1. ChaseTheSun

    ChaseTheSun Senior Member

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    Saving Drafts

    Discussion in 'General Writing' started by ChaseTheSun, Apr 6, 2017.

    How do you guys go about saving drafts? Do you never re-write anything until you're finished draft 1 of your manuscript, then go back, copy the file, name it 'draft 2' and start revising? Do you re-write as you go and just continue referring to that one file as 'draft 1' even though some parts of it may have been re-written two, three, ten times? What about those sections that you've changed and re-written... do you keep copies of all the sections through each of the edit stages?

    My current manuscript is titled 'draft 1', but within it are some extensively re-worked sections that, it would be fair to say, are in their draft 2, 3 and 4 stages. But other sections are still as new as the day I wrote them, having never been revisited.

    Is there an advisable process for saving drafts? Surely I shouldn't keep every single version of every single chapter...? But does that chapter 1, for example, still belong in the 'draft one' manuscript, even though it's been so heavily overhauled?

    Sorry if it's a simplistic sort of problem. I know it shouldn't be stumping me quite to the degree that it is!
     
  2. izzybot

    izzybot (unspecified) Contributor

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    I don't save another draft unless I'm making pretty severe changes that I might want to backpedal on. It might not be the best method, but I really don't mind scraping stuff. I trust myself to not inadvertently break the story - if I'm editing, I'm probably improving it, and I just want to keep the newest version.

    I did have this one short story that got really out of hand and wound up being about 9k long, and I wanted to chop it down to about 4k for submitting, but I thought the 9k version was worth keeping, so I saved it and started working down the second cut. Ended up saving one at about 6k, too, then chopping out more to get it down to 4. I have another short that I ended up diverging and focusing on two different aspects of it in two different version, so I've saved both of them since I'm not sure if either one's objectively better / which one's more effective.

    But these are very much outlier cases for me. I sort of track mental 'drafts' where I consider "before I added X subplot" the alpha version, and "after I cut Y character" the beta version and so on, so I remember the changes I've made in broad strokes and could rewrite if I really wanted to, but I only keep hold of the most recent version. Stuff got cut and changed for reasons. I don't make big edits without seriously considering it first, so why keep old inferior iterations?
     
  3. nastyjman

    nastyjman Senior Member

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    I think you are fine calling draft 1 despite revising as you go. Once you are done with the whole ms and do a pass, then it makes sense to save a copy, rename it draft 2 and work on that.

    Back to your first draft process--

    I've read that you should at least copy/paste sections of your story IF (that's a hard if) you are completely deleting it or significantly changing it. Have a file called "cutting room" where you paste these omitted or revised sections. I won't advice, however, copy/pasting sections if you are just polishing it at the sentence level.
     
  4. Dnaiel

    Dnaiel Senior Member

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    In my folder where I keep my manuscript and notes, I periodically save them all to separate folders in a master folder called "backups". I have 115 so far.

    So, as I go along, when I reach a point where I want to preserve my current MS, I save it to a new numbered folder (next one will be 116) in the backups folder. This is useful because I can go back at any point and review earlier versions. It also would help if I did something stupid and fouled up a current MS, I could go back through recent drafts and work on rebuilding my current version.

    It's easy for me because I don't have to rename the drafts. They're all the same title. I just give the folders a sequential number starting with 001. I exit the word processor when I'm ready (because I can't save a locked document when it's open), create a new folder in the backups folder, and then copy the draft into it. So far, they all take up a massive 64 megabytes!
     
  5. Stormburn

    Stormburn Contributor Contributor

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    I enter my text doubled spaced. When that draft is done, I print it out. With a red pen I do edits and make notes between the lines. Then, I type that back in as a new draft. When I reach the 3rd draft or when the edits are becoming more corrections than rewrites, I just do it digitally and save as a revision.
    Godspeed!
     
  6. ChaseTheSun

    ChaseTheSun Senior Member

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    Well, that's flippen terrifying.

    I don't trust myself to keep such accurate mental notes. This is my first novel and I'm still getting the hang of working across such a wide canvas.

    Cutting room. That's an excellent idea. I'm going to do that!

    Honestly feel stupid for not having thought of this already! Brilliant!

    Yeah I started doing it that way, but there's just so much paper and ink that goes into that, it feels like such waste (especially given my printer doesn't print double-sided) Also, ink is bloody expensive. :)

    I really appreicate all these ideas, people! Thanks for responding! I love how differently everybody tackles their own projects.
     
    Dnaiel likes this.

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