A Novel Idea: After The Draft

Okay, you’ve finished the first draft and think, “Hell, I’m great!” And yes, you are for doing that. But there is more to writing than just pumping out a good first draft. There’s editing and cleaning up. This is what we’re all about in this installment.

Re-Write
Yes, I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again – Rewrites tighten up the work.
My first suggestion, and take it to heart, don’t start your rewrites until you are at least 30 days finished with the work.
You may be thinking, “Hell no! I’m doing rewrites right away!” But believe me, you’ll want to wait. The reasoning behind it is the work will be too fresh in your mind before that and it will not have a good rewrite. Parts that you expected to be finished but are not will appear finished. You have to divorce yourself from the work and research shows it takes 30 days for that to happen.
When you are doing your first rewrites, make sure you just read it in your head and find the messy parts. Clean them up and move on. Don’t linger and think too much; remember this is the first stage. Don’t get too tied up in it. We want to move through it quickly in order to not become too familiar with what we wrote.
Now for the hard part – After you are done, put the writing aside for another 30 days. Move on to another project, like a first draft of the next book or another full novel. Go swimming. Take up axe throwing. Anything but look at the work. I know it’s tempting, but you have to do it in order for the next stage to work.
More Re-Writing
You’re now 60+ days after completing the work. You get a “Read Out Loud” here.
Yes, you’ll need to actually read the novel with your outside voice. This allows your mind to see anything the first re-writes missed. This stage, though tedious, can be repeated 2-4 times depending on how familiar you are with the work. It cleans things up. Makes the writing tighter. Pulls more information from your head to the page when needed.
I’ve been told of multiple techniques writers use in order to get the words out properly. One will play different music during each of the re-write stages. He says going from 80’s rock to 2010 techno helps him see things differently. Another will read the manuscript backward (sentence by sentence, that is). I don’t personally suggest it, but it works for her. I usually do my writing in a quiet room and the re-writes while a TV show is playing. That keeps the atmosphere changing for me. Reading it out loud is one of the last steps I do.
Once you have that “Perfect” to you draft, it is time to move to the next stage.
Peers
There are many writers who ignore this step, but honestly, you really need to have someone look over the work.
 I suggest using talented writing friends. It is not easy to find other writers, we’re an elusive bunch spending time under rocks and hiding from sunlight, but we’re out there. A friend who writes will be able to critique your work and offer priceless suggestions on how to tighten it up.

Read the entire article in the February 2020 issue of InD'Tale magazine.

You can just click on the magazine image on the left hand side of our home page to open and enjoy!

OR

If you would like to receive the magazine every month (for FREE!) , just sign up on our home page. Once you do, an e-mail validation notice will be sent directly to you. Just open and click the link and you're in - forever!  Each month the magazine will be delivered directly to your inbox to downlad and read!