How many drafts do your chapters/episodes normally go through? how about name changes for the story?

[Leyelle]

A few of my upcoming chapters, like "Cooties" and "Babble" took like 3 or four drafts. They are super important chapters, and Cooties was rather complicated in structure, so it was a struggle to make sure I did it right.

[Leyelle]

Not me looking back through my drafts and realizing I never once used the name I had originally planned for Melissa's son in a single draft of the chapters, just in the chapter outlines. For the life of me. He's been "Rodrigo" since his first mention.

[Vassia]

I don't count exactly but somewhere from 4-5. Difficult chapters get more love. My first draft is technically a screenplay that I wrote a few years ago, that I've been novalizing. Then draft two is my mess of a chapter that usally has a lot of fixing. Draft three I fix most of it. And then draft four I go over for grammar and anything left. If there's a draft five that's usualy because there was a difficult scene for me somewhere that I needed to think about more.

I'd love to have a round of beta readers for my drafts eventually and an actual editor but I can't really afford that right now.

[Leyelle]

Difficult chapters get more love

definitely lol, my hardest chapters take like 3-5 drafts often times.

an actual editor

Oh, I know an affordable editor if you're interested.

[Vassia]

I'm interested want to DM me?

[Leyelle]

yes. i'll message you his info

[Leyelle]

@Vassia I DMed you through the forum

[GamerPrincessXI]

Well, my adult animated series...I'm working on has been rewritten at 7 times. I've been working on the script for at least 2 years. In that time...I tried to post it the reddit and reddit being reddit said it was stupid and unreadable. Hated the title and basically said I need to rewrite it again. Sooooo, this is my 8th rewrite.

[Leyelle]

wait what? what said the story was stupid or unreadable?

[skidiggy]

For Apparent Secrets, the process usually goes like this:

• Review events calendar for current date in the story, plus the preceding week and following week of events.
• Open up Word and make a bulleted list of the events that need to transpire in the new chapter, plus any tidbits I want to include (dialogue, descriptions, visuals, etc.)
• Start writing like crazy. It doesn't matter at this point if everything is perfect or in the right order; as long as it's down on paper, I can work with it. Shoot for 1200 words of "meat" in the first draft. Details, plot, characters, emotions. Get it all there.
• Leave it alone for a bit. Grab a snack. Watch a movie. Remember the good old days when you could do a cartwheel. Appreciate nature and/or touch grass. I try and stay away from it for at least an hour before diving back in to make edits.
• Start editing. I have Word's AI voice read the text back to me to listen to. You'd be amazed how bizarre some dialogue sounds when it's read aloud. Stop whenever you need to make a change and do your edits. Wash, rinse, and repeat until you go all the way through this second pass.
• Have "Beverly" (the AI voice lady) read it back to me all the way through without interruptions. If I make it all the way to the end without feeling / seeing / experiencing what I need to, it's time for revisions. If it's all good, give it a final pass by manually re-reading to appropriate background music.
• Triple-check details like eye/hair color, names, jobs, etc. to make sure I don't flub anything.
• Cookie time.

[Leyelle]

small details are the easiest to mess up XD. The anxiety is real when you go back and realize you've randomly changed somebody's hair color or something

[skidiggy]

Oof, I feel that. I once completely re-wrote a character's special abilities to incorporate a change in eye color. Once I doubled-down and committed to the change, it ended up being a core thing to their new identity.

[Leyelle]

I just remember the power of hair dye xd

[GamerPrincessXI]

Apparently it wasn't in the correct format and people hated the title. So, I changed the title and I'm still just writing out the story.

[Vassia]

Yes! At least one of my edits I read out loud. I helps so much.

[Leyelle]

I live with other people, so this would be strange for them lol.

[Leyelle]

What's the most drafts you've ever done for one chapter/episode? for me I think it was 5...?

[Leyelle]

The first episode of "A Dozen Morning Glories" took 3 or four drafts. I hope everyone will enjoy it and all the work will be worth it in the end lol.

Read A Dozen Morning Glories :: Strawberry Jam:"Damsel in the Red Dress" x "A...

[SumireHime]

I don't do drafts lol. Hardly even edit. It comes out perfect.

[Leyelle]

I don't do drafts lol. Hardly even edit. It comes out perfect.

you must have some kind of magic then I don't know any one else that that works for