Definition:
A version of a piece of writing, often an early version (a "rough draft") in need of revision and editing.
See also:
- Drafting
- Draft a Descriptive Paragraph
- A Draft Argumentative Essay
- A Draft Cause & Effect Essay
- A Draft Classification Essay
- A Draft Process Analysis Essay
- E.B. White's Drafts of "Once More to the Lake"
- Revision and Editing Checklist for a Critical Essay
- Writing a Narrative Paragraph: Freewriting and Drafting
- The Writing Process
Etymology:
From Old English, "drawing"Observations:
- "I think it helps to consider a first draft a discovery draft. Assume that you're writing it to organize your ideas and discover what you want to say; when you do that, you can turn off that self monitor that criticizes as you write and just get something down. Often a first draft is little more than an exploration. You can trim, focus, and develop it later."
(Maxine C. Hairston, Successful Writing, 3rd ed. Norton, 1992) - "I am an obsessive rewriter, doing one draft and then another and another, usually five. In a way, I have nothing to say, but a great deal to add."
(Gore Vidal, interview in The New York Times, 1976) - "Getting the first draft finished is like pushing a peanut with your nose across a very dirty floor."
(Joyce Carol Oates) - "Not until the final draft do I force myself to remember that I'm going to have to think about how it will affect other people."
(Anne Tyler) - "No matter how good your planning, investigating, and organizing have been, chances are you will need to return to these activities as you draft. This fact of life leads to the first principle of successful drafting: be flexible. If you see that your organizational plan is not working, do not hesitate to alter it. If some information now seems irrelevant, leave it out, even if you went to great lengths to obtain it."
(Andrea A. Lunsford, The St. Martin's Handbook, 6th ed. Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008)
