second draft advice

How many drafts it takes to get your story to publishable standard?

As many as it takes!

One thing I know for sure after over two decades in the business as both writer and editor is that it is never just one!

If you’ve just written “The End”, congratulations on finishing your first draft. Books are huge projects that often take years of dedicated work. This can be less if you are writing genre fiction with established characters and story world, but if you want to make a work of heart-aching beauty, then it will take time.

The very messy first draft of 49 is a Dangerous Age! with some feedback from Vahida and my own scribbles!

Many new writers reach the end of their first draft, write “The End” and think they’re done. And of course, completing a first draft is an important and huge achievement. But it is not really the end. In fact, it’s more like the beginning. Sorry!

When you write the first draft, you’re creating the stone from which you will carve your beautiful piece of art. My old writing teacher, Amanda Lohrey, used to say the first draft was all about “excavating”. You are mining your life, your imagination, the story, for every little bit you as the writer need to know to create the book. But like a mine site, the excavation pile is a big ungainly mess – maybe a little less of a mess if you’re a meticulous planner, but it’s certainly not the polished gold or intricately cut diamond we envision as the final product.

A writing friend of mine, multi-award winning, published author, Kris Kneen, recently posted about cutting her first draft of over 100 000 words down to 30 000 for draft two. Yes, it’s true. Even a highly respected and experienced writer like Kris! But don’t worry. No writing is ever wasted because every word is necessary to bring us a thorough knowledge of the story and what it will become.

Many of my manuscripts have also been through the same procedure. The first draft was big and baggy, over 100 000 messy words, which then got chopped right down to a third of its original size after rethinking and discovering what the story was really about. If you can think through your plot a little before you start writing, you may be able to keep more of that first draft. But leave your mind and heart open to letting the book become what it wants to be. Each book has its own process and path. Trust in the drafting process to bring that book to life.

Photo by Tara Winstead on Pexels.com Hopefully it won’t kill you!

Here are some general guidelines about the drafting process. These are not hard and fast rules, but don’t send anything out to publishers/agents or competitions or self-publish without doing at least three drafts, two of your own and one with input from another writer.

Find a writing buddy to share the ride – read and give feedback on each other’s work like Alina and Jen!

DRAFTING PROCESS:

Draft 1 – excavating the story, everything goes in, go off on tangents, let characters have their way. Make a big, baggy, messy – keep writing forward till you reach the end. CELEBRATE ! Put the draft away and don’t look at it for at least a few weeks.

Draft 2 – get out draft one, and read through it carefully. I like to print it out at this stage and read in hard copy, circling bits that are working, scribbling in the margins for possible additions, crossing out all those long boring stretches of introspection or repetition. Cut at LEAST 10 %. Then sit down and ask yourself, “What is this story about? What is it really about?” Once you know, write yourself a list of changes, possible new scenes, perhaps a whole new plan and start again. Yes, you’ll be doing a lot of new writing – but this time it will be more focused. That’s Draft 2. When it’s done – CELEBRATE! Draft 2 is the toughest and now you’ve done it.

Draft 3 – once you’re happy with the latest draft send it to a writing friend or a professional structural editor/manuscript assessor. You can send it to more than one, but don’t overwhelm yourself. Three is a good number. When you receive their feedback, thank them, then sit with their responses for a while. Your gut will tell you what is right for you. Then go back through and redraft according to the feedback and do a thorough copy edit looking closely at every sentence as you go. Editor Judith Lukin-Amundsen once told me to cut the first and last sentence of every paragraph. Before you run wailing to the hills, you don’t actually have to do this. But do look closely at every paragraph, every sentence, every word. Does it need to be there?

Once you’ve done that draft you can start looking at sending to potential publishers, agents, competitions or other publishing pathways.

This process can be repeated multiple times – except the first draft, you only get to do that freewheeling fun once. The rethinking, getting feedback and redrafting can be done over and over again. Sometimes I feel as if I’ve done thousands of drafts of a story or scene – but I am prone to exaggeration!

How do we know when the MS is ready?

A good sign for me is when I feel sick at the thought of redrafting anymore or when I’m afraid I’ll make it worse instead of better, and most of all when the feedback I’m receiving from writing friends is consistently positive. Friends and family members who aren’t writers don’t count, they’ll just tell you it’s “jolly good” or dismiss it because they don’t understand the work of each sentence. Find writing buddies whose writing you respect. People with experience who know the craft of creating good stories.

