Last week, I shared some insight into how I approach writing a first draft of a story. I firmly believe the purpose of an initial draft is to get the story out of your head and on to the page, perfection be damned. Because this is my approach, I will admit the first draft of my stories look messy as hell. Seriously! There are dozens of miss-spelled words, my grammar and punctuation are shotty at best, all of my characters have multiple names, the plot is contradictory, and the draft is written in different word docs, notebooks, and scrap pieces of paper.

With all that being said, today I wanted to spend some time talking about my process of putting together a second draft of a story.

Writing a Second Draft is Like Assembling a Jigsaw Puzzle

Creating a second draft for me starts with making sure the story is compiled in one word doc. When I’m writing a story, inspiration can take hold of me out of nowhere. Suddenly, part of the story is written on a napkin, in a composition book, in the notes app on my phone, and in random word docs. So I drop all the components in a single word doc as sequentially as I can.

Like I said, it’s a jigsaw puzzle.

Because of this, there will be weird gaps between multiple plot points in my story. I make sure to highlight those. This way, when I start rewriting it, those sections stand out, and I remember to address them.

Spelling, Punctuation, and Grammar Mistakes (Thank God for Spellcheck!)

I will be the first to say that, as a writer, it’s embarrassing that I’m not better at spelling, punctuation, and grammar. When I work on my second draft, I fix as many writing mistakes as I can. And boy, there are a lot of them! If you are not the best at spelling, punctuation, or grammar like me, I cannot recommend Dreyer’s English by Benjamin Dreyer enough. Reading this book has helped improve my writing tremendously.

Of course, Owl Purdue is another great resource. You can check out some of their tools on grammar and punctuation here:

Purdue University: Punctuation

Purdue University: Grammar

I have more to say about writing a second draft, but I wanted to keep this blog on the shorter side. So don’t for et to subscribe to these posts by entering your email. I’ll see you on Thursday!