Q&A: Opening the Door on Novel Draft Two

Where to go when draft #1 is completed

NOTE: Click on post title to go directly to the Unschool on Substack site.

I’m using our “foundational” post image for this one, as it’ll fall under both foundational and “fiction.” While writing about “draft two” means that you’ve been writing for some time—long enough to pull together a draft one—this post does belong with foundational.

Here are Tristan’s words, as posted in the comments on the “Questions” post:

I’ve made it through the first draft of my first novel. That was always the initial goal, and now that I’m here, I’m really curious about the revision/editing process. As a first timer, how should I go about this?

I haven’t waded into those murky waters yet. I’m not sure which direction to swim and how deep the water is. Instead, I’ve taken the advice that I’ve heard from other authors to “let it rest” for a time before diving in.

What I have found is that I’m getting more excited about rereading my story and inspired about the revision process instead of the dread I felt immediately after finishing.

My thought is to first read it in it’s entirety and make notations but no changes. Then, go back and reread while I make some serious changes to improve the overarching plot and character arcs. Cleaning up the flow of the story. Then, line editing. Three sweeps in total? I really am not sure when I’ve made it to the beach on the opposite side. It looks far, but it might be even further than I suspect...

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Tristan hits on some solid points here. “Take a break” is key after completing a draft. Give it time to breathe. Take time for yourself to figure out what you’ve been saying, how it’s working.

And—maybe more importantly—he points out a significant piece: waiting until some excitement grows about the process.

Writing anything of length is long-haul work and demands persistence; excitement is useful. It’s all so much further and farther! And best we not know any numbers on that. Just let the momentum start and build. Then keep moving at whatever pace feels optimal.

And how to do that moving becomes the question.

In this post I’d like to bring together archived posts that work to this end, and add further thoughts.

To begin with, post first draft, I tend to do some “calendar” work.

That idea of reading through and resisting the urge to dive deeply into re-writing is solid. It can be hard to stop one’s self though. But note-taking can calm the urge.

Do buy a separate process journal to jot these thoughts.

Let’s try to break this down into macro and micro.

Big picture

In early Unschool days, I posted about the dynamics between form and content in your work. As you stand at the threshold of draft two, now is a time to think about this. This can mean a huge shift and the type of re-drafting that (gulp) can mean setting aside the first draft, and beginning “over again”—except it’s not over again.

Even when you opt to go off-script, and do a complete re-write—as in fresh pages, new words, different approach—all the work of the first draft is still with you; I’ve written about this too. I call it “ghost pages.”

You might not want to read this post—it’s something like the chapter in the maternity book about all the things that can go wrong during childbirth; you only read it if you have to! Really, the post is to “take heart,” in the event you feel a need to start over again.

The time between the first two drafts can be the time to re-frame. Let’s say this doesn’t happen too often! But it has happened enough in my own experience to grow the confidence that when it does happen, it’s always best for the story itself, and the time spent starting over is—I’m convinced—less than the time it would take to copy/paste and do labourious, mind-numbing work with the original. Unfortunately, it’s tough to know this until it happens to you! This would be the “faith piece” of writing. (And why I wrote the “ghost pages” post.)

Again, Tristan’s note about his approach—the “overarching plot and character arcs”—is the more likely scenario.

In this post about outlining, I’ve made extensive use of Robert McKee’s book, Story. More than once in early days I’ve read Story simultaneously while working through a second draft.

As a less-experienced writer, I would often read about process while working through a draft, applying that knowledge, feeling my way through what worked and what did not.

This is the “unschooling” piece; “unschooling” isn’t about eschewing education, and/or “learning from one’s gut.” Though it has elements of both. It is about experimenting, and reaching—and reaching again—for knowledge of how you learn.

What is significant, and what for me causes no small degree of anxiety about my creating of this newsletter itself is this:

You learn to write by writing.

It becomes dynamic, the process of writing, listening and reading (such pieces as my posts and other works of professionals—that is, experienced writers who have thoughtful approaches to guiding—and solid books about writing). No one can tell you how to write; that’s not possible. You can listen and read only so much before you need to get back to your own page or screen, and do the work.

As you stumble over the questions that grow from your self and your work at hand, you ask/seek. I am always humbled by how once such questions occur to me, I then “chance” upon passages and thoughts from others that directly connect, and wrench open learning channels; it feels like a mysterious process. It happens again and again as I work—and yes, it comes of reading and mulling and asking as I go.

I mention my newsletter-related anxiety: that is borne of my constant questioning of what I can next write that might be useful to you in your process.

If you’re not actively writing or working on a project then you are left without questions about writing and you’re also left without direction.

This is also a point at which to work with a writing peer group, even one or just two other writers. But if you don’t have such a group, work with the journaling, the charting, the mulling. Dreaming.

Let yourself open to what comes. Picture those trappist monks, opening the windows to the winds and the flora and windborne to flavour the beer… Is that just a story? It does work to visualize our process at times. Wait, see, taste. Work daily.

That is: spend time with your work. Even if it’s eight pages one day and a half paragraph the next. Don’t tak the following day off. Let the excitement turn into momentum. Push gently at the momentum when needed. And don’t be afraid to give it a good shove.

Re-writing, re-drafting, becomes its own reward. You might go through drafts and drafts, and then as you near the end, you’ll find second wind.

You’re here for the marathon .

Small picture

The micro piece. Does it have a place in draft two? Or still waiting in the wings…? might be a “pass ten” thing. What ARE such “micro” bits? Another post for future.

Tristan mentions “three passes.” It really is tough to say. For one, what is a “pass” for one writer might be something else for another.

Maybe some thin and shiny thread that you’re going to weave through in order to know whether it’s working. You may need to do this now, before you go further. (“Search and find” is useful.) When thinking of such a piece, go for a walk and mull through the ramifications of adding this thread; how is it going to push or pull at the characters and the story arc?

Or you may jot notes and set aside in your process journal, and continue to shape the major arcs in the story. (Do check out the charting I do in the post on Story as an example of how to do this.)

Next

Take a break between each “draft”—whatever you’re calling a draft. Sometimes, just take a break, which might look like time off, time reading others’ works, time working on another project.

Wait until that excitement builds again. But don’t wait too long; you might have to manufacture “excitement.” Is that another post?

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This is a perennial topic. As I browse the indexes for archived posts that might be useful, I discovered I visited this a year ago There might be some repetition! And there might be something useful:

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Quick links to three years of Indexes: 2021, 2022, 2023.

Questions or thoughts?