The Second Draft Course is very different from the First Draft, and it is impossible to see how much your first draft can be be improved until you begin your second draft.

In the first draft, you need to explore the possibilities of your story. In the second draft, you need to nail it down.

For more informmation see About Second Draft Course.

Here is what some people have said about the Second Draft Course.

The first pleasant revelation when I began the Second Draft Course was that there was actually a story there. During the course of writing the first draft I felt like I was meandering blindly down a river and I had no sense that I was creating a coherent story. In the first second draft class, we laid out the skeletons of our story and a clear coherent tale had emerged. I realised that the first draft helped me to come up with the geography of my story but that the details of the landscape had to be crafted anew. So I began the story from scratch again, scene 1, line 1, word one. It is so much better than my first draft was and now the road is much straighter and easier to negotiate.
Kim Williams

I felt that Andrew was constantly in my head - there was no other way he could have understood my story, and anticipate it's direction, so quickly and accurately!  His knowledge of the style of writing I was trying to emulate was spot on - the type of language, the pace of the sentences, the chapter endings, and so forth.  Again, even though I was doing the Second Draft course on line, I felt I was receiving 100% of his, and Roland's, efforts.  This course took the explorations and trail blazing of my first draft and harnessed it into a solid story line.  Encouraged and guided by Andrew and Roland, I jettisoned sections without fear, plunged into the unknown, and beat unwieldy sections into submission, to lift my head high at the end.  The spine was straightened.  The story solid.  I could not have imagined that I would have written such an exciting second draft.  The prospect of a great third draft loomed, and the only hands I would trust to guide me along that path would be that of The Writers’ Studio team.
Lucas Welsch, who did the second draft course online.

Write junk, get down the bones, who were they kidding? My story was going to be the "one" that was near perfect the first time round. Now here I sit with 20% of that perfect piece. Like anything worthwhile quality counts, not quantity, with a shared experience ie: "no one has kept even 50% of their original," it hasn't been hard to let go and move on. Don't agonise, you're wasting pen time. The experience of the 2nd draft course is more enjoyable, less fretful and, most importantly, a real living thing.
Deborah Deering

What I've learnt about the process of writing from doing the Second Draft Course is to get the spine of the story down in the turning points so the whole story works as a structure and then to fit in the steps and sequences in between. The second draft process nails the structure and makes the story follow as a logical sequence (in comparison to the first draft which is more exploratory and about identifying the storyline). The second draft crystallizes the structure.
Margie Yen

A lump of cold hard clay beneath my eager fingers. I've got the clay, dug it out of the ground like a big gold nugget, (first draft), and now it's time to shape it, (second draft). My hands run over and around the shiny or is that slimy surface? I contemplate shape, design, purpose. I begin to mold the blob, the good blob, the blob full of potential, the substance into something more, something with harder edges, but softer lines, into something more balanced, now that I understand how the clay bends, how it can be manipulated, how I can make it turn tricks for me, know I'm closer to knowing what it will be. It's exciting and thrilling, a more definite way of working, of creating with design.
Caroline Gerard

The Second Draft Course is a vastly different experience to the first as we engage in putting sequences and scenes together in chronological order which really forces one to try to make cause and effect links and develop the story line: in turn it results in a lot of throwing out of original material as one is confronted by inconsistencies and discrepancies that only come to light through the process.

The focus is completely on teamwork in order to achieve results, the results at the end of each session seem quite concrete: one goes home with a much more vivid plan in one's head and the actual process of conferring with colleagues on other people's stories and trying to come up with the best, most dramatic, most emotional plan is exciting and exhilarating and very helpful in developing one's own story when alone. I love how I am really getting to know everyone else's stories and characters in depth and actually see other's stories come to life.
Ingrid Rosenberg

Still I seem to be the the worst judge of my own writing, so I hand it over to Roland and my co-writers. The writing itself seems to come easily. Is that a result of serving my apprenticeship in the first draft, I don't know? Again the structure of the class, and how we go at our own pace, takes the pressure off, and allows the work to be more enjoyable. I am taking more risks, I can only be wrong and Roland won't shoot me, I hope.The process of finding other people's sequences and scenes through brainstorming when they leave the room is a touch of genius. I get a sense of fulfillment for myself and my co-writers. Keep the pen moving.
Seamus Collins

What I am learning about the second draft? That it's about unwinding what's been included in the first draft. Picking out the forces and pivotal points and situations. Letting go of what went in the first draft and refusing to get attached. Approaching my main character with two things:

1. A clear indication of what his flaws are, and

2. A reasonable clear indication of how he will turn out in the end.

Really detailing the world. Not writing about everything, but what you do write about is in detail.
Dave Moon

So far in the Second Draft Course I've truly discovered the flexibility of my story. It feels like I keep bending it, tugging at corners to yield new ideas, and it always seems to snap back into shape, more interesting and mysterious but still faithful to the spirit of the first draft. The first draft now really seems like a snake skin that's been shed. It had to happen, but it no longer matters (not really). the second draft is a more enjoyable experience insofar as it feels more controlled, more of a proper story and less the rambling of my imagination set loose. I am discovering new possibilities and embracing them all.
Marie-Hélène Jennings

It's like holding a child in your arms. You need to be firm enough to not let it run away, but not so tight as to hurt it. So, hold on to your story, but not too much. Because it will squirm and wriggle and try to get away. But if you hang on too tight, it will never grow.
Michael Larkin

Second drafts are enormously easier than the first draft. Second drafts are about the 80/20 tweaks required to get the story structure right. Second drafts are not about setting out on some hopeless, aimless journey with no end in sight and hoping you arrived unscathed with the beginnings of a book under one arm. First Draft anxiety level = 7/10. Second draft = 4/10. This time I am confident that a) I am getting somewhere and b) it is better than the time before. I am noticing the quality of the writing improve as the characters emerge and the plot crystallizes.
Emma Beames

The second draft has made me acutely aware of the gaps in my story, things I thought I'd deal with later. Well, later is now and I have to deal with them before I move on. The clear methodical spine in the second draft has been instrumental in highlighting, sometimes in an acutely uncomfortable way, what works and what doesn't. But in the process I've discovered new characters, new motivations, depth to both people and situations that wasn't there before. It's a challenge, but it's also lots of fun.
Jan Christie

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