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.
Follow. Up-Vote. Resteem.
Theres a lot of work involved in a blogpost, but its worth it when you have the audience.
Thanks for the reply. A lot of my friends think it is easy writing blog post, it is not. It took me 9 hrs to write this post which has 1,057 words.
this is a great reminder for when I've got writer's block.
Writing well is tough, it takes thought, and not every person who writes takes the time to think it through. Not all occasions or mediums require it.
But it's important to be able to convey one's perspective, and when things are sloppy, that's when misinterpretation happens. That's when we lose our audience.
Looking forward to more from you, @smackit ! Great read.
Thanks!
Thanks. Writing is tough and takes thought and dedication.
Thank you for sharing. I know you posted this ages ago but I find it relevant to my needs and I am grateful for you.
Thank You. It means a lot. And I wish you well on your journey in Writing.
Congratulations @smackit! You have completed some achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Click on any badge to view your own Board of Honor on SteemitBoard.
For more information about SteemitBoard, click here
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPGreat advice! Now following, please follow back.
Thanks for the comment. Checked out your blog and gave you follow. Thanks
https://steemit.com/creative/@gamouza/drawing-shading-and-blending-a-minimalistic-face-with-graphite-pencils-by-emmy-kalia
nice reply
I will keep in mind you advise, very elaborated and detail oriented post. i loved it. Explained every thing. It seems you ate a professional writer. Very well . Thank for putting all thos together for us.
Thanks for the reply. I'm glad you like it. I often see people thinking the 1st draft is the only stage in writing and over look the editing stages. Thanks.
This is an excellent guide. As a beginning writer, I appreciate any good information I can soak up. Thank you for your time.
Thank You! The great thing about writing it is a constant learning process through out your life, and by writing a person will discover a lot about themselves. Once again Thanks!
that helped a lot....Anyway awesome post! FOLLOW ME back for awesome crypto related posts!
Voice revision always works wonders. Good read!
Thank you. Without voice nothing is worth reading. Voice soul of writing.
Friend of mine is stuck at the last stage in his first draft and obsesses about style and prose, instead of progressing in the story. No end in sight as far as I can see.
Never obsess on the first draft, just write it, worry about fixing style and prose after it is written. This is a huge mistake that a lot of people make, the biggest reason why the 1st draft never gets finished.
Thanks for sharing this! I noticed that once you start and just let things flow, it often comes together. The rest is just work, but satisfying work!
Exactly, could have not said it better myself. Awesome.
Thank you for writing about this.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. It means a lot.
Hey NAME, would love to offer you a slot on my podcast sometime.
It is about people doing remarkable things, whether entrepreneurs or not.
Where we talk about what you are doing, believe in and what difference you are making in the world.
It is part youtube channel where the mission is to help 1,000,000 entrepreneurs become remarkable, and the podcast acts as a way to share stories and connect with people.
Here is the playlist of the existing episodes: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5CpCNPna6p95oJfKPew0N3ZT0k-khdgg
It is audio only over skype. Would love you to come on the show and talk about yourself. Does this sound of interest to you?
Excellent and comprehensive post. Upvoted and resteemed!
good
Thanks. Awesome!!!
i like oyur story life
Thank you, means a lot.
It is never easy writing a blog post, alot o things need to be put in place. Expecially your followers and your point
Is my friend birthday. Please friends wish her happy birthday. help resteem and upvote
https://steemit.com/birthday/@tfame3865/happy-birthday-ogboru-lilian
That is true, a lot of work goes into a blog, if you want a quality post. Thank You!
This is an awesome article @smackit. I am still new to blogging and steemit and this is very helpful and an awesome reminder.
Thanks You, glad I could help.
@smackit - Nice post and very informative for new writers. Thanks for sharing!
Steem ON!
Thank You. I find a lot of new writers have trouble with the process, often trying to correct grammar as they write first draft.