Beyond NaNoWriMo - Thoughts on Revision Part II
Getting from the first draft to the second draft! What happens in between?
In this second installment of my Beyond NaNoWriMo series, let's talk about getting from the rough draft to the first rewrite.
Last week, I talked about the five phases most writers go through in developing a manuscript—planning, writing the first draft, rewriting, revising, and editing—with a metaphor relating the writing process to developing a painting. I will be referring back to that metaphor today, so if you haven't read that post, you might want to go back and take a look!
Roadmap for Getting from the Rough Draft to the First Rewrite
Take Time Off Between Drafts
As I've said a bunch of times in the past couple of weeks, the first thing to do between that messy first draft and the second draft is give yourself a break. Step away from the story. You need to be able to come back with fresh eyes, and the only way to do that is to avoid looking at the story for at least a few days, if not a few weeks or months. You want to experience the story as a reader rather than a writer, so you need to take enough of a break to forget some of what you've written and let yourself be surprised on the return. I think the best bet is to finish a rough draft, pause, write something totally different—a short story, some poems or essays, even another novel!—and then return to the first one.
Don't Tinker
When you're ready to dive back into your manuscript, it's important not to start fiddling with sentences. Your first task is to reread the entire thing, start to finish, preferably in a short period, like over the course of a week or two so you can concentrate on the story.
That said, now is not the time for tiny changes. Remember our metaphor: The rough draft was the blocking in phase where you get the shape of the story in place, but it's still messy, vague, indistinct. We have work to do on the story's structure and development of characters before we can worry about sentence-level editing. If we were painting, we'd still be using our biggest brush and broad strokes. You could spend loads of time now editing sentences only to delete whole scenes later, so all the effort was wasted.
How to Prevent Tinkering:
1. Print out a hard copy of your manuscript. With a paper copy, you can mark up typos or sentences you dislike without worrying about fixing them just yet. You can take notes on the physical document to help you plan your next draft.
2. Another great option is to send your manuscript to an e-reader like a Kindle. It isn't easy to annotate texts on a Kindle, and for our purposes, that is a good thing. Also, every book looks more or less the same on an e-reader, which means you'll have a true reader experience of re-encountering your story. With this route, you can highlight things in the e-reader and then look at all your annotations in one handy place when it's time to get back into the manuscript.
3. A third option, if you can neither print nor use an e-reader, is to use the text-to-speech functionality on your computer. Usually, you can find this in the accessibility options. Just google whatever device you have, and you'll find instructions. There are also apps for this, although they can be pricey. Text-to-speech allows you to listen to your manuscript like an audiobook. You can pause as often as needed. I recommend taking notes in a notebook if you go this route.
In my own process, I use all three of these options at different times. Mix and match. Try them all. Just don't tinker!
Take notes like there's going to be a test.
You will want to take copious notes in whichever method you choose to experience your manuscript as a reader. Take notes like you're facing a great big exam because, essentially, you are. Notetaking is a personal thing, and everyone has their own method, but there are some basic things to focus on:
1. Break your notes down by chapter, and in each chapter, make a note of every single scene. You want to end up with a detailed record of what happens in your story and where it happens so that you can make sure the pacing works.
2. Record key details about your character's biography to be consistent in your revision.
3. Make sure you keep track of the names of people and places. This may sound unlikely, but I know many writers who have changed the names of characters and settings partway through without even noticing!
Okay, I've told you everything I know about preparing to dive into your second draft. You've got your marching orders. Go reread your work, and come back next week for some help with goal setting for the second draft!
If you try any of these techniques, let me know how it goes? What are your favorite strategies to employ when heading into your second draft? Tell me in the comments!