Four Tips to Start Rewriting a Novel

 I’ve begun rewriting a novel.

It’s an intimidating process to pick up a manuscript you’ve slaved over for, in my case, fifteen months and realize it needs to be redone.

How do you even start?

This is where I am today, staring at the pages and knowing it’s time to begin rewriting.

But how?

Four tips on how to start rewriting a novel:

1. Accept the manuscript needs rewriting

For many of us writers operating on just a margin of ego that frequently slips away as easily as the sun, it’s hard to admit your project isn’t perfect.

People use a variety of ways to write a novel: the meticulous plotter (essential for thriller and mystery writers), the general planner who waves her hands and says “something will happen here,” and the seat-of-the-pants writers who miraculous find their story as they write.

All the methods have advantages and probably are linked to the author’s personality, but one thing remains–

We all need help at some point and our manuscript often will show it. 

So, don’t be embarrassed, accept the fact and move on.

You can’t fix a problem if you refuse to recognize it.

2. Step away from the manuscript, read it quickly and then start rewriting!

I had another project with a deadline, and so I left the manuscript for a month.

I’m not sure a month is even long enough, but since I’m about to sit down and start reading the whole thing this morning for the first time in 34 days, that’s what I’m going with.

Time gives us distance–we forget what’s in the story, both the good and the bad. Click to Tweet

It enables us to read “fresher,” more like a “real” reader. Zipping through the manuscript–reading it for pleasure not to find problems–enables us to get a better feel for what works and what doesn’t work.

I’ve got my pencil sharpened and as I read, I plan to make Xs in the margin of areas that don’t work in the following ways:

• boring
• repetitious
• unlikely
• out of character
• rabbit trail
• unnecessary
• WHAT?

and so forth.

3. Find a reader/ pay someone who understands technique to critique for you.

Several long-suffering friends, not to mention my saintly husband, have read my manuscript. They’ve been kind but have not screamed with delight–which was a warning to me something wasn’t working.

None are professional writers, however, and while they love to read (and love me!), I’m not sure they knew what the problem, technically, was. That left me very uneasy.

Lacking a critique group, I took the proposal to a professional writer who was able to give me some excellent points and steer me in a better direction.

Because I”m dealing with some personal time issues, the immediate advice was more important than the fee I’m paying.

If you are fortunate enough to have a reader/writer friend or a critique group, use them.

4. Beg your readers for their negative reactions and listen to them.

My father-in-law used to famously say an articulate enemy can be better than a loving friend.

As an aerospace engineer, he needed someone to criticize his WORK who was not afraid of jeopardizing the relationship.

I need to know where the problems are in my baby, er, manuscript, so I can improve. Click to Tweet

Of course, it’s going to hurt, but I can’t fix it her, er, it, if I don’t know where it is.

Having watched me work through the research and writing of this manuscript through an extremely stressful period in my life, my agent knew her criticisms were going to be difficult for me to swallow.

They were.

I cried.

BUT, I knew it was for the benefit of my manuscript that I hear the problems and take them in.

I wrote notes. I was too emotional really to listen.

When I talked with a book doctor, I took notes. She took notes. I’ve reviewed them several times.

I needed the feedback.

So do you.

Everyone needs an editor.

5. Bonus! Realize all the great writers write more than one draft.

Here are a few examples:

Ernest Hemingway–the king of rewriting–rewrote The Old Man and the Sea umpteen times, in long-hand!

Anne Lamott–everyone knows how she describes first drafts!  🙂

Madeleine L’Engle–who famously said, “I can only write so far and then I need an editor to help me.”

Join me in the rewriting a novel stage! If you’ve got any tips, I’m open to hearing them.

In the meantime: I’m rewriting a novel. Back to the book!

Tweetables

How do you begin to rewrite work you’ve already written? Click to Tweet

Four tips on how to start rewriting a novel: Click to Tweet

We all need help at some point and our manuscript often will show it. Click to Tweet

For other writing tips, check out this page on my website.