Not sure how to ask this, but ... What do you do in each draft? I know the first is to just write it out and not think much, but how do I go about the second one? I’m not sure if I shoul focus on scenes, or the plot, or grammar and structure on the second draft. Hope this makes sense
Guide: What to Do in Each Draft
Most stories, especially longer fiction, are written in drafts, starting with the first draft or “rough draft” and ending with the super polished final draft. Like most things related to writing, there are no rules about drafting. The number of drafts you do and what you do in each draft are entirely up to you.
How to Draft - Write your story from beginning to end, and you have a first draft. Read through it and make notes about things you want to change. Changes can be adding things, removing things, fixing things, fleshing things out, or moving things around. You might even choose to get the opinion of an alpha reader--someone close to you who enjoys reading your writing--to see if they have any light/general feedback. When you revise your draft and implement those notes, you have a second draft. And so on...
You might not think of pre-writing as part of the drafting process, but I do. This is where you do all your planning, plotting, and figuring out your character and your world. You might do an outline--a beginning to end summary of your story--a scene list, timeline, or anything else to help you get your ideas organized. Some writers are “pantsers” meaning that they do very little pre-writing and sometimes none at all.
Your first draft, or “rough draft,” is the first time you actually write your story from beginning to end. It’s called the “rough draft” because it’s extremely unpolished and probably a mere glimmer of what the final draft will be. I like to think of this as an exploratory draft, where I’m getting the bones of my story all laid out, but also trying to get to know my characters and their world.
The second draft is where you take the rough lump of clay that is your first draft and try to refine the shape. In this draft, it’s a good idea to focus on structure, making sure you’re hitting all the right notes, that you have all the scenes you need, and that those scenes are in the right order.
Some writers may only need two or three drafts total, but others need more. If you used the second draft to get your story’s structure into shape, the third draft is where you’ll want to make sure your character arcs and subplots are sound, as well as paying attention to things like pacing and flow.
Whichever draft ends up being your final one, this is the draft where you focus on polishing. Eliminating filter words, tightening up sentences, making sure dialogue flows well and you’re not overusing dialogue tags; also, making sure there are no errors in spelling, grammar, or punctuation. If you’re formatting your draft for querying or publication, you’ll want to do that here. Your final draft is the one you’re going to actually post, publish, or hand to a publisher.
One Last Thing - As you go on, you’ll start to find your own rhythm in your drafting process. You might have very specific things you cover in each draft, or you might just try to make each draft better than the last one. If you need help on the different kinds of things to focus on in each draft, the following posts might help, and you can also find great lists online, such as “filter words to cut when editing.”
Guide: The Different Types of Editing
Ten Ways to Cut Your Word Count
Avoiding Repetition with Dialogue Tags
How to Move a Story Forward
Creating a Detailed Story Outline
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