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The new logo is great. Simple yet very eye-catching. I like it.

I'm *really* impressed that you went through so many drafts writing the competition stories. Were those completed drafts that you were able to get 6 or 7 out, or more like false starts?

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May 9·edited May 9Author

Great question! I think every writer defines "draft" differently. I tend to be a "draft once revise endlessly" type rather than a "re-write from a blank page," type. So when I say The Encircling Cells went through 6 drafts its more like I drafted it once then made major changes 4-6 times.

For example: the scene where he drank the rain and the wraith appeared originally didn't have a wraith, and he as able to drink his fill. It was boring. The finale originally was much shorter, the walls didn't crack (and the emotion didn't land). The beginning used to be much longer but it didn't show his character how I wanted and there wasn't enough urgency (so I did rewrite that, keeping only phrases here and there). There were originally no wraiths below him. I gave him a bed at first. There were two windows, but it was too pleasant... All sorts of differences.

So I was always re-shaping what was on the page, bit by bit, but in the end I think less than half of my "first draft" made it into the final version in any recognizable way. I think I stopped 5-6 times and thought "okay, I'm done with the changes, let's evaluate" and that's what I mean by "draft."

What about you? Do you go through several drafts? How does that process tend to look?

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I see!

I don't "draft" very much- I edit relentlessly as I go. With my first two stories, I wrote wildly to start with and then had to stop around 1000 words to cut back to fit the structure I wanted. Basically, whatever was left dictated where the story was going from there. I didn't make major changes to the plot after that point, though I did plenty of nitpicky revising. With the third, I wrote, revised, and polished in ~250-word chunks and barely went back at all. So I did go through a lot of "No, that's not right" changes, but I didn't really stop writing to evaluate the changes as a whole.

Now I DO stop and do exactly that with my plot outline, because that's where I test out various events and endings ahead of time. It's just a summary of the story/chapter with various plot beats highlighted. If at any point it stops making sense with what I've written, that usually means the outline has to change.

E.g. I had a whole version of story 3 where the romance is just a subplot to some dramatic action, but as I wrote it became clear that I didn't have room for both conflicts. Due to time constraints, I kept the beats that I had and tested out many.....many versions of the plot before realizing that what I'd written was the start to an emotionally dense piece that didn't have room for action at all.

Most often, even after I go through this process once I still consider the results "the first draft" and go revise it afterwards. The competition entries were unusual for me in that way.

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Hearing about other writers' processes is endlessly fascinating to me. Thanks for sharing. I do some of those same things too. I for sure edit on a sentence-level as I go, but I find I can't make changes to more than a paragraph at a time until enough of the thing is done, so then I can step back and look at the whole and then make adjustments...

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The new look is great! You’ve also made me want to write more flash fiction to work on concision. Happy writing, Eric!

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Thanks, Keyon, and thanks for following along with the stories. I look forward to seeing what you produce!

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That’s a good point. With the time pressure of a deadline, you can’t really let your draft sit for a few days and come back to it with fresh eyes.

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It blows me away that you hated writing #2 and yet that one got the highest score!

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Haha, right? The hatred was largely because of earlier drafts, but also: have you ever worked on something so much that you start going “nose-blind” to the smell of it? I couldn’t tell if it was good or not, but I knew earlier drafts were bad, and I was just ready for it to be done and over with. Looking back, with more distance and fresher eyes, I do like what I created :)

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I am here for the Britishisms. It makes me feel less of a minority on here. You did a great job and you should be so proud of how far you've come. I loved every story.

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Thanks, Hanna.

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I really LOVE your logo!

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Thanks, Nick!

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