Clients often ask me about my process, wanting to know how I am going to spend my time on their project. It’s not an easy answer. I approach every project differently depending on what I’m writing. A script is different from a speech, which is different from an article or blog. There is no one answer. But there are basic steps in common.
In my last blog I wrote about the top seven things I need to know before I begin. My writing process is what comes after I know the pertinent details. These are the basic steps for how I write and finish a project:
1. First I start with the concept. This is the broad view of the project. I write a short summary of the project and a log line. This helps me stay on target throughout the project.
2. Then I start drafting what I can. It’s still rough at this point, but my goal is to see how much I have, how long it is, identify any holes that need more research and figure out what needs to be done to get it to final form.
3. The rough draft lets me know how much time I need to complete the project so I can plan my work calendar. This is a crucial step to meeting deadlines. I always work backwards from the deadline to see what needs to be done when. If the draft goes well, I know I can pick up more work. If it doesn’t, I have to clear time to finish it on time. That is the best reason for starting early. Also I can’t do anything until I have words on the page. I do this quickly, writing my first draft not worrying about perfect grammar or transitions. Those can come later.
4. Once I finish the draft, I step aside and let it breathe. This step could take an hour or a day, depending my schedule.
5. Then I read through what I have and make notes. I don’t edit at this stage. The point is to read it as a whole piece and mark problem areas. Reading it through without editing is the best way to see structural issues and problems with flow. This also helps me organize my editing and research needs.
6. If I have holes, I hit the books, library and phone. It’s research time.
7. Once I have my facts, I fill in the empty spaces and add new scenes or sections. When I write the rough draft, I always leave empty spaces for missing information and keep writing. Most of the time, I insert a line and highlight it. I’ll add comments to remind me what is missing so I don’t have to read the piece again to figure it out. I use the comments to make my research list so I don’t miss anything.
8. After this I edit, assigning a task for each pass. In one I may focus on transitions and in the next grammar. I do my editing in layers. The shorter the piece, the fewer the layers.
9. I keep editing until I’ve addressed all of my notes and the piece reads right.
10. When I think it’s good, I re-read the manuscript again and make notes.
11. My last pass is to add the final touches from my last round of notes.
12. At this point, it’s time to pass it to another member of my production team or a Beta reader. It helps to have another set of eyes on a larger project. It’s too easy to lose perspective after staring at it too long.
13. I review the editorial notes from my reader and look for issues, considering how the suggestions would help or hinder the writing.
14. Then I make a plan for my edits and mark up the piece. I don’t automatically make changes, but I do consider both the suggestion and the issue causing the suggestion. Often the person is right about something being wrong, but just as often their suggestion for a change is not right. It’s up to me to make the issue go away.
15. I make the final edits.
16. Then I read the piece again, just to be sure I haven’t made any errors during the editing process, because it is so easy to do this.
17. I do a final proof the entire piece because proofing is a different skill set than editing and needs to be done separately. I don’t really like proofing, but it is essential.
18. It is now ready to send to the client.
19. I save the final version with a client-friendly file name, save a backup copy to my files marked final draft and send it off. It’s important to mark the versions to keep track of the latest version. You do not want to send the wrong version.
20. The final step is to log the submission in my project log (I’ll share more on tracking client work in a future blog).
Obviously, this process will expand or shrink depending on the time frame and length of the project. It’s a lot of back-and-forth with editing, but that is where the magic happens. Sadly, these blogs tend to be quick writing with one round of edits. Please forgive any mistakes made. They are not intentional.