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Hey, so i'm working on my first WIP, and i wanted to ask about drafting. When can one consider their first draft done? Does it have to have the goal word count (ie; 100K), or would being about halfway there be considered a good enough first draft, that i can move on to the second and start editing?

Concluding each stage of the writing process

It's difficult to know when a phase of a writing project has concluded and you're ready to focus on a new objective as it's developing. I tend to approach my writing projects with a clear and uniform trajectory, regardless of how diverse my projects can be. This approach allows me to remain focused, thorough, and reassured that I am covering all my bases in an organized fashion. However, it also maintains space for me to be explorative and intuitive when necessary. In regards to word count, I don't think it's entirely relevant unless you're determined to adhere to strict genre conventions. Give your story the space it needs and not an extra inch.

(Optional) Zero Draft

In this phase, you're telling yourself the story. You're doing it quickly, messily, intuitively, and forgivingly. Explore every idea that glows in the dark for you, don't throw anything away or discount any possibility. Exhaust your imagination in this phase so that when you reach the first draft, you know you're making informed decisions.

First Draft

You're crafting the structure and core elements of the story. This is often the phase of discovery. You're becoming acquainted with your characters and how they interact, you're beginning to feel at home in the world and settings you've built, and you're seeing all sides of the conflict as it evolves. The goal here is settle on a beginning, middle, and end point, and by the end of this process you want to know your characters' motivations and relationships inside and out.

Second Draft

Go back quickly through the first draft and address any points where you got stuck, where you compromised for the sake of carrying on to the end, and fill in any apparent blanks. The first time you really iron something out, there will always be a few pesky creases. This is the time to find and flatten them.

Third Draft

This is where you question everything. Identify and scrutinize your decisions, dive into the "curtains are blue" discussions with yourself, and begin to tidy up things like grammar, clumsy dialogue, over-poured descriptions, and dubious vocabulary. Comb through each paragraph and be brutal, prioritizing clarity and intentionality of how you've told the story.

The Read Through

This is the point where I recommend doing three things:

Letting it rest away from you for 1-3 months so that you can return to it with a bit of unfamiliarity and new perspective.

Hand it off to a couple of trusted readers and give them ample time to read, digest, and craft some feedback

Reread the project once all the way through making no changes (although annotations are acceptable)

Fourth Draft

Finishing touches. Vigorously and meticulously scrub and scrape between the lines and imagine giving it to your worst enemy. If you can imagine any mean (but valid) things they could conceive of to say about it, this is the time to grapple with or fix those details.

Additional Resources

Guide to Drafting

Word Count/Productivity Tracker Spreadsheet

Balancing Detail & Development

Writing The First Chapter

Writing The Middle of Your Story

Powering Through The Zero-Draft Phase

Writing The Last Chapter

Chapter Length

Happy drafting,

x Kate

#writing #reference

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idk if any of y’all are readers but please just go pick up any book by fredrik backman it will cure something broken in you. please i’m begging you.

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@lovesdaya

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You are too nostalgic, you want memory to secure you, console you.

- Janet Fitch

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i’ll have whatever they are having for my fall vibes pls 😌🍂

i am so cozy right now i don't think me or anyone else will ever be able to achieve this level of cozy ever again. this moment will go down in history. the cozy is off the charts

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“you’re very brave, miss honey.”

“ not as brave as you.”

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rewatching matilda 1996 is like...you are never forced to empathise with mrs wormwood at the end of it all when matilda begs to stay with miss honey, and yet so many people walk away from this scene thinking "oh she really did love matilda, she doesnt want to let her go" and to that i say i think you are missing the message being conveyed here. she doesnt say "i love you, matilda, i couldnt stand to lose you" she says "youre the only daughter ive ever had." to mrs wormwood her love for matilda is shaped by possession, by not fully seeing matilda as anything BUT her daughter. where as miss honey sees matilda as everything; as brave and funny and smart and kind and true. the film says to you: a mothers love can be awful and mean and dismissive and cruel, something loud and altogether absent. and then it says: you can sit on a swing set in the sun, maybe even on a picnic blanket, and it can be life saving and warm and soft and quiet and completely unconditional, something you can touch, something safe. even if she still harbored maternal feelings for matilda, mrs wormwood was never the mother she deserved or ever needed. miss honey is. and when mrs wormwood is faced with the harsh reality of completely losing her daughter, she does the one single, truly loving parental act in the whole movie, and allows miss honey to adopt her. the film doesnt want you feeling bad for matildas birth mother, its saying: empathise with the little girl who is saved, and think of the little girl inside of you who deserved the same.

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Helen Oyeyemi, from White is for Witching

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Instagram credit: liberaureum

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✧˖°.🎧⋆ ˚｡⋆☕₊˚.🍂

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when hands touch

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go watch Barbie

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last book that made you cry?

tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow by gabrielle zevin, a new all time fave. 6/5 🌟

[ read my full review here || shop next chapter soy candle ]

#book recs #book review #5 star reads #6 star books #all time faves #tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow #booklr #bookworm #books #booklover #bookish #reader #cozycore #cozy #bookblr #books & libraries #booksbooksbooks #book quotes #reading update #soy candle #bookish candles #autumn candles #candle aesthetic

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“How smartly September comes in, like a racing gig, all style, no confusion." ―Eleanor Clark

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to live for the hope of it all

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@academia-lucifer

source: romneyellen