Writing the First Draft and the Second Draft, etc...

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Permalink Reply by Emily Doolin Aulicino on July 19, 2009 at 10:26am

After writing a story and proofreading it for punctuation and grammar errors, it is important to continue reading your work allowed or having others do so. HOWEVER, it is wise to let the writing sit days--maybe a week or so--and then reread it.

Often when you write the story you actually put on paper isn't the exact version in your head. That is, you think you are writing what you want to say, but you don't always. By returning to your writing at a later date you get a fresh look at it. You will more easily find areas you need to smooth or clarify. You may find places where you need more detail or wish to add something you previously had forgotten.

Visit your writing often; it misses you!

Permalink Reply by Karen Rhodes on August 18, 2009 at 10:56am

Proofreading for punctuation and grammar (and spelling) is vital. Each writer should have at least one good grammar handbook handy. Use the one found in college English courses, or the one used in the 12th grade English course (in the accelerated program) at the local high schools. Prentice-Hall publishes a good one.

But please dew knot depend awn ewer spill chukka! Spelling checkers are okay, but they will pass words that you have misspelled when they happen to be other words spelled correctly. If you transpose the 'r' and the 'o' in 'from' to produce 'form,' the spell checker will not know that you meant 'from' and will let 'form' through. Spell checkers are a trap, and an unreliable crutch. Best to do it yourself.

Revisiting your writing after letting it "rest" a while is great advice. Just as you should revisit your genealogical documents, forms, and notes from time to time with fresh eyes, your family history writing deserves the same.

Permalink Reply by Karen Rhodes on August 18, 2009 at 10:50am

At a writer's conference in Jacksonville, Florida, several years ago, David Poyer (author of Down to a Sunless Sea, The Only thing to Fear, The Gulf, The Med, and several others) said, "All first drafts are cr*p." It was his rather blunt way, bless him, of saying that the first draft is only the first step.

The first draft is just to get the thoughts and ideas down. I have to resist the temptation to polish on the spot, because alas, I am a perfectionist. Get those ideas and thoughts down first.

Reworking, for me, involves getting rid of overwriting. I tend to repeat, to overemphasize, to even pontificate, in a first draft. So I look for excess verbiage, redundancy, overblown phrasing. I try to pare down (this message is a first draft, so it won't be pared down).

However, you also want to be sure, in subsequent drafts and certainly in the finished product, that your language is precise. Use the right word -- Mark Twain said that "the difference between the right word and almost the right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug." I admire writers like Arthur C. Clarke, who wields words like scalpels.

Test the logic of the piece, too. Does each sentence logically follow the previous one? Does each paragraph logically follow the previous one? Does the page hang together?