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In the context of written composition, "drafting" refers to any process of generating preliminary versions of a written work. Drafting happens at any stage of the
writing process
A writing process describes a sequence of physical and mental actions that people take as they produce any kind of text. These actions nearly universally involve tools for physical or digital inscription: e.g., chisels, pencils, brushes, chalk, di ...
as writers generate trial versions of the text they're developing. At the phrasal level, these versions may last less than a second, as writers compose and then delete trial sentences; as fully developed attempts that have reached the end of a stage of usefulness, draft documents may last for perpetuity as saved "versions" or as paper files in archives.
In a book that became popular in the 1950s, ''
The Elements of Style
''The Elements of Style'' is an American English writing style guide in numerous editions. The original was written by William Strunk Jr. in 1918, and published by Harcourt in 1920, comprising eight "elementary rules of usage", ten "elementary ...
'', Strunk and White characterize a first draft as a less-edited version of the final draft with the purpose of "foresee
ng..the shape of what is to come and pursue that shape". In ''Writing Without Teachers'', a more recent take on the role of draft documents,
Peter Elbow
Peter Elbow (14 April 1935) is a Professor of English Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he also directed the Writing Program from 1996 until 2000. He writes about theory, practice, and pedagogy, and has authored several bo ...
characterizes a draft less as a first attempt at a predetermined final point and more as an attempt at exploring and where a final version might end up. As he puts it, “
iting is a way to end up thinking something you couldn’t have started out thinking.” According to Elbow, the best way to accomplish this is a series of drafts which come together to produce an emerging “center of gravity” that then translates into the main focus on the work—a holistic process, in other words, rather than the linear process envisioned by Strunk and White and early
writing process
A writing process describes a sequence of physical and mental actions that people take as they produce any kind of text. These actions nearly universally involve tools for physical or digital inscription: e.g., chisels, pencils, brushes, chalk, di ...
theory. Elbow reasoned that if a writer "learns to maximize the interaction" among their "ideas or points of view,
hey
Hey or Hey! may refer to:
Music
* Hey (band), a Polish rock band
Albums
* ''Hey'' (Andreas Bourani album) or the title song (see below), 2014
* ''Hey!'' (Julio Iglesias album) or the title song, 1980
* ''Hey!'' (Jullie album) or the title s ...
can produce new ones that didn’t seem available."
Empirical studies of writers at work indicate that writers can be doing any or all of the following during phases of drafting:
* developing cohesion
* organizing their thinking in relation to text produced so far
* experimenting with phrasing
* explaining or linking examples/ideas
* generating transitions
* discovering a central argument/point
* elaborating on key ideas
*pausing to make adjustments to spelling, word-choice, and syntax
See also
*
Draft (music)
An autograph or holograph is a manuscript or document written in its author's or composer's hand. The meaning of autograph as a document penned entirely by the author of its content, as opposed to a typeset document or one written by a copyist o ...
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Foul papers
Foul papers are an author's working drafts. The term is most often used in the study of the plays of Shakespeare and other dramatists of English Renaissance drama. Once the composition of a play was finished, a transcript or " fair copy" of the f ...
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Manuscript format
A manuscript is the work that an author submits to a publisher, editor, or producer for publication. In publishing, "manuscript" can also refer to one or both of the following:
* the format standard for a ''short story manuscript'',
* an accepted ...
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Rough ASCII
A rough ASCII, uncertified rough draft, uncertified unedited rough draft, realtime unedited rough draft, uncertified copy, or simply RASCII ( ) is the rough draft version of a transcript created by a court reporter, usually of a legal proceeding. ...
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Wikipedia:Drafts
References
{{Authority control
Composition (language)
Textual scholarship
Publishing