Write On: Development
First, you established a strong foundation for your project. Then, you designed your resource by determining your textbook structure and selecting your content structure. Finally, it is time to write. During the development stage of your project you will write a draft for each of your planned chapters, revise your chapters, edit your chapters, and proofread your chapters. While later steps may take place concurrently, you will find your creation experience most productive if you approach them each as distinct and separate. Drafting the chapters takes, well, however long it takes. Plan to allow at least eight weeks to progress through the revise, edit, and proofread steps. Keep your author guide handy to remind yourself of decisions you have already made regarding audience, tone, and style guide.
Draft Chapters
The first step in the development stage of your project is to create a first draft of your chapter. Remember, you are not starting from scratch. During the textbook structure step of the design phase you thought through and determined how you wanted to present each chapter. You have already considered how you want to open and close each chapter, as well as textbook elements you want to use throughout to present content, create continuity and facilitate meaningful learner engagement. It may be tempting to throw those aside as you write, but honor the care and thought you invested in designing your work by following those choices as closely as you can. It is your project, you can change whatever you want, but your work will be productive as you allow it to build upon decisions you have already made.
As you populated your author guide, you made decisions regarding how many words you wanted each chapter to have. Textbook structure helped you envision how you would frame each chapter. Your content structure established a scope and sequence, and your outline gives you a clear overall view. Stick with it, and get something written. Revision, editing, and proofreading are built into the next steps. Just write something. Same as you tell your students.
Revise Chapters
Once you have completed your chapter draft, take four or five hours to go back and revise your work. Think of this step of the process as content, or subject-matter editing. Make decisions about what you want to include or exclude. Focus on what you want to convey in the specific chapter under revision. If necessary, refer back to the scope portion of your content structure outline to ensure you are addressing everything you wanted to cover in this specific chapter. You may find you have written content which would be more effectively presented elsewhere in the sequence.
You are not polishing your work in this step, merely revising for focus and content. Four or five hours per chapter. More than that and you have slipped into the next step. Whoops.
Edit Chapters
Begin your chapter edit only once you have completed a draft and revised it for focus and content. The