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About the author and blogger ...

Anne Goodwin’s drive to understand what makes people tick led to a career in clinical psychology. That same curiosity now powers her fiction.
A prize-winning short-story writer, she has published three novels and a short story collection with small independent press, Inspired Quill. Her debut novel, Sugar and Snails, was shortlisted for the 2016 Polari First Book Prize.
Away from her desk, Anne guides book-loving walkers through the Derbyshire landscape that inspired Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre.
Subscribers to her newsletter can download a free e-book of award-winning short stories.

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What's the difference between a draft and an edit?

14/4/2018

12 Comments

 
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In my recent post My fast first draft three years on, I mentioned having done four subsequent drafts and an edit of the novel I’m currently calling Matilda Windsor Is Coming Home. Now, I like to count drafts, but how do you define one? When does a read-through, picking up obvious errors, become promoted to draft status, and what’s the difference between that and an edit? When I put the latter into my search engine, the nearest I got – admittedly, I was too lazy to go beyond the first page – was a tangle of speculation on the difference between drafting and revising, none of which was entirely satisfactory. Pushed to come to my own definition, here are my thoughts, along with reflections on how I motivated myself to move from scrappy first draft to an edit.

A draft builds structure while an edit tackles the fine detail and decorating. The analogy of building a house particularly suits my current novel-length WIP as there’s a late scene with one of the point-of-view characters watching a construction team at work from the attic of his own house.
 
Some novels follow a tried-and-tested structure, like the identikit homes on an estate, with the individual quirks coming later. Other novels require several drafts to find their shape, like building a house without any architect input, erecting walls only to take them down again when shown not to work. Whether
planners or panters, writers, like builders, need scaffolding to contain our work in progress; some sense, however vague, of the materials we’re working with, such as theme, character back story and place. While some of that scaffolding will be absorbed into the fabric of the building, most can come down. That’s when we’re ready to start plastering, painting and laying floors. That’s when we’re ready to edit.
 
A draft points its lens at scene, an edit towards sentence and paragraph. What needs to happen to these characters to convert an idea into a story? Where in the narrative sequence is that scene best placed to tell the story in the most effective way? Although some authors edit as they go along, a clunky sentence (paragraph, or even chapter) or gap in research doesn’t matter so much at the drafting stage because everything is provisional: there’s no point wasting time on prettifying a point which might not make the final cut. Editing occurs when the what happens and where questions have largely been answered. How can I say this more eloquently? Do I even need to say this at all? Have I repeated something that fits better in a different chapter? Have I contradicted myself? Although in practice there is often an overlap between drafting and editing, those are the author’s primary concerns at this tidying up stage.
 
How do we move from draft to edit? When do we decide the structure is robust enough?


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Trust yourself, trust your story. This isn’t easy. Confidence fluctuates, but I had to hang onto the notion that this is a story worth telling and I have the ability to write it. On a superficial level, having worked in a psychiatric hospital in the process of closure, I knew I could write about that. But making it interesting? And hitting the balance between darkness and humour? I know I’ve achieved that in places, but as a whole? The plot hinges on two people who need each other not quite managing to meet. It’s a poignant prospect, but I won’t to know for sure whether I’ve handled it sufficiently effectively until it’s published.
 
Not getting swamped by research. I tend to choose topics for my fiction I already know something about, although, once I start writing, I discover I don’t know quite as much as I’d hoped. I thought I knew about hospital closure – having worked in the field and even published academic papers on the subject – but I didn’t know enough about the legalities of the planning and consultation process. In addition, I needed to know about life in the 1930s and how an adopted child goes about tracing their birth parents. Then I decided I wanted to move the location to Cumbria, where I grew up, but where there is no obvious place to put the house which is central to the story. While my ignorance, and attempts to correct it, gobbled up writing time, in more and less interesting ways, I’ve also discovered, as with my debut novel,
Sugar and Snails, the emotional story doesn’t necessarily require as much factual knowledge as I’d feared. Just as some people prefer to get the house perfect before they move in while, for others, it’s a gradual process, writers can absorb themselves in research before committing to sentence or, like me, fill in the gaps as they go along. Or even wait and see what life throws up.
 
Ask other people. Although I like to tidy up my text before asking others to read it, so they’re not stumbling over every misspelled word or misplaced comma, feedback from beta readers is the best way of finding out whether your novel has legs. When you know the story inside out it’s difficult to conjure the mindset of a reader coming to it fresh. So thanks to Linda Bowes, Steffanie Edwards, Valerie Francis, Clare Goodwin and Charli Mills for reading Matilda Windsor and letting me know how it was for you.

Having drafted this post a few weeks ago, I’ve edited it this morning to a chorus of Cumbrian cows. I’m on a short research trip to check up on some of the settings for Matilda Windsor while meeting with family and friends. So, when Charli called for a 99-word story about bats, those cave-dwelling flying mammals were the last thing on my mind. I’ve played with a scene that had a brief existence in an early draft of the novel (I was stuck on writing a prologue for each view-point character’s first encounter with the psychiatric hospital that’s central to the story). It will be clear I know nothing about cricket; but I should note that the prejudice is Henry’s not mine.
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Batting in the batty place

Henry wasn’t a batsman, but he didn’t mind donning his whites when they were a man short. In fact, he was pleased to be asked. Until he discovered Saturday’s fixture was at St Luke’s.

