Any tips for a complete re-write?

I don't have a ton of advice, but I'd say that if you want to dare to re-imagine it, not only in terms of delivery but also story, now is the time to do it. One thing I've taught myself, even just in life, is to look at problems as opportunities. So every time you come across something that you don't like in your story, at that exact moment it becomes better. It's the ones we don't see that hurt us.

I did a complete rewrite for my first novel.

My first step was to make a new outline. I'd worked from a very short one before and constructed an entirely new one for the rewrite. I dumped characters, condensed several POVs, cut entire plot lines and added new ones. The first draft was more like a nine-month brainstorm than an actual first draft.

Then I put the original document away. Started again with a new blank page. I didn't refer back to the original more than once or twice - even scenes I was "saving" were rewritten from scratch. That was easier than trying to shoehorn in bits from the old one that wouldn't fit without because of the volume of change.

That rewrite then became the "new" first draft. It got another two redrafts before it went anywhere, and another after feedback from betas. But it was a much better foundation for those redrafts than the original first draft, so it was worth doing.

If you're worried about losing the good stuff on a second go, I'd say just go in for a complete rewrite like onesecondglance suggests, and once you have that, go back through the original and take out anything you think must be in the new draft, and if it isn't more or less there already, see if you can work it in. I find in the standard drafting process that I go through adding large chunks anyway, sometimes whole chapters, that it shouldn't be hard. Maybe in some cases it will require considerable reworking of a section to fit those details in, but it can be done.

Of course, maybe when you get to the point of transferring details from the original to the rewrite, you may find that some of those details aren't as important as you would have thought. As Stephen King wrote in On Writing “Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings” because sometimes what we writers like and cling onto don't actually belong.

And, yes, I'll second that complete rewrites can be helpful. I haven't done it on a novel length work yet, but I've done it a number of times on short stories and it's allowed me to transfer a good core idea from a work that isn't written a quarter as well as I write now (however good that actually is).

You may, however, want to experiment with what you can do with just extensive drafting, especially if this is your first novel and you haven't done much drafting (I don't know what you've written before). I don't know how far you've gone before so this may be redundant, but for me sometimes the drafting process involves completely tearing apart a scene, starting almost a new but dropping in a still useful paragraph or sentence or phrase from the previous draft. And of course as long as you're comfortable adding scenes and chapters, and taking others out, if you draft heavily enough you can find that the new version is almost, if not quite, like a rewrite.

First drafts always suck. It's time to revise!

I myself am a skeptic: people don't change fast and if something was written yesterday--today it'll follow the same routes.
When was the novel finished, anyway? If it's been lying around for over half a year---then maybe you've progressed enough as a writer to fix it---although I personally would wait at least two years before trying to rewrite something.
If you've just finished it and are merely going through the usual "I can't believe I wrote this crap" stage--then ride it out. Edit it as best as you can and move on. Only when you can see it as some point in the future with fresh eyes will you be able to judge its true worth.

Mark T said:

I've written a novel (my first ever finished one) but the writing isn't as good as I thought it was or I'd like it to be. I think it might benefit from a complete re-write but I've never done this before and I've not really been writing that long. I'm not really much of a planner either and I don't want to miss out on details or bits I like if/when I re-write it. So, does anyone have any tips or are complete re-writes maybe not such a great idea? (The novel is 69k so it's not too long thankfully)

Click to expand...

Wait four years.

Write another half-dozen novels in that timespan.

There's a huge learning curve to writing. If you think your first novel has some great ideas, but you didn't express them as well as you wanted to, re-writing it now is just going to be an exercise in frustration.

Take the time to learn the craft properly before trying to revisit old ideas. I'm re-writing my first novel right now (if you can call it that, I'd say it's 75% brand-new conceptually and 100% brand-new when you get to a scene and chapter level, only a few of the characters and core ideas remained constant).

I've never rewritten a novel, but I have completely rewritten short stories on a very few occasions. My process is simple. I throw the story away, wait a few days, and write it again from scratch.

I'm three quarters of the way through re-writing one of mine, but it's not the first novel I've written, and since I last put it away I've written one whole novel and a few short stories.

I wrote out what I wanted to keep in the order I wanted them in (I changed quite a few things around) and then went through the original and pulled those bits out. Then I sat down and went through the whole thing from the start, taking out more stuff or re-writing bits I didn't like.

Yes, it's time consuming and it gets annoying so I have to put it away every so often. But I liked the story and the characters so much I decided to put in the work. When I get sick of it I just write something else for a while.

Huh, this thread has me thinking that what I've done is major revision, rather than rewrite. I'm nearing the end of rebuilding my novel. I changed major character traits and motivations, altered the mythology underpinning the story. It feels like a rewrite to me, although I've reused a lot of the original.

