Chapter Book: The First Draft

I just finished sewing this baby quilt for my niece who just had her third precious little girl. Sometimes when I make baby quilts, I put them together in a week or two. On this one, I took my time and worked on it over several months. It was a new pattern for me so I met together with 2 of my quilting friends once a month and we sewed our quilts at the same time.

That’s how it is with this early chapter book we’ve been working on. Earlier this year, we wrote an early chapter book in just one month. CLICK HERE to see the first entry about that journey and get those posts.

But for this book, we’re taking our time. I’m working on my chapter book little by little and bit by bit as I have the time and interest. I’m heading into writing the first draft now that we’ve got lots of pre-writing prep under our belts!

Over the years as I’ve worked on writing the first draft of early chapter books, here are some strategies I’ve tended to use. See if they might work for you, too!

Pre-writing

I develop a roadmap of my plot and chapter by chapter summary.

Research

I gather in research books about my characters, setting, or topic that will help me along my journey.

Mentor Text

I find a mentor text that I want my story to be like in voice and structure and technique.

The first chapter

I sit down at my writing session and read the first chapter of my mentor text. Following my plot chart and chapter-by-chapter summary, I write the draft of the first chapter. After the first draft is finished, I note where I need to research something or brainstorm something. I try to do those tasks throughout the day.

The second chapter

I sit down at this writing session and read the first and second chapter of my mentor text. I read over what I wrote in the last writing session (my first chapter) and edit it for a short time. Then I write the draft of the second chapter. When finished, I note where I need to research something or brainstorm more ideas for something. I try to do those tasks throughout the day.

Continuing to the last chapter

I repeat this process until the first draft is finished.

Plug-in Techniques

After the first draft is done, I go back in and plug in techniques such as cliff-hangers, sensory detail, humorous spots, poetic devices (rhyme, rhythm, and repetition), metaphors, etc.

Self-Editing

I take my manuscript through several rounds of self-editing. If I’m participating in a critique group I get group feedback, too.

I hope you enjoy the journey with your early chapter book! If you have any questions at any time about the process, please feel free to ask!

Next up here on my blog we’ll be switching to explore various educational publishers and packagers and even submit to them. Hope you’ll join me on the journey!

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