 or a 2 instead of a 1. Neither do I.

Not quite enough questions really.

What do I think? SEX

Gauche

 

[Wantonica]

Imagine writing a book without the computer... I dont think I would be a writer then.

I recently began going through folder after folder of pen and pencil writings from 10 - 15 years ago. It was some of my personal best, and I now have the unwelcome task of putting it all into the computer.

There are still times when I use pen/cil and paper. This occurs mainly when sitting outside (no laptop), or while my man is on the computer and I just HAVE to write something. Back to the subject of the thread: I usually write a story in one draft, go over it once for grammar, spelling and punctuation, then put it aside for a few days before reviewing the flow and making any changes. Yes, I do look at stories after they are posted and see words or phrases I would do differently, but am steadily winning the battle to give up my perfectionism. If I find myself nitpicking on a story, it goes into one of those infamous folders for years and years...

Smiles,
Wantonica

 

[Wantonica]

eight hundred and eleven drafts for every single story.

Oh my, don't tell me you attempt to count them...

Or something like that. I tend to continually read through the previous chapter/paragraph/line for feel of continuation and edit accordingly. Worse still I do exactly the same thing for posting to the boards.

Gauche

Are those called DRAFTS? I thought it was simply 'checking my work as I went along'. The realization changes everything!

Happiness all around,
Wantonica

 

[destinie21]

How many drafts of stories do you write? How many do you find are needed before perfection has been reached? Once a story is posted on Lit, do you keep working at it? Was this too many questions to ask in a row? What do you think?

I only write one draft but I may go back time and again to tinker with it . Perfection is never reached at least as far as my stories are concerned. I always keep working on a story(see previous answer). no.

 

[gauchecritic]

Are those called DRAFTS? I thought it was simply 'checking my work as I went along'. The realization changes everything!

Happiness all around,
Wantonica

Draft: the first outline of any writing or document.

So strictly speaking no.

According to the definition the implication is that a draft is complete, detailed or not.

On the other hand, if you imagine the amount of work you would have to go through if you just wrote straight through to the end and then went back. Altering things one at a time. Our way is so much easier.

Even if I can't finish a story in one sitting, when I return to the page I will invariably read every line of what I've previously written. That includes tea breaks. Walking around. Looking things up. Thinking. Sleeping. I'm just really glad my stories don't go for longer than two pages.

And the part I really hate is thinking up some new twist and then having to re-adjust previously written stuff. Like someone's name or a meeting that shouldn't have occured. (or 36GGG to 34B)

Gauche

 

[TheEarl]

I write one draft, which gets slightly edited as I write it, but nothing major. The story then goes through the wonderful and amazing WSO (GBHLCS) who gives me her opinion. We argue over the various points for a bit, until we've justified the changes or lack of, then I post it. Most of my stories end up at the SDC, but I've only actually edited one based on their opinions (and that was a complete rewrite). I think that's more apathy, than disagreeing with them.

The Earl

 

[Rainbow Skin]

Does one do drafts on a word-processor? Unless, as Quasimodem did, you keep each saved version. But as we word-process we're constantly overwriting, so I don't know how you'd count.

Normally I do only one draft, if I'm inventing it straight onto the computer; or two, if I've done it in a notebook and the typing in is therefore a larger than usual revision. Each of these may have more or less revision of a word or phrase here and there, new lines added, but not enough of a distinctness to call a draft.

 

[deliciously_naughty]

For Lit, I usually do one draft, click the spellcheck, and submit. However, several stories have had multiple drafts, and Snow White has gotten up to 5th draft so I could submit it to a webzine.

 

[jfinn]

I average four drafts once I've got a chapter or story I think works well enough, but like Gauche, I tinker endlessly first, rereading compulsively, changing a word here, a line there, rearranging paragraphs... I'm also not adverse to finishing a chapter, let it settle for the obligatory day or two then go back, decide it's crap and end up throwing out the whole mess and starting over.

I thought I was bad until I read about P.G. Wodehouse. He would type a chapter then painstakingly cut out each separate sentence and tape them to walls of his study. He'd walk around the room rearranging or rewriting until he was satisfied, sometimes for days. Now that is picky.

Jayne

 

[MathGirl]

Originally posted by jfinn He'd walk around the room rearranging or rewriting until he was satisfied, sometimes for days. Now that is picky.

Flaubert wrote of spending a morning inserting a comma, then spending the afternoon deleting it. Guess he didn't have Word 6.0.
MG

 

[Uther_Pendragon]

What with wordprocessors, I find I almost never do "drafts."
Don't get me wrong. I rewrite. But for typewriters,
you had a draft, went over it in pencil for a while,
wrote another draft. On my word processor, I *usually*
write and then rewrite on the same file. I use drafts
when I'm making an important structural change and I'm
not sure that it is the right decision.
And yes, I tinker. Most of my stuff on Lit is reposting
of fairly old material. But I regularly go through a story
and change something before reposting it to ASSM. I've
changed the names of characters in a couple of stories, and
even the titles of two.

 

[Guest]

Flaubert wrote of spending a morning inserting a comma, then spending the afternoon deleting it. Guess he didn't have Word 6.0.

That was Oscar Wilde, hon. P.

 

[MathGirl]

That was Oscar Wilde, hon. P.

Then Lawrence Block is wrong. I picked it up from his latest novel, "Small Town." Great book. Everyone lives happily ever after except the 170 people who died.
MG
Did you mean that Oscar W. DID have Word 6.0?

 

[Guest]

Then Lawrence Block is wrong. I picked it up from his latest novel, "Small Town." Great book.

Yes, he's wrong. I have OW's books. P.

p.s. Wilde was one of the greatest word processors of English, but he was Irish.

 

[sirhugs]

Then Lawrence Block is wrong. I picked it up from his latest novel, "Small Town." Great book. Everyone lives happily ever after except the 170 people who died.
MG
Did you mean that Oscar W. DID have Word 6.0?

bet L. Block writes pages per day. great writer but in it for the $$$$$$$

 

[cahab]

As I'm dyslexic I have to keep re-reading what I've just written to remember where the hell I am. This means my stories get revised constantly during the first draft. Then if I'm not in too much of a rush I might re-read the whole thing and check it makes sense.

That done, it gets posted, warts and all. What do you want for nothing?

 

[MathGirl]

Fie on you, LB

bet L. Block writes pages per day. great writer but in it for the $$$$$$$

Dear SH,
Yes, Lawrence B. should be ashamed of himself. Just imagine some lowlife becoming wealthy from writing popular books. Thank God we're above such depravity.
Literaturically,
MG

 

[sirhugs]

Re: Fie on you, LB

Dear SH,
Yes, Lawrence B. should be ashamed of himself. Just imagine some lowlife becoming wealthy from writing popular books. Thank God we're above such depravity.
Literaturically,
MG

speak for thyself, MG...I am not above depravity

my biggest complaint about Block's books is they are too short. Guess he's not paid by the page, nor by the pound, like, say, Tom Clancy...now there's a man to whom writing isn't a chore, but reading him sure is.