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What's this? 

Okay, so you've finished your first draft. Now what? Talk about the process of revision and support other members as they revise their own work.

To keep old copies or not

70
Posted on 4/2/2012
I haven't seen anything pertaining to this. I'm quite curious how this thread will turn out. What I'm wanting to know is, when you've finished working on your revisions, what do you do with the "old" copy? Do you hang on to it for sentimental reasons, throw it away, burn it in a sacrificial fire ceremony? I've heard of many writers hating their first drafts, second drafts, etc. But no one really states what they do with the old copies. So, what is it you prefer to do?
Thanks!
~Sam
Showing 1 to 10 of 21 comments
1 year, 2 months, 17 days ago

For me it depends.  If I am making minor changes & fixes, I shred the older printed versions (because I always keep a hard copy on-hand, just in case) and replace the pages.  If I am performing massive re-writes, I always save the original version in separate files/binders for reference and in case I decide to cannibalize those older versions for things I need.  I have no sentiment for the things I deem unworthy of keeping, but I do appreciate them as the building blocks of the better versions that came after.
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3
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1 year, 2 months, 17 days ago

I have a drawer of hanging folders dedicated to each chapter. I keep all of my old copies until I'm done with the project I'm working on, unless it is a short story. Then I keep all the old copies. I have a tendency to put important notes in the margins.
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1 year, 2 months, 17 days ago

Right now I've been saving the drafts that end up going through major revisions, just in case I have a change of heart or crisis of writing conscience and decide to can my current version. I label them by version so I'll know. Plus, sometimes I make changes that I'm not married to, so I'm more likely to go back to an older version and go with that. I'm a libra... I can never decide. :)
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1 year, 2 months, 17 days ago

It's very interesting to see the different points of views here. :D
LeeAnna, do you use each folder for every first chapter and so on or do you use a folder per chapter per work?
Just curious!
~Sam
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1 year, 2 months, 17 days ago

I only have one extensive novel right now. When I start working on the sequel, I'm going to shred the old junk I don't need anymore. My first book is up now. It's almost done.
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1 year, 2 months, 17 days ago

The very first version of my trilogy was printed out. I've long since dumped all that in the recycle bin. I have been keeping the electronic files of all the older versions - mostly as a means of keeping track of the chunks of text I've removed (just in case there might be a bit of interesting back story or info I might need to refer to again). Each electronic version is in its own folder; each folder is labeled with a version number.

I also like to open up the very old versions every so often and read them. It helps me gauge how I've changed/grown as a writer.

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1 year ago

Some interesting points here. Me, I'm hard-core hoarder. Can't throw anything away, either digital or hard copy. (I have a folder called 'Junk') My digital files do have version numbers so I know what order they go in, and I have sometimes gone back  to an older version. The grass isn't always greener on the other side of the rewrite...
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11 months, 28 days ago

Awesome, Rhyll.
:)
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11 months, 17 days ago

I'm curious: for those of you who save the old drafts, how many of you keep hard copies of the older stuff in addition to electronic files?
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1
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11 months, 17 days ago

I sometimes write books longhand for the first draft. I don't throw those notebooks out. They're boxed up in my mom's storage room. (Much to her chagrin.) I think I have a really old printed-out draft of the first book I ever set out to write. But it's incomplete. The complete draft is in other notebooks that are boxed away.

I have two notebooks for another book I wrote longhand first that aren't going anywhere.

But the rest of my projects have all gone into the computer first.

With every project I've written and revised, the drafts are all saved on my computer, numbered sequentially and organized within their own project files. (I'm anal on organization.) I recently acquired an external hard drive for my computer so that currently serves as backup to my main memory storage place, whatever you wish to call it.
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Showing 1 to 10 of 21 comments

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