In this blog post, we will be looking at some of the things to keep in mind when you revisit the first draft of your novel. This is a critical step in the writing process, so make sure you are prepared for the fact that you will need multiple reviews when you first start writing your book! This blog post focuses on revisiting your first draft, but similar principles apply to reviewing your second draft as well.
We will start by asking why it is so important to revisit your first draft, rather than immediately submitting it for editing and then publication. Next, we will consider what some of the first steps to prepare your novel for review are, then look at the actual review process itself. There will also be a later blog post covering what you will need to do once you have done your review, such as how to start editing your writing and planning for the next draft.
Why Revisit Your First Draft?
Of course, you could just go straight on to editing and then publication after you have written the first draft, but you would be doing your writing a great disservice. Revisiting your book – not just editing it – helps you to evaluate how good the plotting is, how the chapters are paced, which character arcs work, and which don’t.
Once you have done this, you can incorporate what you have concluded into your next draft. This should both improve your manuscript and help you to grow as a writer, learning to reflect on your own writing.
Set Aside
The very first thing you need to do before reviewing your manuscript is put it away for as long as is practical. Naturally, if you are working to a deadline, you might not have much leeway here, but try to leave it as long you can. Ideally, this would be at least a few weeks, possibly over a month if you can manage it.
When you come back to your manuscript after a while, you should be looking at it with fresh eyes. This will help you to review it objectively and see what needs changing or removing, as well as anything that might need to be added.
Make Notes
In the first read of your draft, simply go through it without making any notes, just to remind yourself of your manuscript before you start considering what changes it needs. This will help you to familiarise yourself with your characters and the plot, making you better prepared to start the revisions.
Once you have completed your first read, start again, this time making notes on your manuscript. At this stage, you still need to be focused on the big picture, noticing problems like plot holes or plot points that end up not really going anywhere. Make a note of these, but don’t try to fix them yet – that can lead to your writing getting more confused. Instead, keep them in mind for when you start to plan for your next draft.
One way to keep track of all your plot elements is to write a list of questions that come to mind as you read your draft, imagining you are reading it for the first time. What will happen to this character? How is this problem resolved? As you get further through your draft, you should be able to answer these, so write this down next to the questions. If you can’t, make a note of it to consider for the next draft.
Summarise Chapters
As you go through your draft, try to summarise each of your chapters in a single paragraph, possibly more for the first and last chapters. This will help you to consider your book’s pacing. If you can summarise each chapter in a few sentences, your book should be quite tightly plotted, keeping your story moving along before readers get bored. Remember to pay attention to the build-up too, however – the final conflict and resolution will be much more powerful for it.
Review Characters
When you are making your notes, keep a separate section for each of your characters. Again, take notes as you go along, comparing these with your existing ones on what kind of personality your character has. Are there any times when they’re acting in a way that is out of character? Take note of anything like this to correct in your next draft.
While you are looking at your characters, consider their own story arcs. Are they all complete, or are there still loose ends to be tied up? Do their character arcs add to the story or could they be removed?
Wrapping Up
I hope that this has helped you as you start reviewing your first draft. In my next blog post, we will be looking at how to start planning your second draft, so come back in two weeks for that!
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