You know what they say about the best laid plans... When I started NANO on April 1st, I had plans to rewrite my WIP. Then I got into it and realized "Hey all that stress that made you think that this entire draft had to be scrapped isn't actually that bad", and I switched my... Continue Reading →
Salvaging Old Scenes for New Drafts
It's officially April as I'm writing this, which means Camp Nanowrimo is here! I'm doing a big revision/rewrite this month of my WIP, and I've spent the last few weeks making a game plan and evaluating the old drafts and what needs to change or be added from scratch. A lot of the background for... Continue Reading →
Using Character to Outline
Last week I talked about my plans for a major revision of my work in progress. In that post I mentioned that my main issues were world building and character arcs. As soon as I recognized that was where my focus needed to be, I began researching ways to develop these areas. This research led... Continue Reading →
Dealing with Doubt: Rewriting a Manuscript
By laying out WHY you feel your story isn't working, and making a game plan, it'll hopefully no longer feel like a failure, but rather just another step toward becoming a better storyteller.
Revising Using the Three-Act Structure
This past week I’ve gone back into the 4th draft of my manuscript and, using the notecard outline from that draft, plotted it onto the three-act structure. I did this because I knew the plot was lacking, and going back to the basics of planning a novel was the only way I could see... Continue Reading →
Revising by Hand
For the last several weeks I’ve been revising the fourth draft of my manuscript by hand. It’s a method I’m familiar with in theory, but one I’ve never done this extensively. After obsessively reading through author blogs and advice I realized I needed to try something new. I’d already done roughly two and a half... Continue Reading →