I’m not sure exactly where the line falls between revisions and rewrites. For me I guess, it’s a question of degree. Rewriting is more intensive than revisions. Rewriting, to some extent is starting, at least parts of a manuscript, from scratch.
In my last post, I outlined my problems with rewriting. To summarize, I think my main troubles with rewriting stem from (a) loving the words already on the page and (b) the difficulty of seeing what is not yet there.
So what to do?
Recently, I’ve implemented advice I’ve received from a couple different debut authors and I think it’s working well, even though, I’ll admit it’s a bit scary. Here it is: start a blank word document.
I know, I know. You finally got a draft out. You’re pumped never to have to look at a blank page and a blinking cursor again. And here I am, telling you to start it all over.
Yes, it’s intimidating, but also rewarding.
I open up my original manuscript document in one window, but with the understanding that I won’t use it as a crutch. I wrote those words. I know what happens. I know what parts are good and deserve to be included in the new draft. Then, I open a separate document of notes I’ve come up with. This document usually contains extra research I’ve done that I think might add to the story. Sometimes, I have thoughts on how certain scenes should be changed or notes on extra scenes that I think I might add. In that “notes” document I write anything and everything. I know darn well that some of the thoughts I jotted down will never see the light of day. That’s ok. Those extraneous thoughts help me get a fuller vision of the world in which I’m writing. They sometimes fuel the inspiration for tangents that will make the cut.
The beauty of the blank document is that it provides an uninhibited backdrop on which to create your best version. It’s important not to be constrained by the words you’ve already written. Getting the story out in earlier drafts should have freed you to write the polished final draft(s). It should not fence you in.
I know that when I revise within my original document sometimes I want to re-read and re-read the words I’ve written until they sound right in my head. Umm…no. That’s not changing anything. That’s what we like to call self-delusion. So, self-delude no more. The blank word doc has several benefits:
First, as you revise and revise, the different drafts sometimes don’t blend and flow. They become stilted and confused. Ghosts of prior drafts haunt the later ones.* The blank word document allows you to recapture the flow of just writing again. Only you’ve already written the story, so you aren’t starting from square one. It allows you to take it to the next level.
Second, instead of worrying where to fit the extras, the things you know aren’t already on the page, you can work the extra scenes, the extra description, the extra worldbuilding, you can weave the new stuff in seamlessly. You don’t want to be jamming the square peg into the round hole. That’s not pretty.
Third, it’s flexible. You don’t have to rewrite the whole manuscript over again. I personally am, but just be careful with your transitions into the old parts as you mesh the two.
Otherwise, enjoy! I know I’ve recaptured a lot of joy by trying this method and am, honestly, so pleased with the results already.
How do you rewrite?
*Mandy Hubbard, author of Prada & Prejudice, shared this insight with me and I loved how she said it.
I’m curious.
What particular manuscript are you working on? Is this still the original one that got you the agent, or is this a brand new story that you’re working on?
Dear Chandler, I am the ‘anon’ who wrote earlier. We did sell my book! I am thrilled. But like you, am rewriting something else…and you are absolutely right, starting over from scratch at least in the sense of writing on a blank page, vs rewriting, cobbling, pasting, integrating, whatever, blah blah blah — give me the blank page any day.
I don’t know if you read Min Jin Lee’s Free Food for Millionaires…it sounds like you are mainly YA and this was literary fiction (and I am not as into YA, mainly am into literary fiction actually)…but I think the hints about writing apply.
Anyway — she described a painstaking process where, after several reworked drafts, to get a fresh and commanding view of the whole thing and really feel in control, without feeling constrained, she typed her final draft onto a blank page, so she could have the sensation of moving from one passage to the next, really have that clarity about each and every transition, see and understand all the choices she made.
I found that reassuring and inspiring. I think it’s a good method.
Good luck, best of luck, with selling your book either during or after the rewrite process. You have tons of time and you have the lessened pressure of another profession (law), which I also have found more useful than not (I’m in medicine) — though I admit I wish sometimes I had more time and more sleep.
Take care,
Anon for now — will email later with a link to the website we’re setting up for book.
Anon, sorry for the delayed response. Did you sell your book in between commenting and now!? That is so amazing! Congratulations. I can’t wait to hear all the details!
Hopefully you’ll reserve an interview slot for Fumbling with Fiction, yes?
I tend to rewrite from scratch, using my previous pages as my “notes”.
Hmmm…how’d that work out for you, Jamie?
Oh right! You’re NYT bestseller now! Haha, congrats. And hey, if it works for you…
I use this method pretty often myself. You said it perfectly here:
“Second, instead of worrying where to fit the extras, the things you know aren’t already on the page, you can work the extra scenes, the extra description, the extra worldbuilding, you can weave the new stuff in seamlessly. You don’t want to be jamming the square peg into the round hole. That’s not pretty.”
I often find myself trying to add “layers” later on and am always disappointed at how hard it is. When I write, I’m always very conscious of flow, so I never leave myself break points to add things. If I want to add them later, I literally have to write it again so that I can create a new flow.
This is a good post. I like it. Thanks for sharing so much about your process!
-Mandy
Glad you agree, Mandy. I always hear “Layer, layer, layer” and that is how I tend to think about editing. But like you, I am disappointed often when I layer within the same document.
Turns out that usually the hard way is the right way. Isn’t that always the case!