The First Rewrite
Following advice of a trusted person, I spent the past several weeks “simply writing” out the story I had in my head. I did that, and finished the rough draft last week. I then spent several days going through 2 red pens and marking the life out of the manuscript.
Now begins the first rewrite. Can I admit that I am not really looking forward to this? Blah!!
Not only the simple grammatical issues (i.e. typos, bad dialogue, etc…), but finding ways to close up some apparent plot holes.
I did like the “simply write” advice. That let me get the story out in one big swoop, and left me with a nice 65K script. Not all golden, but something I can look at and be happy with. I assume with the additional scenes and notes I scribbled in the margins, I am looking at about 75K potential. Alright, fine.
Any good advice on how to approach a rewrite? Tips or suggestions?
Phew, this is a huge question.
On a second draft I do not look at things like grammar or dialogue. I want to tie up loose ends, remove or add in scenes. Once my skeleton is in place, I then look at my characters more closely. Ensure all dialogue fits, etc. Then I line edit at the very last. Does that help at all?
that helps a lot Jennifer. I appreciate the input.
Congrats on the first draft!
Like Jennifer, I look first at characters and don’t look at grammar much until I get to the line edit/polishing stage. Like you’re already doing, I look for additional scenes/plot holes in the re-write.