5-draft method

 

Jeff Goins, a bestselling author of “You are a writer”, shared with the readers his 5-draft method. It's his way of writing novels, and I'm sharing it for other writers, who may find it interesting to try out.

Of course this is just one of the options. Ultimately when it comes to drafts you should go with whatever feels the best and gives good results.

First, what is a draft?

It's a complete, but not final version of your novel. It should include the most important characters and events, but it can still be messy and ultimately a work in progress. Draft or drafts are then worked on to get the final product.

Now, let's see how Jeff Goins deals with the draft process.

Draft #1 - The Junk Draft - You're getting down all the ideas for the story. This doesn't have a proper structure, we don't mind the plot holes, we don't go too deep in world building or character creation. We just spill out the ideas out.

Draft #2 - The Structure Draft - Time for questions: does your story flow? Will people understand the order it's in? Which events come first, which come later? Does it all make sense?

Draft #3 - The Rough Draft - Here you start polishing your work line by line. You should check for writing mistakes, grammar mistakes, plot holes, anything you might have missed.

Draft #4 - The Surgery Draft - At this stage you're cutting out all the unnecessary stuff. You can ask yourself: is the story what I wanted it to be?

Draft #5 - The Last Draft - It's the version you send to beta readers for reviewing.