- After the initial waiting-period of a month or more after writing the first draft, I print out the first draft.
- On my desk, you will find the following: a black pen, a red pen, a blue pen, a spiral notebook, and my manuscript.
- With the red pen, I strike out text. With the blue pen, I add in reminders. With the black pen, I write notes in my spiral book. Going through the manuscript, I often find things that need fixing that I'm gonna have to wait until the second draft to execute. All these things are numbered and recorded in my notebook.
- I do this for the whole manuscript.
- After another waiting period of maybe a week or so, it's time to write the second draft. So I start from the beginning, and re-type my manuscript, fixing things that I'd missed on my first run-through. The following day, I always look at the previous day's work and tie up any loose ends that I missed on my second run-through.
- I do this for the whole manuscript.
- Let it sit for another few weeks/month.
- Time for the polish. I go from beginning to end, sharpening the prose to the word. If it can be deleted, it goes. I often read aloud so I can hear any trip-ups that may find their way after all these edits.
- I do this until I can't find anything worth fixing anymore.
This process takes about a year. Upon the first edit, the removing of material is huge. I'm talkin' taking a chainsaw to that sucker. Or a bomb. After the chainsaw comes a lathe, then a carving knife, then, finally, I can use a dust brush to make 'er pretty. Editing is a wonderful process and I think I learn more about my work and myself through editing and self-criticism than I do writing the first draft.
Yikes. I rambled! Sorry! Anyway, hope this helps. Good luck with your story and I hope I can help further. Do what you feel is comfortable and know that this is how I work. What works for me may not work for you. There's a lot of good advice here already, so go forth and make that novel shine!