After thinking through the new stuff and having a firm idea where I needed to take the story, I broke it down chapter by chapter, created new documents for each one so it didn't feel so overwhelming. Then, off of that, I took what I thought still worked and built around it. It's been sort of like taking apart a Lego condo and turning it into a Lego Craftsman.

I don't know if it's going to work because I couldn't follow the wise advice to wait and work on something else for a while. I tried, but this one wouldn't leave me alone. The result is, I've lost the forest for the trees somewhat. I know it too well in all its iterations. If you can set yours aside and work on something else for a good while, I think that strategy serves best.

Whatever happens, don't get down on yourself. You've learned a lot, even if, in the end, you never come back to this story. You've certainly learned to recognize that something's not working, and that's a big step for any writer.

I'm kind of going through it right now. I did a few things that helped me not to lose what I want to keep (since I'm following the same plot and characters, only rearranging a lot of things, exposing others and adding some depth):

1. I went through my completed version and wrote down the timeline, scene by scene of what was happening
2. I took a red pen and started adding notes on that thing about what should change, what should be cut, what and where should be added
3. I made a new timeline for the rewrite, this time clean and ordered
4. I opened the old version, cut every situation (scene/a few scenes that came together) out and saved them separate files with the names saying what's inside.

With that done, I now follow the new timeline and when I get to the scenes I had written, I open the right file, read it and mark red all the parts/sentences I'd like to keep. I paste the red parts into the main file and write the new version keeping them in mind and putting them where they now belong.

So far so good, but I'm a bit OCD and planning/outlining/coloring/listing are the biggest fun factors for me, so it might not work for you

I'm currently in the process of a rewrite. I normally don't do rewrites, just edits. But this particular story was used for my first Nano. Everyone said to just write and to turn off your inner editor, which I normally leave on, but I tried it. Well, the story suffered. The whole thing is a mess. It's currently unfinished at 70,000, but I can't continue on, I'm so confused. So I need to do the rewrite before I can finish up the darn thing.

I had to put the thing into outline form to get my bearings. I'm normally also a pantser and write out of order, but I'm so confused that I can't keep things straight. It needed more organization first. I used this time to fill in/fix any plot holes. Normally I figure these things out before I start a scene, but when I turned off my inner editor for that Nano, it also turned off any alarm signals.

For the rewrite I'm going back to handwriting. My words flow better when I handwrite. I had switched over to typing a while back to save time, and would just mull over the scenes more before I began, but this rewrite is a doozy and I need to call in the big dogs. What I'm doing is I've got the file open on the computer. I read each line/paragraph, just to get the gist of what I'm trying to say, then rewrite it on paper on the side. And if I see any parts that I particularly like, I copy it over.

kenpochick said:

First drafts always suck.

Click to expand...

God, I hope not. I've sold a bunch of them, including the first novel, and the first three short stories I wrote. I'd hate to think I made all that money from something that sucked.

First drafts only suck if you write a first draft that sucks. First drafts are wonderful if you write a first draft that's wonderful, and a lot of writers have been doing just this for centuries.

I completely rewrote the book I currently have on submission. The only thing that remains from that first draft is the broad theme of it -- all of the characters and plot elements are different.

I put the first version away, opened a new document and started again from the beginning. I liked the gist of my first draft, and I liked the mood of it, and those were the things I wanted to get down in the second draft. I felt that referring to the first draft would cloud my ability to do that successfully.

The story I ended up with feels much more like the one I wanted to tell, but still has the bits of the first version that I liked.

Chucking out 60k words does hurt, though!

A lot of people like this:
http://hollylisle.com/one-pass-manuscript-revision-from-first-draft-to-last-in-one-cycle/

Drachen Jager said:

Wait four years.

Write another half-dozen novels in that timespan.

There's a huge learning curve to writing. If you think your first novel has some great ideas, but you didn't express them as well as you wanted to, re-writing it now is just going to be an exercise in frustration.

Take the time to learn the craft properly before trying to revisit old ideas. I'm re-writing my first novel right now (if you can call it that, I'd say it's 75% brand-new conceptually and 100% brand-new when you get to a scene and chapter level, only a few of the characters and core ideas remained constant).

Click to expand...

I'm kind of with you on this, although I think the waiting period is a tad excessive. If you're reading and writing everyday, your work will improve no matter what. Also, if you keep jumping from new story to story, you'll never get a good feel what your characters should be like. You'll go from new idea to new idea without learning to ground your characters, make them seem real.

I'd suggest going over the same story as much as you can, until you know your characters and situations like the back of your hand. Especially as a new writer. If you get bored with this, yes, write something new but too often on these boards I see people jump from project to project without a focus. Then you're just going to learn how to make first drafts. I think it's better to write the same story for years because you need to learn how to edit, you need to know how to spot the boring and make it interesting.

