Write That Novel: Re-writing

Adventurers, I’ll admit it: I expected getting to the end of draft one to feel better.

In the past when I’ve written novels (don’t get excited, those were finished in high school and will never see the light of day) getting to the end felt like a big triumph.

I’d done it. I’d written a book. Start to finish.

But this time… well, there wasn’t quite the same sense of fireworks.

I know exactly why that is, though.

This time around, I got to the end… and immediately went back to the beginning.

I knew, before I was even finished, that there were huge parts that needed to be changed. Two giant sections that needed to be swapped for the beginning to flow better. A plot line that I wanted to cut entirely. A character who probably doesn’t need to be there, cute though he is. A conflict that needs to be significantly beefed up.

In short, getting to the end didn’t really feel like getting to the end. It felt like… well, getting to the 1/4 of the way there mark.

And I’ve decided that’s a good thing.

It’s so, so, so important to be critical of your own writing. To have an eye for what is working and what isn’t. To be able to, as the saying goes, kill your darlings… whether those darling are sentences or plot lines or even whole characters. (Sometimes literally. This is a mystery I’m writing, after all.)

Yes, readers and critique partners and editors can all do those things for you too.

But it’s vital for writers, whether they’re writing a novel or putting together a blog post, to be able to look at their own work and see what is and is not working.

And at the same time, it’s important to celebrate the milestones along the way. After all, getting to an end (maybe not the  end, but an  end) is a big step in the right direction. (Even if it is a little behind schedule.) So I’ll  pop a bottle of bubbly with my husband, toast to draft one being finished… and then start right back in on draft two.

What about you?

Do you feel elated when you finish a round of work… or do you move right on to what needs to come next?

 

Following along? See the rest of the series here:

Setting Goals

Learning to Outline

Unexpected Place to Research

Making Time to Write

On the Ground Research