First Draft
Big Red Car here on an early Thursday. Hope you are well. God help the Carolinas.
Much of life is about getting beyond its first draft. A writer develops a first draft subject to a lot of self-editing and then sends it to a professional editor.
That editor will undertake the following Stations of the Cross:
1. Three developmental edits focused on ensuring the story is really a story and that it contains a theme, a plot, a story arc, interesting characters good and bad, tons of conflict, a conflict resolution and a denouement.
Each time the editor finishes their edit, the writer will revise the piece. It looks like this: “BRC REV after DE 1” meaning this is the BRC’s revision of the editor’s first developmental edit.
2. When the developmental edits are finished, then the editor will go through a copy edit looking for grammar changes. This is going from a rake to a comb.
3. When the CE is finished, the editor will make a final proofread.
4. Happy with the final story, the writer will mark it “FINAL” and send it out to be considered by publishers.
5. The publisher will likely repeat the entire process — publishers’ editors can be extraordinarily good.
In this manner, the story goes from a lump of wet, unformed clay to a bit of fine, elegant china by iterative edits.
Business planning and running a business can benefit from this mindset.