Don't rewrite just for the sake of it, rewrite because you've found a way to make it better.

Fine I will clarify: Most first drafts suck, most of us need to revise to make it the best it can be.

And I agree with Phantasy, if you jump from story to story you'll always be jumping around from new idea to new idea. Learning how to revise has allowed me to really add depth that I don't think I would get if I was perpetually jumping from first draft to first draft.

kenpochick said:

Fine I will clarify: Most first drafts suck, most of us need to revise to make it the best it can be.

And I agree with Phantasy, if you jump from story to story you'll always be jumping around from new idea to new idea. Learning how to revise has allowed me to really add depth that I don't think I would get if I was perpetually jumping from first draft to first draft.

Click to expand...

I believe the opposite. I firmly believe that writing story after story after story is how we all learn to write well. I don't care ho wmany times you write and revise one story, it's still just one story.

Rewriting matters, and if done in a reasonable time, it can turn a bad novel into a good one, but I also believe we learn to rewrite by writing new story after new story after new story. This is what most of the great writers I love practiced and preached. Story after story after story. Until you first learn how to write well, you don't know how to rewrite well.

One of the biggest mistakes I see new writers make is spending months on a short story, and years on a novel, reworking it to death, but getting nowhere.

I had a bunch of writers in mind when I wrote that, with Ray Bradbury at the top of the list, but Robert Heinlein comes to mind, too. I belive firmly that following his rules gives any writer a far greater chance of success.

HEINLEIN'S RULES FOR WRITING


1. You must write.
2. You must finish what you write.
3. You must refrain from rewriting, except to editorial order.
4. You must put the work on the market.
5. You must keep the work on the market until it is sold.



And before anyone starts pointing fingers at rule 3, you can still edit and rewrite, you just shouldn't take forever to do it, and once you have it reasonably well done, then leave it the hell alone. Robert J. Sawyer explain it best: http://www.sfwriter.com/ow05.htm

Jamesaritchie said:

I believe the opposite. I firmly believe that writing story after story after story is how we all learn to write well. I don't care ho wmany times you write and revise one story, it's still just one story.

Rewriting matters, and if done in a reasonable time, it can turn a bad novel into a good one, but I also believe we learn to rewrite by writing new story after new story after new story. This is what most of the great writers I love practiced and preached. Story after story after story. Until you first learn how to write well, you don't know how to rewrite well.

One of the biggest mistakes I see new writers make is spending months on a short story, and years on a novel, reworking it to death, but getting nowhere.

Click to expand...

I don't disagree completely with this either. Knowing when to move on is a good skill to have too. But I was referring more to people who don't finish their novels. The ones who never get to the end and then go start something else.

In my experience, re-writing and getting feedback helped me learn a lot. I re-wrote the first part of my novel about a three times, with the first chapter at least a dozen. For me, it worked well because I didn't even know what a story should look/sound like. I think everyone goes their own path on this when learning, but focusing on one element until I understood it better worked for me. If I had moved on, I would have just kept repeating the same mistakes with characters I didn't understand yet.

If they are re-writing and getting nowhere, I would assume they aren't reading enough and studying writing enough. Starting a new project won't help you if you're not exploring prose and the various ways authors deal with it. You'll just be repeating the same mistakes.

I'm currently rewriting a good chunk of my WIP (my first novel). I feel like I'm going through a rite-of-passage that all writers must face at some point. It's frustrating, but necessary. I'm past the anger and have moved forward into the acceptance phase. Just thinking of it in those terms helps me deal with it.

I first plotted the novel back in my pre-AW forum member days. I'm a better writer now thanks to all who participate in this forum. I think I can do a lot better job now than before.

I didn't rewrite my first novel. I edited it to death. But I did start and finish the second MS. I'm editing it now. I found it more productive to move forward than stay back in the same story.
Hope it helps.

I did this towards the end of last year because I'd written a novel I felt wasn't 'right'.

I think the thing which stood out for me was how easy it was to repeat mistakes I made in the first run through (getting caught up in the story again is fun, but it can be hard to keep yourself out of it and you need a very critical eye).

Firstly, I made an outline of the original story, chapter by chapter, then changed bits I didn't like while it was still in plan-form. That way I got a decent idea of what it would look like when I finished, unlike with the first draft. I also considered a variety of aspects such as if I wanted to change the voice, the POV, the tense etc. and ended up going from present to past tense. It helped that I wrote out the first couple of paragraphs in different styles to see what they looked like before I really started.

I think a rewrite is for major changes, usually in plot points, not so much for things like word usage.

Also, noting your latest post, I actually found I learnt more from the rewrite than I had from writing the novel in the first place, so it's worthwhile if you feel the need to do it.