Process
Writing process
You might say: how to write a book, workflow
The work from idea to finished book. MIT’s writing guide names four stages: prewriting, drafting, revising and editing.
- What it does
- Turns an idea into a book through repeated passes, each with a different aim.
- Ask
- Which stage am I in, and am I doing the right kind of work for it?
- Trouble
- Polishing chapter one forever; the draft never gets finished.
Parts
- Planning: Two contrasting writing approaches: architects and gardeners.
- Drafting: Write the first draft, then rewrite it rather than polishing each page.
- Publishing path: How the manuscript becomes a book in readers’ hands.
- Word count: The length of the manuscript in words, the unit agents and publishers use.
- Editing levels: Editing in passes from big to small: content and structure, then sentences, then correctness, then typos on the final pages.
- Revision loop: Read the draft as a reader, test it on others, rewrite, and repeat.
Sources
- MIT Comparative Media Studies/Writing, Writing Process, writing-process overview
Writing is a process that involves at least four distinct steps: prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing.
Use it on your project
teardown-apply: hold "Writing process" (writing-process) from the teardown at https://teardownatlas.com/fiction-writing/ against my project
Paste it into a coding agent that has the teardown skills.
An AI agent wrote this map with the teardown skill. It can contain errors: check the sources before you rely on a part. About and legal