In my last blog post, we looked at revisiting the first draft of your manuscript and starting to review it. In this blog post, we will carry on with this process, considering the next stages in your manuscript review and rewriting it for a second draft. However, we will start by quickly reminding ourselves why revisiting your manuscript is so important and how this can help you improve your writing.
Why Review your Writing?
Reviewing your writing helps it to be the best it can. You may be surprised by how much you notice just on a second read, so if you do multiple drafts you can see how quickly your manuscript will improve. In addition, going over your writing can help you identify common problems with your writing, which you can then work on correcting. This will help you to grow as an author and you will find that you make these mistakes less.
As you will be setting aside your first draft for a while before you go back to it, revisiting it lets you look at it with objective eyes. This helps you to evaluate each sentence as it is, without feeling quite as invested in your characters and story arcs. It helps to have this distance, allowing you to be a bit more ruthless!
In addition, once you have written your first draft, it is difficult to read your work carefully without skipping over parts, as you will know it inside out by then and may “read in” what you think should be there or not notice any plot holes you may have. Leaving your first draft means that you will be more likely to notice this kind of error when you have had the chance to forget it a little bit.
Make Cuts
Now that you have done your initial review, noting down any problems with pacing and plot holes, it is time to start thinking about what superfluous things you have. Be honest with yourself about what isn’t working and needs completely removing rather than just editing. Everything you write should serve some sort of purpose, although not necessarily by advancing the plot. It may be that it helps character growth or provides important background information.
So, what sort of thing should you be taking out? This can include entire sub-plots if they don’t really add anything to your overall arc. While some side-plots can be fun and add more detail, they can more often simply throw your writing off and ruin the pacing. Readers may find that there are too many characters for them to care about, or just that it is too complicated to follow.
If you do have to cut these out, don’t forget the ideas completely – they can make great short stories or blog posts for you to release as marketing. This means that readers can get more immersed in your world if they want to and keeps your book itself tightly plotted.
You might also find that you cut out whole characters. They don’t have to further the plot, but they should at least have enough impact on it that the story would be affected if they were removed. In addition, consider your writing itself. Description is good, but if you find that you have pages of it, it might be time to try summarising what you have. Again, this helps to keep your book moving along and the reader engaged.
Make a New Plan
By now, you should have all of your notes together and have made some cuts, so it is time to move on to planning a second draft. Put together your notes to make a new plan before you start so that you have all of your ideas out in front of you. As you take stuff out, make sure you also pay attention to whether anything needs to be added – are there plot elements that are underdeveloped? Questions the reader might have that are never answered by the end?
When you are planning your second draft, you need to make sure you have tied up all the loose ends, so take the time to plan these out in full as you would do for a first draft. Think about where in your story they would have the most impact if they do not need to go right at the end. You could have an epilogue if you think this would work well.
Consider the Impact of Changes
As you change things in your revised draft, bear in mind the effect that this will have on the rest of the story. If you’re not careful, fixing one plot hole can create several more! Keep notes of what you are changing and where so you can come back to it later if you need to.
Wrapping Up
I hope that this helps you when you are in the second draft stage. Next time, we will be looking at some of the advantages of being a hybrid author, so come back in two weeks for that!
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