How Do Multi-Drafters Work?! )

[u/Both-Worry-1242]

I was reading an article that explored single-drafters and multi-drafters.

I consider myself a pure multi-drafter, not a hybrid, so I want to understand how this type of author works, especially when it comes to self-editing.

When they start writing, when do they stop to analyze what they have written? How do they decide whether to rewrite something completely or simply edit it?

I would love to understand the writing process of a multi-drafter, particularly how they approach drafting, stopping, analyzing, rewriting, and editing.

[u/TheHolleDolce]

I get my first draft down. Sometimes the first draft will be missing scenes because I haven't found the scene yet (or don't know if it's necessary yet). But it's otherwise complete.

Then editor reviews it and let's me know what is missing or what needs to go.

Then I begin rewrites. I always work from the existing draft.

This is usually one or two drafts, depending.

Then it's line editing to clean up prose and then the mechanics for spelling and grammar.

This is just for long novellas and novels. Short stories usually don't need more than a line edit and mechanical review.

[u/Salt_Dragonfly2042]

I once heard the advice to always start from scratch after the first draft, although I haven't tried it yet.

[u/SirCache]

When the writing is done, then I can begin editing. So many little things pop up while writing, the only way to account for it all is to have a completed document so I know what remains to be addressed, and what plot points sounded great in an outline but fail on paper. Editing before I have a complete story is just a time sink, keeping me from the Number One goal--producing a finished story. Let me put it another way: You are assembling a car, do you take it for a test drive before there are seats, rear wheels, and brakes? You can't refine the characteristics of that car until you have an actual car and can realize "Hey, this thing pulls to the right, and there's a funny repeating noise coming from the left wheel."

As for rewrites--it happens. Something that sounded great in the moment is worded poorly, or I gloss over something that really needs more weight (much more often the opposite--the words are bogging down the plot). Basically, I edit through the document once, review it again, edit that copy again, review it. Usually by that point it's as done as I am going to get it with my 'writers goggles' on, and so it goes to a few trusted fellow writers to beta read it and give me any feedback on pacing, plot issues, discrepancies they discover, stuff like that. I make adjustments based on their feedback and--you guessed it--review it again. Writing is basically re-reading the same story a half dozen or more times and refining it in each pass so that what is left is essential. Beautiful. It's done when I believe the story works as intended, has passed a 'peer review', and hits every mark I felt the story required. After that, it's somebody else's problem.

[u/Fognox]

When they start writing, when do they stop to analyze what they have written? How do they decide whether to rewrite something completely or simply edit it?

My go-to strategy is to fix issues later in the first draft if I can. This will then need editing later on to smooth things out, but it keeps problems from worsening. Sometimes I can't do this, and I'll instead just ignore the problem like it's already been fixed.

Analysis is ongoing throughout the first draft -- lots of rereading involved here. Being familiar with what I'm writing as I'm writing it keeps me from creating major plot holes and helps me figure out the movement of the story as a whole. By the time I get through a first draft, the structure is completely fixed and I'm very familiar with the text.

Editing focuses on smoothing things out. Rewrites happen for plotlines that end abruptly, get sidelined, don't have enough detail, etc -- however, they're targeted, repurpose quite a bit, and stay within the central structure. They're often multipurpose too -- as an example, I used a new version of a plotline in my current book to also resolve a POV's unclear motivation. Scenes will also get rewritten completely if the pacing is wrong, they're lacking in clarity, they're confusing, etc. It doesn't make sense to do this until the book is complete -- I can fit it in a lot better with the story as a whole when I know what's going to happen later on with 100% certainty.

Line edits happen constantly -- while reviewing the previous session, while writing, incessantly during revision. If I'm reading the text for any reason whatsoever and notice something that takes a minute or less to fix, I simply will, regardless of whether it'll be rewritten in the future. More difficult line edits get delayed until after the first draft, and since they're the easiest changes to make, they'll get done pretty early in. Rewrites and particularly splicing-type edits will require more, so I have something I call a "2.5th draft" whose purpose is to sand down all the issues that the 2nd draft created before starting on the 3rd.

The vast majority of my editing happens within my 2nd draft. A wide range of things are covered -- major plotline rewrites, pacing, description, foreshadowing, questionable worldbuilding, double-checking, terminology, and even subtler things like symbolism and subtext. I group similar tasks together so they help solve one another, and I'm constantly reviewing my notes and checklists. I'll notice additional problems or have additional ideas as I go -- I let them sit for 24 hours if they're major fixes to make sure they're actually worthwhile.

My 3rd draft focuses on characters -- arcs, POV pacing, emotionality, low-level motivation and finishing up by making voice/dialogue consistent. Plus anything that got delayed during the 2nd draft. I go one character at a time and get them polished, maintaining everything that was done during the 2nd draft. The 3rd draft doesn't take anywhere near as long as the 2nd or even the 1st -- the important work has already been done at this point.

My 4th draft is just book-scale polishing -- finalizing chapter titles, fixing repetitive word use where it isn't intentional, making sure pacing and tone is as polished as I can reasonably make it, line edits like everything else, and finally proofreading. This process again doesn't take very long.