What's a Fat Draft?

Our writing class has been going well. I've already mentioned the research paper, but I want to touch upon an interesting exercise we went through in class.

We learned how to write a fat draft: to take something we're working on and simply double its size. For every sentence, add another sentence with more details. Then, when we have a second draft that's twice as long as the first, condense it into a third draft.

At first, this exercise seemed a little silly. Our instructor had just told us that our writing style was too long. And who has time to do this?

But then, as I added more details here and there to the performance review I had written for myself, I realized that I was coming up with new ideas and angles from which to write. Having freed myself from the bounds of brevity, I was actually being more creative.

Then, when I went back and wrote a third draft, I incorporated some of the fat draft material and came up with a concise, logical third draft that was no longer than my original. But it was much better.

In a society where we always need to be brief and effective under deadline, sometimes the best way to be brief and effective is to take just a little more time - to take a draft, flip it upside down, fatten it, and then slim it down. In the end, it will create a better product.