: Re: The stages of writing - what are they? So, I'm likely finished with my idea in form of a novel, but now comes the difficult part with the rewriting. That's when I thought: What are the general

@Goswami879

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I might differ from others, and maybe it is me who is wrong, but I really only have three stages:

idea (when it's just in my head)
writing (when I put it down on paper/digital)
editing (when I go over already written things)

However, these stages are not clearly separated. I usually jot down some notes during the idea stage and often those notes evolve into text. I often go over previous parts while writing and edit them, because often while you write one thing you realize that the scene before doesn't work with this continuation, but you like the continuation so you edit the previous scene.

It's like stages of a relationship. Sure you can split it into flirting, dating, relationship, serious relationship - but in reality the transition is fluid.

Note that this is me. Many writers do, in fact, have very clearly structured stages and never do any editing until the first draft writing is done, for example. It works better for them, and that is fine. Figure out what works for you, then try to find stages and names for them.

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