All of us have the ability to write, and to learn and explore our thoughts and feelings. Writing allows the transfer of ideas from person to person. It is this passing of knowledge that separates the human species apart from the rest. Our talent to spread knowledge led us to this day in age. As I write this article we are living through the greatest change in history of our planet, and it could have only happened through the written language.

Writing is a Process

Writers work hard to produce quality manuscripts for publication, and do this by planning, writing, rewriting, and editing. The writing process is divided into basic steps for a writer to follow to complete a manuscript from the 1st draft to publication. Understand and use the process with your own writing. The Steps in the Process

Prewriting – Planning Stage
1st Draft – Get the story on paper
Content Revision- 1st stage of editing
Voice Revision- 2nd stage of editing
Line Editing- 3rd Stage of editing
Submission – Submitting your manuscript

The Writing Process in Action

1. Prewriting:

Prewriting is planning stage.

Basic Steps

Select – Select a subject
Collect - Take notes on your subject
Plan – Create an outline or story board.

Note: The prewriting stage can take a lot of time, for it requires research and study of your subject. Many writers do this by creating detailed outlines or storyboards. One of the best tools I have found is a program called Scrivener. Check it out; it is a great program to plan a novel or any style of writing.

2. 1st Draft:

The second stage of the process is to write the first draft from your collected thoughts and research on your chosen subject.

Basic Steps

Write - Write freely
Imagine – Imagination is crucial during the 1st Draft
Plan – Use your outline or story board as a guide

Note: Writing the 1st Draft is the funniest part of the process. It is this stage when your creation comes to life. You are the first reader and first to experience the story. It is crucial to write the 1st draft as fast as possible, just get the story out on paper. Worry about grammar and structure later in the process.

3. Content Revision

Content Revision is the first stage of editing, and it is the evaluation of the big picture. The writer evaluates the overall format, by improving accuracy, clarity, conciseness, plot holes, contradictions, etc. And once you have completed content revision you will have a 2nd draft of your manuscript.

Basic Steps

Read – Read entire manuscript
Notes – Decide what changes need to be made
Change – Go through manuscript and make the necessary changes

Note: Go over the list multiple times and expand on notes before making changes. Do not make changes until you are a 100% certain that scenes or chapters will be kept. Once complete do the process again. This stage of editing may be like rewriting your manuscript from scratch. Also note that each writer is different and the amount of times they do this stage varies. I recommend anywhere from 2-6 times.

4. Voice Revision

This stage of the process is to determine if voice is constant through the manuscript. Voice is the tone that your story is told. After you have completed this stage you will have a 3rd draft of your manuscript.

Basic Steps

Read – Read entire manuscript
Notes – Decide where voice is lacking and take note
Change – Go through manuscript and make the necessary changes

Note: Voice is the soul of your story. Without an authentic voice readers will get bored and look for something else to read. It may take multiple edits to get a solid foundation for your voice. The voice must be your own unique style. And the best why to develop voice is by writing.

5. Line Editing:

This is the last stage of editing, it is going through your manuscript fixing errors of the overall language, structure, and style. After this stage is complete you will have a 4th and finale draft.

Basic Steps

Read – Read entire manuscript, while looking closely at the style and format
Note – Take notes of any changes needed to be made
Change – Go through the manuscript and fix any changes. Check for spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc.

Note: Line editing can be a daunting task. It is slow and requires you to read slowly from sentences to sentence fixing errors, such as, sentence flow, paragraph structure, grammar, etc. But once completed, your manuscript will be polished and ready to submit for publication.

6. Submission

After you polished your finale draft it is time to submit your manuscript for publication. This part of the process is nerve racking, unsure, how people will react to your manuscript. But this stage is important, not only does it allows your work to be read by others to enjoy, but also because it teaches the writer to learn the habit of completion.

Basic Steps

Research – Research target audience, publisher, editor, etc.
Notes – Take notes on guidelines for each publisher, editor, etc.
Submit – Submit work according to the guidelines

Note: It isn’t until you submit your manuscript for publication is the story complete; if it is rejected keep submitting until it is published. No matter what your goals are for a written manuscript, learn to complete. You may have no plans sending your manuscript to an agent or publisher, instead, you may be writing for a school project or for a Blog, but no matter what you are writing, you are not done until a story is submitted. Be it a Blog, publisher, agent, school project, etc, it doesn’t matter; the point is to learn the habit of completion, and the reason for this is that most writers will work harder if they know if their manuscript is going to be published.

Summary

When I talk about the writing process what I mean is the basic steps for a writer to follow from the beginning to the end, sort of like a plan. Each writer is different and the processes different. Use this article as basic guideline to develop your writing process.

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@smackit