My writing
process, like my hairline, has “evolved” significantly from my junior high
school days. Back then my writing process could not have been simpler. If
assigned to write 500 words on topic X, I would begin writing the first things
that came to mind. When I reached word number 500, I was done. It wasn’t so
much an essay as it was an exercise in stream of consciousness. I recall
teachers trying to explain how you do a rough copy and then transferring that
to a good copy, but that never resonated with me. For the life of me, I couldn’t
figure out why anyone would write an assignment twice when they could just
write it once.
These days I
possess neither the simplistic view of the writing process nor the flowing
golden locks I did during the first Reagan administration. After years of
working as a reporter, public relations specialist, screenwriter and editor, I finally
realized that a first draft is never a final draft. And really good writing
takes not one, not two — but five drafts. It never ceases to amaze me
how many full grown adults in both creative and corporate settings still
approach writing the same way I did in 1983.
I can’t count the number of times someone balked
when I suggested that their screenplay could be improved in a second draft. “What,
you mean I have to write this again?” they say with the same horrific
inflection as if I suggested they should run over their own dog. Or all the times
I had a corporate colleague say upon reading a first pass at a document “we
can’t show this to the client.” "Of course we can’t, it’s just a first draft,” I
would explain, trying not to sound like I was speaking to a small child.
The thing that
very few people seem to grasp is that a first draft is the beginning of the
writing process, not the end. I believe that any piece of writing is not done
until it goes through five stages. Each stage has its own specific purpose
designed to increase the good and decrease the suck. So here are the five steps
of the writing process:
STEP ONE – FIRST
DRAFT (TARGET 60% GOOD 40% SUCK)
The most important
part of the first draft is completing it. No writer has ever, ever, ever, and I
mean ever pumped out a brilliant complete work of genius in a first draft. As
you can see above, if you can get 60% of it in the good, you are way ahead of
the game.
Imagine you are at
a pottery wheel and your first draft is that raw spinning lump of clay. Now
picture me shirtless sitting down behind you like in the movie Ghost. There’s no real purpose for this
last part, I just wanted to see if you would actually picture that. The
important thing is to remember that like that lump of clay, your first draft
will only somewhat resemble the finished product at this stage. I’ve looked
back on several first drafts of mine that only barely resemble the finished
product.
This is because
the first draft is the proof of concept for the idea in your head. Even after
you’ve planned it out and outlined it, you won’t know if it really works until
you put it down on paper. Only then will you be able to determine what is
working and what is not. And this is your only concern when evaluating the
draft. It’s not to have everyone tell you how brilliant you are and it’s not a
time to start rehearsing your Oscars speech. It is simply to figure out how to
make it better in the next draft.
To determine this,
you will need to get outside opinions. Always remember to tell people reading
your first draft that you only care about notes on the CONTENT. There is
nothing worse than getting back notes on a first draft that is all about
grammar and copy editing. I don’t care a lick about grammar and spelling in my
first draft. I once had an editor tell me “This is really good but do you think
in the next draft, you could put in some punctuation?”
STEP TWO – SECOND
DRAFT (TARGET 85% GOOD 15% SUCK)
This is always my
favourite part of the process because it’s where the piece starts to look like
what it will eventually become. You’ll notice that the good/suck ratio improved
by 25% in this draft. It’s not finished by any stretch, but the end is in
sight.
The most important
part of the second draft is nailing down the structural integrity of the piece.
If it is a piece of narrative writing, you should have the structure secured by
the end of this draft. If it is a piece of corporate writing, you should
similarly have the order and flow of your content firmly in place.
This can often be
the scariest draft for new writers because it means throwing away the parts
that don’t work and reworking the entire piece. I remember the fear I had when
I had to do my first serious second draft after working with a professional
story editor. I was terrified that if I tore it all apart, I wouldn’t be able
to put it back together again. One of my greatest feelings of achievement was
when I realized I could put it back together again and it was so much better
than it was before.
This is the nature
of going from first draft to second.
STEP THREE – THIRD
DRAFT POLISH (TARGET 92% GOOD 8% SUCK)
This third ‘polish’
draft is meant to clean up those loose threads that remain after the second
draft. Sometimes it means resolving nagging issues in the first draft that you
didn’t quite fix in the second.
Often, it means
reconciling the conflicts that exist from a different approach you might have
taken in draft number two. Seeds that were planted and made sense in the first
draft no longer make sense after the new direction, but you haven’t gone back
to take them out. This is the time to make sure everything is aligned and
serves the current direction.
You will feel
really good after completing this draft and you will be tempted to start
showing it around. Don’t! You feel like it’s ready but you have two more
important steps to go.
STEP FOUR – PAGE
TIGHTEN/DIALOGUE PUNCH DRAFT (TARGET 96% GOOD 4% SUCK)
This was always a
very important stage for me because whenever I would write TV episodes that had
to be 30 pages at the most, mine would always come in 41 pages. Not 40, not 42
but always 41. So once I had the content where I wanted it, I had to look for
ways to get the page count down. So I would look to cut down the scene
description and I would find dialogue that wasn’t absolutely necessary.
It's worth noting
that this is where you stop using the creative side of your brain and start
using the logical/puzzle-solving part of your brain. I stopped thinking like a
writer and started thinking like an editor. The editor in me was often
unforgiving on the writer. I’d think “This whole section isn’t necessary” OR “This
can be said more succinctly.” It was incredible to see how many pages I could
eliminate when going through this process.
The other goal at
this stage is to go through it line by line and looks for ways to punch it up.
If it’s a narrative piece, go through every line each character says and see if
there is a way to improve upon it. Is every line the best it can be?
By the end of it,
you will be amazed had how much better it reads than the third draft of which
you were certain could not be improved upon.
STEP FIVE – GOOD
OLE FASHIONED PROOFREAD (TARGET 100% GOOD 0% SUCK)
Okay grammar and
punctuation nerds, here is where you can go to town. Now is the time to make
sure things like grammar, spelling, and punctuation are all as they should be.
I don’t want to suggest that these are not important because often projects
will be discarded by the gatekeeper readers if they notice shoddy grammar or
sloppy typos.
But it’s important
to leave this to the very end because you will waste valuable time copy editing
sections in a first draft that may be discarded completely in subsequent
drafts. So wait until the piece is exactly as you want it from a content
perspective and then make sure the grammar is pristine.
You have completed all
five steps, and only now is your piece of writing ready to be shared with the
world. Congrats! You probably feel immense satisfaction at getting the piece
exactly the way you want it. If you feel the opposite, like this is way too
much work, it’s probably a sign you are not ready for prime time. Your peers
who are serious about getting that novel published or screenplay produced are busy
putting in the work. If you do too, your writing will improve exponentially.
Oh, and by the way, THIS is what my hair looked like in junior high.
I'm the one on the left wearing the blouse and knickers. Hey, cut me some slack, it was the 80's.