Don’t make the mistake I did early in my career of sending out uncooked manuscripts, fresh from draft one with a redraft checking the spelling. No no no! Give your story the best possible chance in this competitive marketplace by polishing it until it shines.

For more tips on self-editing SEE HERE and HERE.

GOOD LUCK with the next draft! Let me know how you go.

And wish me luck with Draft Two of “49 is a Dangerous Age” my coming of middle-age comedy. Gearing up to tackle that over the festive season!

As many drafts as there are mushrooms!

In other news we have only 2 ROOMS LEFT for our Heavenly Hoi An Writing Retreat – February 10 – 16/2025. Beautiful private rooms sharing a deluxe bungalow on the river with your own living spaces, including outdoor area plus kitchen and shared bathroom. NOW $500 off for our Black Friday sale! All the info HERE. Bring your writing buddy or come on your own and share with a new writing friend who’ll become a buddy! Come and join us for a comprehensive writing course in a beautiful location. Small group so you’ll get heaps of individual attention and feedback. Great Xmas present for yourself! We always have a wonderful time!

Lots of love,

Edwina 🙂 xx

Every writer knows the first draft is only a small part of the work involved in bringing a story to publishable standard. As Ernest Hemingway once famously said, “All first drafts are crap!” (I may be paraphrasing a little :)).

So how do we take a crappy first draft to something publishers are going to fight over? Rewriting! Or if we’re lucky just redrafting – though let’s face it if you’re a pantster like I was, you may have to write whole new sections. Twice I’ve cut back first drafts of 100 000+ words to 30 000 then rewrote the rest!

How do you self-edit?

The first step of any rewrite is the structural edit.

This looks at how the main elements of our story are working: characters, setting, voice, genre-expectations and plot. Mainly plot!

The best place to start is with a scene list – not just chapter headings but a list of every scene within every chapter. Include which characters are involved, where it’s set, what’s happening (clue – if nothing’s happening – cut now!) and the main focus of the scene, plus whether the scene is moving us towards Hope or Fear. Go through the whole manuscript and you’ll come up with a list of potentially hundreds of scenes.

Once you have this list it’s much easier to see any repetition, or worst of all, completely unnecessary scenes that are neither developing or illustrating character or moving the plot forward. This is when we press DELETE. Or, for chickens like me, this is when we cut these scenes and paste them into another document called “Good bits I may use later.” I have a few of these documents now for various projects and mostly they remain unused, but occasionally I’ll go back in and pull out a section that has become relevant again.

Your scene list will show you where your story starts to sink in the middle or if a character who was pivotal in the first half fades away in the second. You’ll be able to tell if a character is suddenly acting completely differently to who they were earlier, of if they have taken up too much page space – this often happens when we just go with the flow and let bossy or forceful characters have their way.

Oh yes, those bossy characters may kick up a stink.

A scene list makes it easier to find any plot holes or if you’re building enough suspense or just having characters repeat themselves over and over without growth or change.

What tricks do you have up your sleeve to help you tackle the dreaded, but actually fun, second draft?

Have you got a project nearing the stage when it needs a proper evaluation and an objective rethink?

Writers hard at work on their redrafts at the last Second Draft retreat!

If so, come along and join us at Springbrook in the rainforest covered mountains behind the Gold Coast in Queensland for a cosy winter SECOND DRAFT RETREAT – AUGUST 12 – 14.

This special retreat, for women and non-binary writers with a project needing attention, has workshops to help you tackle the second draft, focusing on finding the heart of your story, distilling the themes, the structural edit, and plenty of tips to help with line editing and pitch documents too.

All in a stunning location with cosy single rooms with desks, beauty and peace, like-minded folk to share your story with in feedback groups, fantastic food and lots of fun.

For only $440 if you book before June 30 2022. See more information about the retreat and other retreats coming up HERE.

Or drop me a line for more information.

The second draft needn’t be a scary or lonely experience. Come along on retreat, connect with other writers, and get a head start on the next stage of your project.

What tips do you have for tackling the second draft (or third fourth or hundredth for that matter!).

Hope you can make it to retreat – we always have a wonderful time 🙂