How many of you completely re-write a draft.

Kerry56 · May 21, 2020

I've never rewritten an entire manuscript. I write a section, then go back over it and rewrite that part at least once, though it is usually two or three times. Then I move on. My first novel came to me so quickly, I was writing four chapters at a time before I could stop and edit them, but that hasn't happened again.

The hard part for me comes after I've finished a complete draft. I've worked incrementally on drafts for years, finding weak points and improving them, but I haven't deconstructed one entirely. Editing has proved to be as difficult, or more so, than writing.

I've found I'm not as skilled as many others at setting the scene. My descriptive sections often need to be expanded, since I focus so much on interaction between characters and everything else suffers. And I often have to apply the KISS principle, few people want to look up words just to figure out what I'm talking about.

Liz_V · May 21, 2020

I never completely re-write a manuscript. I tend to write very clean first drafts, and the overwhelming majority of what hits the keyboard first time through, stays. (Which is good, because I hate hate hate revising, never mind outright rewriting!)

Which doesn't mean there's anything wrong with completely re-writing; you do what works for you! I'm just throwing this in for the sake of anyone else on my end of the range who checked out this thread and started thinking is it just me?

Actually, I did once do a full from-scratch re-write of a short story that was giving me trouble. The end result was about a 95% word-for-word match of the previous version. :Shrug:

And for the record, I'm much more of a pantser than a plotter.

noranne · May 22, 2020

I've done this once before, and I hated it. It's not generally a part of my writing flow, but if it has to be done, it has to be done! I'm definitely pretty far on the plotter side of things, though.

zmethos · May 22, 2020

I'm doing this now as an R&R after speaking to an agent. There's usually *something* I can use from the first draft, though I typically rewrite even the scenes I like... There have also been times when the first half of a book is fairly good but I've had to rewrite the entire back half.

DeleyanLee · May 31, 2020

My standard process is to get 15-20K into a new book and then I discover what the book is really about AND where it really needed to start AND who my characters really are. So I pretty much have to scrap everything and start over.

Just got to 75K in my book (after rewriting that 15-20K beginning)--the first book in the series--and realized that my process held true for the series. I realized what the series is really about, where it needed to start (hint: not this book) and what the main characters are really about. Fortunately, about 15K can be transferred to the correct first book (entire plot, etc, has to be figured out again) and a good chunk of the remainder will go into the second book.

Knowledge is power--and knowing that's just how my brain works almost makes the scrapping and restarting tolerable. Almost.

SAWeiner · May 31, 2020

My short answer is no. Writing with a computer, I will always reuse a significant bit from a prior draft. However, I can still radically rearrange scenes and paragraphs, cut a lot, and add many new things.

musicblind · Jun 2, 2020

I promise you're not alone. I did nine drafts of my most recent novel before feeling it was good enough.

After draft four, I put it aside and let it percolate. When I came back to it, I started major re-writes. It was a pain in the butt, but it made the book better – and that's all that matters. We're creating art. Art takes time and a lot of work.

That doesn't mean every writer does significant overhauls, and it doesn't mean all books are written the same way. What it does mean is you're not alone.

I'm betting you're a very talented writer and a hard worker! Don't doubt yourself.

<3

Liz_V · Jun 2, 2020

DeleyanLee said:
My standard process is to get 15-20K into a new book and then I discover what the book is really about AND where it really needed to start AND who my characters really are. So I pretty much have to scrap everything and start over.

Y'all who write a bunch and then throw it out and start over are either brave or insane. (Maybe both?) The worst I've done was once when I had to throw out a whole chapter, nearly 5000 words (I took some bad writing advice, or rather, some good advice badly applied), and it 'bout killed me.

Layla Nahar · Jun 2, 2020

I write a first draft in pencil, just following* the story. I review it when I'm done. Sometimes a part of the story needs more detail, maybe another part needs less etc. When I'm comfortable with my sense of the story I sit at the computer and write the story again. Generally I don't look at the first draft after I've started the second.

(I write the story by looking back at what has happened so far, and what the logical outcome would be)

DeleyanLee · Jun 2, 2020

Liz_V said:
Y'all who write a bunch and then throw it out and start over are either brave or insane. (Maybe both?) The worst I've done was once when I had to throw out a whole chapter, nearly 5000 words (I took some bad writing advice, or rather, some good advice badly applied), and it 'bout killed me.

To create something from one's soul requires both, IMO. But, honestly, it's just words in the end. If I'm afraid I won't get more words, I'm in the wrong biz. As far as time and effort--I look at it along the lines of the famous Edison quote: "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."

And, yes, I get better with each book. It's an eternal learning curve.

Woollybear · Jun 2, 2020

Yeah, right on.

Actually too though, Liz-V, I got so hung up on not being a pantser on book one (it seemed everywhere I looked people were saying that pantsing leads to more relatable characters, and so I convinced myself that I must pants) that I tried to pants my way through book two.

Twice. A complete NaNoWriMo and roughly 85000 words, altogether.

I discovered, through discovery writing, that this is not how I work. Heh.

It was neither brave nor insane, but it was a learning experience and for the time being The Snowflake Method is my best friend. Very plotter-friendly.

XOXO

Lakey · Jun 3, 2020

DeleyanLee said:
To create something from one's soul requires both, IMO. But, honestly, it's just words in the end. If I'm afraid I won't get more words, I'm in the wrong biz. As far as time and effort--I look at it along the lines of the famous Edison quote: "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."

