A Scope of Magnitude

The most annoying thing about amateur writers is their misconception of the writing process. Students know two phrases, 'rough draft' and 'final draft', and they think that's all there is. First you write your rough draft, then you write your final draft, then you're finished.

That couldn't be more wrong. It is very rare that the first iteration of a piece is lacking only small touch ups to be perfect. Usually, there are several steps of writing that occur before a first draft is even made.

For example, I am working on a graphic novel. It is a horror story, broken into chapters, each one being a character's personal experience with the attacks. In terms of writing, the first step was to come up with story ideas. Who has an interesting story to tell and how many of them are different enough to overlap in basic premise? So I had to write several ideas that I could play around with.

The second step was to write the story outline for each story idea. How does it start? Who is in it? What are the significant things that happen in the story? How does it end? These can be as vague and general has a three-sentence paragraph or as specific as a 5-page outline. Of course, the less work I put into this step, the more I have to put in future steps, so spending the time on the 5-page outline is better if it's needed.

The third step is making a script. From the story idea, I hammer out all of the small details. Where are people? What are they doing, what is going on as time passes? What exactly are people saying. This is the step where all of the vagueness of the story needs to be taken out. This is also the step where having an outline of a 3-sentence paragraph makes for a great deal more work.

The fourth step is story boarding. From the script, I need to figure out how each spoken line and every action translates into panels on the page. While this may not seem like a step that has to do with writing in pure prose, it actually does matter. Storyboarding is about pacing. Is the action moving quickly? Then don't spend 5 panels setting up one punch; that slows down action. If you are writing your book, don't spend three paragraphs on description when exciting action is going on; follow what's interesting.

The fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth steps are penciling, inking, coloring, and shading, respectively. This is the visual version of what your words need to do in their final steps. All of the previous moments were big in picture. You were figuring out what was happening, why, and how people dealt with it. These are the steps where you get to touch up the small details. Make your characters defined and alive. Make your scenery vibrant and tangible. Draw your readers in with your story, but create a world so real that they forget it's an illusion.

Even with all of the steps I have listed, there are several skipped over. Internal revision and editing is very important. Peer review and constructive criticism helps you get through a lot of the developmental steps. I also skipped all of the preliminary steps of coming up with an idea, creating a world, a history, inhabitants, and a future.

All things considered, the writing process is a vast one. Even when you know exactly what you are doing, a large project will take large amounts of your time, upwards of months and years. To say the least, there is a lot more to it than a rough draft and a final draft. Be aware of the levels, and layers involved in the writing process. Don't let it stop you from writing, but make sure you understand what you are getting yourself into if you want to create a truly polished piece of work.