I finished my first draft. I read my first draft. It needs a lot of work. It is a first draft.
I have never faced an entire FIRST DRAFT of a novel before. As a chronic multi-drafter, by the time I write the last word of a book, the first chapter has been re-written about thirty times already.
Not this time. This time I closed my eyes and jumped over the cliff. All 50,000 words are rough and raw.
So what do I do now? I have two options. I could take one chapter at a time, mark it up, think it over, and then revise that one chapter before marking up the next one. On the other hand, I could mark up the entire manuscript and then start back at chapter one. Which is better? Anyone have experience in this sort of thing? HELP! I'M LOST!
5 comments:
My suggestion would be to put it away for a week or two (Jeanette Ingold suggested a lot longer) and work on something else briefly. Then I would think that rewriting the whole thing would be better just because the voice would be more even since you'd just read the chapter before. You might have to do a few more edits, but I think it would help consistency.
Yes, I was also thinking I should distance myself from my comments - not revise a chapter in the same day I marked it up. Often when I am in editor mode I want to change too much, but when I go back to writer mode I realize that things are fine the way they are.
I remembered Brandon's advice - on the first revision simply make sure the plot, setting, and characters are consistent throughout the book. That will give me enough to do on a first run through.
I agree with putting it aside for a couple of weeks or more.
I'm actually working on the second draft of a 'multi-draft victim' ...and I can't believe the difference it's made in how I look at the story, and all the facets of it.
What I did was to just start writing it over again from the beginning--well, writing 'over' it: tightening some scenes, cutting out others, getting an overall feel for how the story progressed and how the characters felt within that initial, first-draft space.
In a way, it was much like writing it for the first time. Some chapters I started rewriting from scratch, others I just cut and paste with a few alterations.
I have not gone back over any of the chapters once I've done the second draft. I just do it chapter by chapter.
It's a much better story this second time around--and I'm actually looking forward to going back for the third draft--to see what I did the second time around.
I imagine I will do three to four drafts of this particular novel to get it shaped up.
I really like the idea of plowing through the first draft just to get the story down and place things, then refining with subsequent drafts in much the same way.
Now that I'm approaching it this way, I can tell that this is a style that will definitely work for me.
Good luck in finding the approach that best works for you! :)
Congratulations!!!!! I give you three cheers! and an extra one thrown in for good measure. that is really great. I hope to read it soon. My advice is...go ahead and write down what you think needs to be revised on a hard copy for the whole thing before actually revising it. This will ensure balance throughout the universe and good feng shui besides. But that's just my humble opinion. you don't have to listen to me, as I am only three chapters done, and you have finished a whole draft. I kowtow to your brilliant energy and resourcefulness. Be warned, however as I someday plan to rid the earth of all overachievers and rule the world in a grand state of laziness and lowercase letters. bwahahahahaha!
sorry, I always get a little weird before an audition. good luck.
Audition? For what? How did it go? Wow!
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