Last week, I talked a little bit about a problem I was having with a short story. I think I've got some new ideas for it, though it will change the theme of the story a little from what I'd originally planned. I started making some of the changes, but I have to finish revising the entire story before I can decide if it works.
I plan to submit this story to an anthology, though I don't want to go into details at this point. The submission period closes next month, though. I wrote the first draft of this story in October, but I've held onto it because it didn't feel to me like it was ready. This will be the third or fourth version of this story, so I thought it might be interesting to ask other writers how many drafts they typically do of a story. For novels, I'd say I go through at least three or four drafts (rough draft, read on Kindle and make big changes draft, possibly another draft before preparing a paper proof, final version) though the revisions become fewer and less extensive with each pass. Many indie writers might consider this slow, but as a panster, I need to write the first draft to figure out the story. I will say I feel like I'm going through fewer drafts now than when I first started writing, so I consider that progress.
How many drafts do you usually need for a story? Feel free to share in the comments.
2 comments:
How many rough drafts? One. But then I'm a careful planner and outliner.
I work on two or three different stories simultaneously so lose count. But I'd probably say it's at least three drafts that I go through for each story.
Post a Comment