One of my biggest issues with rewriting has been a tendency to want to change everything in order to solve the problems with the draft, rather than changing the specific thing that is wrong with it in the most simple, direct manner possible. I believe the colloquial term for this is “throwing the baby out with the bathwater.”
In order to avoid this problem when you are considering doing any scope of rewriting, from adding in a new scene to scrapping everything but a single scene, I suggest borrowing a strategy from business: create a cost/benefit analysis.
Here are the questions you should answer in this analysis:
- What is the specific rewrite I am proposing? (Stating this clearly before you begin will help you avoid confusion about what you intend to do.)
- Why am I considering this rewrite? (Again, this will help you understand what problem you specifically intend to solve in the rewrite.)
- What are the benefits of the rewrite? What will the story gain by making these changes?
- What is the cost of this rewrite in terms of time and energy? Is the story buried in the draft worth the cost of extracting it?
- What are the potential implications for the rest of the story? What will need to be cut or reconsidered as a result of this rewrite?
- What are some alternatives to this rewrite? Is there a more simple way I could make changes to the draft and solve the same problem(s)?
- If I do this rewrite, what do I want the outcome to be? What will the finished draft look like?
By asking these questions before you rewrite, you’ll find that you have a much clearer strategy once you start taking the chainsaw to the draft. And you may find that the rewrite you were considering will actually make matters worse! Or, you might find that there is a simple alternative that will work just as well as the elaborate maneuver you had planned and take half the time.
Rewriting: Marking up a Draft and Making Changes
When you do approach the draft itself to rewrite, I suggest printing it at this stage. A printed draft is much easier to jump around in, and you’ll be doing a lot of shuffling back and forth in the story as you apply your rewriting plan to the draft. Printing can be expensive. If you live near a university, see if they have an open copy center. Sometimes a University copy center is a much cheaper alternative to the chains.
Make detailed notes in the margins, use stickies, have a short-hand that works for you to understand what changes you intend to make in the manuscript. Keep your notes as structured as possible, but remember that you don’t actually have to make the changes at this stage. I usually leave myself a note like “expand this paragraph and add information about X.”
As you mark up your draft for rewriting, read it through thoroughly, with your rewrite plan on hand, so that you can keep everything consistent with your changes. You might only be removing one scene, but doing so might force changes in another part of the story. If there is pertinent information in that scene that needs to be conveyed elsewhere, or if some information becomes obsolete, you need to make sure to note that on the draft.
Before you start making changes to your first draft, BACK UP the original! This is important to do at every stage of revision, but most important during rewriting, since you’ll probably be cutting large swaths. If you ever need to rewind your strategy, or want to use cut bits for another project, or just plain make a mistake and cut the wrong thing, you’ll want to have a saved copy of that first rough draft.
Invest in an inexpensive copy holder to hold the loose-leaf pages of your manuscript as you enter changes. And one thing I like to do is rather than put the whole manuscript on the stand at once, set it up chapter by chapter. It gives me a sense of satisfaction to see the small stacks of paper cleared off the book stand, rather than having the whole manuscript looming there the whole time.
Enjoy the process! You are still in the fun, creative part of writing. Too soon you’ll get to the nitty gritty stages of crossing your i’s and dotting your t’s, but right now you’re still shaping the clay. Have fun with it!
One thought on “101 TIWIK #58: Rewriting Part III: A Strategy for Strategizing”
Great post, thank you! I flagged it as soon as I saw it, but just finally had time to read. I’m heading into a rewrite of my first three chapters, and these suggestions are very helpful!