How To Write a Novel: The 5 Draft Method

Draft 2 - The Details Draft

    When you start this draft you just go like you did with the rough draft. We still don't pay too much attention to grammar and spelling. Same rules apply, but instead of just getting it out on paper, now we are adding all the details from all our notes. Have fun with it. Describe everything the reader can possibly see. Go around the room they just walked in and tell them all about the red lamp on the table. Describe the lamp, the table, the cloth the lamp sits on, the spirals on the table legs that sit on the marble tiled floor. Talk about the lighting and the shadows and the echoing voices. Do not be afraid of adjectives. You can't have too many at this point. It isn't filler, its not fluff, it detailed excitement. Have you ever read a book and felt like you were there? The author was able to draw you in with his words, because he didn't just show you a couch. No, he showed you the three cushioned behemoth of a couch, the gold threaded inlay and the way the large round wooden feet lifted the couch a near six inches off the ground. He showed you that every throw pillow was similar but completely different and how one bright red one only had three buttons on it.

    Do you see the difference? Two words (the couch) or 53? Which is better towards your word count goal? Exactly. Be detail oriented. Draw your readers in. Make them a part of it. Let their imagination place that couch in that room, but tell them exactly what couch is going in exactly what room. They will see it in their mind, but only what you allow them to see. Be frivolous. Be exciting. Make every fabric and dime floating in a pocket or leaf blowing across the tiled floor worth reading about. (it's a dried, brown maple tree leaf, by the way, scratching and sliding across the red and green checkered tile floor as the warm breeze swiftly kicks in from the open door, causing goose flesh to run up Jamie's leg as he sees the elephant grazing in the back yard.)

    Follow your red pen edits and write like never before. Draft 2 will excite you. Draft 2 will make you feel accomplished and Draft 2 will leave you wanting. It will also leave you disappointed. You likely will not reach your word count goal. You might, but I highly doubt it. Have no fear, Draft 3 is right around the corner. For now, follow all your edits. We don't care about word count yet. Still don't care about grammar. Just write. Write well and write rich and deep and fulfilling. And when you are done with all the edits you made and you have a ton of new words and a story that has been given flesh to its bones. Put it down. Be proud. And take your pre-Draft 3 break. Make sure, though, that you are done. Go back through your red pen edits and make sure you have everything done that you left yourself a note about. Then read the new version in it's entirety. If something just jumps out at you, go ahead and fix it. If you read a paragraph or two and they are lacking, add to them. Do whatever you need to do to convince yourself that this book couldn't get any better, any more done. I want you so proud of Draft 2 that you come back here and post a message saying thanks, but I don't need the other 3 drafts. I want you confident in your work. So take your time and be proud of it. Then, we can take our break.

     Are you ready to hate me? This break is 6 months long. Yes, months. Twenty-four long, gruelling weeks. It is so very very important. So important in fact, Dean Koontz and Michael Connelly do it, too. Yes it will be hard at first and you will take peeks and want to get back to it. You cannot. This break is the essence of your success. Without it, your novel will suffer.

    Use the break to start other rough drafts from other ideas you have. Spend the time with your family, friends, school, whatever you need to do. Put the novel away and forget it. Its the best thing you can do. After six months have passed, pull it out, get your coffee and your red pen and get ready for Draft 3.