My novel has officially been rewritten for the fifth time. Yes, fifth time's the charm, eh? So I began when I was turning fourteen and now a couple years on and I have a publisher interested to have a rewrite so here goes fifth time and wow...
First of all I feel that even the third time and the fourth may not be enough. It really depends on you personally and when you have reached that certain maturity with your writing you may not require as much rewriting but with a first novel...So I take a look back and forth and notice how much my writing has changed, It has improved drastically even in my own eyes and I am so excited to be finishing what I hope is my last rewrite. Not only did the writing improve, for I believe I've acquired my personal style instead of telling all the time, but I think the plot has improved drastically.
Now, what I can say is that I believe that rewriting is essential not only to get published but to get the BEST of your story out there. Hey, you may even be so great that your first draft is liked, who knows, right? But the thing is that your story can be better and once its out there, there is no going back. I know we all are desperate to have our words in print, in front of us, but those words can never be changed. They will forever be the words printed. So rewrite and think it over, rely on depth and emotion and oh, yes....I have a great tip. I have a new addiction and that is listening to battle music while writing. It helps, trust me. Especially if you are writing about battles, hehe. Anyways, what are your humble thoughts on rewriting and how many rewrites do you average?
Happy Holidays to you guys also!
Congrats on the publisher being interested! And yes, rewrites suck but we do it because we love the story and want to shine.
ReplyDeletelol, thanks and yes. Totally and I see a difference, just like polishing something I guess. to perfection... :)
ReplyDeleteCheers!
I agree on the whole rewriting part. But at the same time, I find that the more I plan out my story first, the less I end up rewriting things based on the plot.
ReplyDeleteFor my first novel, I rewrote more than half of it, mainly because I found that I had written most of it on the spur of the moment, fixing up the plot as I went on...
For the one that I'm working on right now though,I had spent a whole lot of time planning it. I had been on a camping trip for a few weeks without a laptop, so all I was doing was planning it out for that long. I find that I'm not touching too much, or finding too many plot holes now.