Discovery Drafts & Zero Drafts: Common Rough Draft Types
If you’re here, you’ve probably heard the terms zero draft and discovery draft and wondered what they even mean. The simplest way to think about it is that a first draft could potentially be shared with others for feedback. Zero drafts and discovery drafts are really just for the author’s review. They’re tools to help you develop and ideate the plot, the characters’ development, and the individual scenes. Ultimately, these drafts can help a first draft be much more coherent.
What Does a “Discovery Draft” Mean?
A discovery draft is a draft where the writer figures out the story through the process of writing.
While some writers create an outline of their plot, some writers skip the outline entirely and jump right into writing. With a discovery draft, you probably have little idea of what the story is going to be about or who your characters are going to be.
A good discovery draft example is writing from a prompt. If you know you want to write a novel, but you have no clue what it should be about, a writing prompt can jumpstart your creativity. You don’t really plan how you’re going to address a writing prompt—you just dive in and do it.
Discovery drafts are typically rougher than first drafts because the writer pivots at several points as new ideas come to them. This could mean large portions of the novel make no sense or are dropped entirely.
What Does a “Zero Draft” Mean?
A zero draft is a messy draft written before the first draft.
While often used interchangeably, discovery drafts and zero drafts do have a slight difference. A discovery draft is typically all story material. Everything is written “in scene,” or at the very least, in summary. A zero draft could include author brainstorming or journaling, random ideas for scenes (completely out of context), or other unrelated thoughts that come to the author as they’re working.
A zero draft is usually a lot messier than a discovery draft because it’s intermixed with musings and author revelations. A discovery draft, on the other hand, is less “meta.” It’s essentially just a telling of the story, though perhaps not the most coherent or well written.
What’s the Difference Between a Zero Draft & an Outline?
A zero draft may contain an outline, or parts of an outline, but it will likely jump between outlining a scene and actually writing the scene itself.
A zero draft example might include a list of scenes, but for at least one of those scenes, the writer drafts snippets of dialogue or description that could go into that scene. It’s basically an outline and a first draft mashed together.
The idea behind a story outline is to make a concise, coherent roadmap of what scenes you’re going to write. Zero drafts can be similar to outlines, but they lack the structure that typical outlines have. With a zero draft, you probably can’t take a quick glance at it and know what the next chapter is going to be about.
Do We Need These Terms?
Zero drafts, discovery drafts, rough drafts: do we really need all these different types of the same thing? Aren’t they all just first drafts?
It’s totally valid to argue that nowadays we tend to make up special names for commonplace things that no one thought twice to label decades ago. But for some writers, differentiating between these rough draft types can be helpful for two reasons.
Writing a novel is a daunting process. It does not happen overnight. And sometimes, the best way to tackle a daunting task is to break it down into smaller tasks. To say you’re going to write a novel in a year is a lot. But to say you’ll write a discovery draft in three months, review it in one month, then create an outline, then start a first draft…it breaks down “first draft” into smaller steps that are easier to digest.
Not everyone is a planner. Some writers thrive on “pantsing,” or writing by the seat of their pants. They don’t want to spend weeks outlining or thinking about their novel before writing it. But the end result is a chaotic draft that is not fit for anyone’s eyes but the writer. A zero draft or discovery draft can be a good way to distinguish between the first overall telling of the story and the first version that’s suitable for beta readers or editors.
Is It Necessary to Write One of These Drafts?
Absolutely not! You do you!
Every writer’s process is different. You can often stumble into your own process by experimenting with different approaches, but there is no “right way” to write a novel.
If you spend months on outlines that you eventually abandon, a discovery draft or zero draft could be a good option for you. If anything in your process isn’t working, it can be game changing to try something new just to see how it works.
What Comes Next?
So what do you do with a messy zero draft or discovery draft when it’s done? You read it.
If you’re afraid of the cringe fest that may occur, don’t be. It’s for your eyes only, and nothing that’s written with reckless abandon is going to be eloquent 100% of the time…or even 10% of the time. So read it, and take notes.
What should you take note of? Here are some examples of things to take note of in your zero drafts and discovery drafts:
If you introduced contradicting plot arcs or character details, notate both so you can make a decision on which way to go.
If you started down a path that in retrospect sounds stupid or uninteresting, make a note to cut it in your next draft.
If you left plot holes open, make a note so you can brainstorm ways to fill them.
Your notes should not be longer than the draft. Really try to get concise in these notes so you have something manageable that you can review without all the noise. From here, you can start an actual outline if it feels right or you can take this newfound clarity and officially start on the first draft.
Even with all this legwork beforehand, a first draft will likely be imperfect and messy. If you’ve gotten this far, and you’re not sure where to go, a developmental editor is a great next step to the writing process.
No matter what you decide to call your initial draft of a novel, be proud of the progress you make. This isn’t an easy process, and every step counts!
