Drafting: Part 3—Write, Edit, Repeat

it’s all about the crit!

—nod to my d&d friends

It’s true. Not every paper will take more than three drafts—first, second after notes, final proofed draft. Length is not what dictates how many drafts you will want, need or make. Length will obviously be a large contributor, but your readers (teachers, mentors, etc.) will show you how many drafts you need, largely, because they will expose how much more work needs to be done. How important you view a particular piece or assignment will influence your final number of drafts as well.

My honors project proposal had seven drafts. I thought it was done much earlier. My teachers kept giving me notes requiring significant change. It needed to be shorter (one page) than I originally realized, more concise. It was for a program that was very important to me, and very competitive.

One page: seven drafts.

So, let’s talk about what those middle drafts look like.

Every draft after your first becomes about taking in and applying notes and criticism in the most productive way: leveraging external data, seeing how it changes your view of your topic, sharpening your argument.

Once you’ve received notes from your first reader—usually your teacher or alpha reader if not in school—sit back down to incorporate, rebut, and reform your words. Many notes are given in the form of a question:

“What does this quote have to do with your thesis statement?”

“I don’t think this is what this character would do. Why not have his brother say that?”

“Did you mean to use this word?”

These all mean the related claim is not supported clearly or strongly enough. Readers’ questions and suggestions force you to defend your choices, give you the opportunity to realize your reader may be right, or make you restate your argument to match what you (already) thought you were arguing. It can be as specific as defending your choice of punctuation—perhaps a semi-colon (;) versus colon (:)—to highlight a statement differently than your reader would. Punctuation can separate your voice as much as showing your knowledge of grammar. But we’ll get to punctuation another time.

I suggest writing your response to their notes down—right next to them if it’s a hard copy. Not only does that help keep things organized, it can be very cathartic (Yes, I bloody well DID mean to use that word!, No.His brother is going to show a completely different side soon. Arthur is setting that up!, Oh, my thesis is actually not what I thought it was now that I’ve done more research.) When you have systematically addressed each note, it’s time to test the new material.

The best test is to read your work out loud.

It doesn’t have to be formal. It doesn’t have to be printed out (although, I do love a hard copy, note jotting is so much easier on real paper). It doesn’t even need to be completely finished. I read aloud a paragraph here and there during every draft while typing. Even if you are not writing a speech, reading aloud is the best tool to know if what you are trying to say makes sense, to help you figure out what you are trying to say, if your structure is confusing or awkward, if the pacing is right, what words are going to make your readers stumble…

The list goes on.

When you are ready to dig deeper into the editing well, have someone listen to you read. An audience (one will do to start) will clarify your intent even further.

Deeper still? Have someone else read your words back to you. Scary, but it will absolutely crystalize what works, what doesn’t—including the changes you’ve already made—and what is still missing.

Use this pattern to separate each successive draft, build on each edit. Or make your audience participate in draft four instead of waiting for draft five. Or do all three types of reading every new draft. Change readers if you can. Make it a free-for-all of input! It depends on how much help you have…and how much time. You will make changes along the way every time you reread, rehear it regardless. It’s the external input that is crucial to sculpting your first draft into your final draft.

It’s important to accept criticism—notes, suggestions, feedback, edits—with grace and an open mind. Not everyone is good at giving it, nor is everyone trying to be mean. Everyone, however, who has taken any time to read, think about, and respond to your work deserves your gratitude. They didn’t have to look at it at all. If you feel a reader is too harsh or you dislike they way they give you feedback, don’t ask for their time in the future. I realize that is not always an option, and I will devote an entire Topic-of-the-Day to coping with difficult personalities, teachers, critics, and students in a few weeks.

If you do have the option, adjust your readers to fit your work—topics and personal style. If all your readers seem too harsh… Well, you may have to consider it is you, not your critics who are being inflexible. Criticism is hard to hear. Anyone giving constructive criticism is not trying to hurt you; they are doing what you asked and trying to make your work its best.

That does not mean letting others completely steer your work. Good criticism is a honing and guiding tool for your words, your voice, your creativity. Take it. Use it. The more perspectives you take in, the better you will become at knowing which suggestions are the most productive. The more exposure you have to criticism, the more experience you’ll have with saying, “No thank you” with kindness to unkind or ineffective readers. When you find readers that fit—who hear your voice, challenge you, and give the most poignant notes—shower them with thanks, and never let them get away.

May Nerd-dom abound!

katrina pavlovich

Quote-of-the-Day

“True friends stab you in the front.” —Oscar Wilde

https://www.brainyquote.com/search_results?q=Oscar+Wilde+AND+Language

Thumbnail image of The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen from https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781429928618