Fortunately, they played the staff team. They let the inmates out to watch but kept them away from the pavilion. They weren’t invited for tea.

Standing before the stumps, Henry hoped he wouldn’t disgrace himself. The ball hurtling towards him, a familiar voice called his name. Tilly? Here?

He heard the willow smack, but not against his bat. Blame the batty woman. Henry was out.


Thanks for reading. I'd love to know what you think. If you've enjoyed this post, you might like to sign up via the sidebar for regular email updates and/or my quarterly Newsletter.
12 Comments
Susan Sleggs
14/4/2018 10:57:42 pm

Thanks for the explanation between drat and edit. I don't think I ever thought to completely separate the two. Now I know.
And yes, Charli's prompts give me a short reprieve from my WIP, a resting place so to speak.

Reply
Annecdotist
15/4/2018 03:45:58 pm

Glad it was useful, Susan, but I wouldn’t profess this is anywhere near the definitive word on the subject. As Charli says in her comment below, she likes to think in terms of metaphorical bones then flesh then skin.

Reply
Charli Mills
15/4/2018 12:39:02 am

It's breathtaking to consider the complexities of writing a novel. Even though I like the analogy a professor once gave for writing the bones first (structure), giving it flash (details), and finally beautifying the skin (polish and correctness), creating a novel is like creating a body from DNA. You have an idea of what it should look like, but...

I enjoyed beta-reading this latest WIP, having watched snippets of Mathilda's character form in the petri dish of flash fiction. To read the full story and meet the characters was exciting. It was a clean manuscript, but editing is a back and forth process and sometime you can risk the structure by editing too deeply.

I think it's hard to describe because we all process in different ways. And I think writers can get confused. I know I have! Beta readers are good for the overall manuscript and signals a completion ahead. I have a good feeling in my bone about the bones of your third novel.

Batty! That would be a word to recall Henry's perception of St. Luke's. For not knowing cricket, I think you made it believable!

Reply
Annecdotist
15/4/2018 03:58:19 pm

Isn’t it a crazy complex business? I remember your analogy of building a body, which is a good one, and I wonder how many Frankenstein’s monsters we create along the way.
You make a good point about the difficulty describing the process. I think it’s hard enough articulating it for ourselves, then another obstacle in communicating it to others. It strikes me that that might be partly why I’ve often felt frustrated with writing manuals, perhaps unfairly because it’s impossible for the author to know the reader’s starting point. Maybe I should be grateful if any of the gels at all.
I’m very grateful to have you rooting for Matty and her story. I’m having fun researching settings right now, although I don’t think it will change an awful lot of what I have already. I thought of you this morning when I walked to a village on the Cumbrian coast with a fascinating assortment of housing dating back to the seventeenth century, some grand manor houses close by tiny fishermen’s cottages.
Alas, poor Henry! But I don’t think his prejudices surpass mine in relation to cricket. And the match was played in the 1970s, I think, when his aversion would have been particularly unusual.

Reply
Molly Stevens link
15/4/2018 09:59:21 pm

I can become batty editing a 500 word piece, so not sure I can handle the stress of a full length novel. It is an amazing process. Thanks for the insights. And I love the title of your flash. Poor Henry! Haha!

Reply
Annecdotist
16/4/2018 08:29:59 am

Thanks, Molly, and that raises an interesting question for me in with I edit 100,000 words as closely as I edit 500. Probably not, but there’ll be several pockets of 500 words within the 100,000 that I’ll pick at even more intensely.

Reply
Anurag Bakhshi link
17/4/2018 06:46:40 am

But maybe it will lead to a better match for him? :-)

Reply
Annecdotist
18/4/2018 09:00:43 am

Great suggestion! I’ll tell Henry.

Reply
Irene Waters link
17/4/2018 10:38:51 am

Thank you for your definition of draft and edit. If I had thought about it I would most likely agree with you as it makes sense. Although practically I would have been calling all versions a draft until the final and then I would do a copy edit. The analogies put forward by you and Charli both make a lot of sense.
I enjoyed your flash. I know nothing about cricket either but that familiar voice that you don't want to hear willl throw any one no matter whether they are batting or batty.

Reply
Annecdotist
18/4/2018 09:02:34 am

Thanks, Irene. There are so many different ways of looking at this. Some people also talk about a developmental edit when receiving expert feedback which might impact on the structure etc.
Glad you liked my batty flash.

Reply
Norah Colvin link
20/4/2018 11:34:08 am

Hi Anne, The process of writing is complex. I find it more difficult nowadays to differentiate between drafts. In the old days when I hand-wrote drafts and typed up the final edited version, drafts were distinct and countable. Now they blur into each other as text is cut and pasted, deleted and reinstated, or left to rot in a file somewhere.
Your flash is cleverly crafted with a fabulous title and a great conclusion. Perfect for your setting and characters. I'm looking forward to a chance to read about Matilda/

Reply
Annecdotist
20/4/2018 04:29:19 pm

For me, there might be less of a distinction between drafts and edits for short stories, articles and blog posts, as I might get an idea for a tweak without revising the whole thing. But for my novels, when I would need a few days even for a close read-through, a draft requires having the entire work in mind, generally over several months, whereas editing can be more bitty. Don’t know if that makes sense to you – or even to me!
Glad you enjoyed my batty flash.

Reply



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