I'm still fairly new at this fiction thing (though it will be four years this summer, astonishingly), and back when I started my novel I had a feeling I would end up writing three times many words as I actually kept just to learn how to do it. That's turning out to be more or less true -- maybe more like twice as many words, but the novel isn't done yet, so who knows!

Still, I'm trying to learn to be less afraid of writing something that doesn't do what I want it to do -- less afraid of trying ideas even though they might not pan out. A couple of months ago I took a workshop that required (among other things) writing a new 1,000-word story each week for six weeks. Going in I wasn't sure I'd be able to come up with a new story idea each week that I could turn into something I wouldn't be embarrassed to show to others! I was pleasantly surprised to find that I could. They don't all have equal potential, but a couple of them have some promise, and one of them I have already expanded into a 5,000-word story that's getting good feedback (though it still needs some work). That one, in fact, was an idea I had been sitting on for a year or two, in fear that I wouldn't be able to pull it off.

I'm hoping to use this experience to remind me to be less afraid to try things. If I have a story idea or a scene idea for my novel, trying out a 1,000-word version of it will only take a few days of my writing attention, so why not give it a try and see if it looks worth investing further? If it doesn't, it's not that much work to toss, and I've learned something even if I toss it.

tl;dr: It's tough, but don't be afraid of writing something you might have to set aside. It can be a great way to push yourself to try new ideas and new approaches to things.

:e2coffee:

angeliz2k · Jun 3, 2020

Sort of?

My first really serious ms was definitely rewritten many times over, but I don't *think* I ever wrote it all the way through and then restarted with a blank page. I did have some starts and stops, where I decided to take it a different direction as I wrote. And more recently, I rewrote the second half, then realized the first half needed to be redone. But I didn't start with a blank page for either half.

A more recent WIP also got rewritten chunk by chunk, rather than redone all at once.

The last few WIPs actually haven't required any substantial rewrites or major edits. Maybe I'm learning?

musicblind · Jun 3, 2020

mccardey said:
That's interesting. (I've tried plotting, but it wasn't right for me.) Do you find yourself doing "drafts" of the plotting stage before you start with the words?

OP - My first draft or two tend to be not just rewrites, they're total re-visioning. I only come to understand what the idea behind the book is on the second or third draft. Which then becomes an almost fresh start. After that, though, it's just edits and polishings.

(I don't say it's an efficient way to work, but it keeps me writing which is all that I ask of it )

That's interesting.

I have OCD (actually diagnosed), and I'm an obsessive outliner. I start with handwritten bubble charts and then write a one-page outline, a five-page outline, and finally, a 25-page outline. I then outline each chapter and note the placement of important paragraphs.

Yet, despite ALL that outlining, I have the same experience as you!

My final draft looks less like a rewrite and more like a xerox of a copy of a photograph of a rumor of what my first draft was going to be.

musicblind · Jun 3, 2020

Liz_V said:
Y'all who write a bunch and then throw it out and start over are either brave or insane. (Maybe both?) The worst I've done was once when I had to throw out a whole chapter, nearly 5000 words (I took some bad writing advice, or rather, some good advice badly applied), and it 'bout killed me.

I don't know that brave is the word I'd use.

I've written whole books and thrown them out. I can think of at least three complete novels and two screenplays that will never see the light of day. I would be mortified.

I have other works that sit around half-finished because reading them is like removing your eyeball with a coffee spoon. I have a 'horror' novel called Serpentarium that has been sitting abandoned at 175 pages for years.

Maybe we aren't braver or more insane. Maybe you're just a better writer? Good work comes easier for some people than others.

TrapperViper · Jun 3, 2020

gothicangel said:
It's my favourite part of writing.

I envy you

Liz_V · Jun 4, 2020

musicblind - I dunno about "better". I mean, my way is better for me, that's why it's my way. But you gotta do what works for you. What counts is the story you have at the end, not how you get there.

Goshawk31 · Jun 4, 2020

There's got to be a reason you can find hundreds of quotes on the subject of 'the art of writing is rewriting'.

TurbulentMuse · Jan 19, 2021

I'm about to have to rewrite an entire draft of a certain story for the second time, these things happen.

gothicangel · Jan 23, 2021

When I started writing my WIP a year ago I thought 'this is great, I won't change a bit of the plot.' A year later, I need to change this plot.

gothicangel · Jan 23, 2021

TrapperViper said:
I envy you

I think its easier to when you have something to work with, rather than a blank page. Or what James N. Frey calls 'redreaming the fictive dream.'

gothicangel · Jun 26, 2021

Having now written a full draft (111k), I now know more plot than I did when I started 18 months ago. So currently I'm using Blake Snyder to block out my structure/outline which I will use to write a synopsis (which is currently a little muddled) and also another James N Frey technique called the Plot Behind the Plot to develop my antagonists. I'm also a little concerned about my two major female characters so I want to develop them. That plot I thought was perfect in the first 50k now seems a bit illogical.

I don't completely rewrite the draft, but will happily rip out what no longer works.

Autumn Leaves · Jun 26, 2021

With short stories, rather than rewriting a single text, I often do the route of “start several drafts with roughly the same premise and see which one works out”.

How many of you completely re-write a draft.

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