Are you supposed to start over when making the second draft?

[JoshRaed]

Because up to this point I'd just been editing the first draft in order to make the next one. Was that wrong?

[An_Alias]

yes and no? Therese no one way to do it, it's whatever works for you. In general, I start over and use the first draft as a guide of plot points to hit and various prose to use. Every project work flow is different. If it's not working, start all the way over.

[IndigoShirtProd]

Like @An_Alias said, it's different for everybody. Comic creating can especially be an individualistic process. And since most indie artists work on their project alone, it's more useful to find a workflow that works for you rather than trying to figure out the "right" or "wrong" way to do it. There's always going to be best practices, like, in my opinion, going from an outline to a script to thumbnails to pages, but there are many people who don't work like that and still make a good product. I sympathize with you looking for outside input when you get into your own head about things, especially now when you asked for beta readers, but remember if you feel good about a creative decision, you don't have to change it because you received a comment on it (even if you received a million comments on it). I say do what works and have confidence in your choices, even if other people disagree with them. And I say this as someone who has disagreed with a lot of your creative choices in the content I've read of yours.

[DiegoPalacios]

Check what worked for your story on your first draft and keep it, change what didn't work.

Have fun and don't be afraid to make mistakes, learning from mistakes is a quick way to learn.

[EncryptedWriting]

Honestly, this is a question that I've debated. When I finish a draft, I am typically like "that was fun let's not do that again".

I would say, no, you don't have to rewrite it. Heck, especially with parts you really like, you can just transfer over. Yes you'll have to rewrite a lot, but it's your blueprint, your study guide even.

For me, I know I need to rewrite my first seven chapters easily. But I have the blueprints and can "easily" do so.

I would recommend taking a step back and look at the draft. Remember nothing is perfect after the first draft. From first piece of art to first draft of a piece of work - that's why they're called drafts.

[king-goldfish]

For me, personally: good god, no. If I thought I had to start from a blank page again, I'd just never do any revisions. That said, I have completely rewritten entire manuscripts before, but I didn't go into the editing process thinking I was going to do that. I started rewriting scenes and before I knew it, I had rewritten everything from scratch. I have to trick myself like that to get anything done.

[SoftWonderBun]

Hello this question stems from something I told Josh in DMs.

This is what I meant:

When I said make a new draft I meant always retain a copy of your original draft so you can retain your original idea and go back. If you take something out that you later decide you wanted to keep having an extra, untouched copy of the previous version will allow you to get those things back. I didn't mean type everything all over from the beginning.

[Ordinaryaverageguy]

I've run into a situation while editing a draft that my vision of the story line or a character had changed & the draft was really holding me back. So, I guess it depends on whether you're mostly happy with the draft & just want to tinker with it or polish it up... or if you're really unhappy with it & maybe then it's time to set it aside & start over.

And by starting over, it doesn't mean your draft was wasted. You may still keep parts of it. But you needed that draft to realize how you really want the story to do better.