Every writer knows this drill. You put words to paper (or screen), read them over and think, \u201cHey, that\u2019s not half bad. In fact, I am a genius.\u201d<\/p>\n
Okay, maybe not those exact words.<\/p>\n
I started my first novel with no clear idea of where I wanted it to go. By the time I took a few classes, made a few pitches, and realized it needed a better focus, I had a bloated, overwritten draft that ran 800,000 words, give or take. Sheesh.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve written about this in previous posts. My point in bringing it up again is that all the experts say a first draft rarely makes it past the slush pile. Still, cutting away the fat in my first manuscript was hard<\/em>. I had to completely tear it down and start from scratch. I\u2019ve heard published authors refer to this process as \u201ckilling your darlings,\u201d and that\u2019s about how it feels. I worked for years on that story. Ripping out whole sections, whole characters, provoked a visceral response, at least in the beginning.<\/p>\n My husband wrote a little song for me during that first and hardest rewrite. Called \u201cHelp Me Make It Through Rewrite (or The Author\u2019s Lament)\u201d and sung to the tune of \u201cHelp Me Make It Through the Night,\u201d the amusing lyrics chronicled the difficulties I faced during the process. It made me laugh, which helped me keep the whole thing in perspective. Here\u2019s a sample verse:<\/p>\n Should this paragraph be here? Even looking back through my journal entries from that time prove interesting. Here\u2019s one I happened on by accident while preparing to write this post:<\/p>\n It\u2019s okay to rebuild. It\u2019s okay to tear down that which does not work or fulfill or satisfy to make room for that which will. Just pull apart the bones, lay them out for review, and select what you will use again in a new form. Then step over the dusty relics and move on to the more elegant form.<\/em><\/p>\n The point is that facing a rewrite is intimidating, but it\u2019s not the end of the world (though it might feel that way). Knowing you have to start over can be gut-wrenching. But if you think about it, you already have all the pieces. It\u2019s only a matter of putting them back together in a better way. The process is completely worth it. I can say that every time I\u2019ve rewritten a draft, I was far happier with the result than I ever was with the first shot.<\/p>\n So pull out that dusty old draft you wrote ten years ago and give it a new look. Maybe you can use pieces of it to make a new, better novel, one that will catch the attention of an agent or publisher at the next writer\u2019s conference.<\/p>\n You never know until you try.<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Every writer knows this drill. You put words to paper (or screen), read them over and think, \u201cHey, that\u2019s not half bad. In fact, I am a genius.\u201d Okay, maybe not those exact words. I started my first novel with no clear idea of where I wanted it to go. By the time I took…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-posts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s8n0kX-rewrite","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":583,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2018\/02\/05\/up-the-tension\/","url_meta":{"origin":220,"position":0},"title":"Up the Tension","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"February 5, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019ve read it over and over, heard it in workshops and plenary sessions. A good story isn\u2019t about any one character or group of characters. Instead, it\u2019s about those characters doing things. Striving, reaching, hurting or being hurt, trying and failing and trying again, coming, going, living, learning. It\u2019s about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":565,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/22\/lost-somewhere-on-a-fictional-world\/","url_meta":{"origin":220,"position":1},"title":"Lost, Somewhere on a Fictional World","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"January 22, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019m writing the first draft of my latest novel, second in a trilogy. It\u2019s been a while since I wrote the initial draft of the first book. I\u2019d forgotten the annoying little quirks of this stage, things like overusing specific words, dropping a plot thread and having to go back\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":837,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2018\/06\/04\/rejection-continued\/","url_meta":{"origin":220,"position":2},"title":"Rejection, Continued","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"June 4, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I mentioned a few posts ago the rejection of my short story \u201cUpshot\u201d due to its use of Spanish words instead of using a language native to isolated Guatemalans. I went on to describe how I had sent forth queries intended to draw on resources among my friends new and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1185,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2018\/12\/03\/no-gain-no-shame-when-life-gets-in-the-way\/","url_meta":{"origin":220,"position":3},"title":"No Gain, No Shame: When Life Gets in the Way","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"December 3, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"NaNoWriMo always surprises me. Every Fall, it hovers around the corner like one of our kittens, furry butt wiggling in preparation for The Pounce and, the minute November 1 arrives, it attacks my conscience. I always want to be a NaNoWriMo writer. I\u2019ve occasionally planned to participate. It just never\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/time-flies-2470848_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C959&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/time-flies-2470848_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C959&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/time-flies-2470848_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C959&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/time-flies-2470848_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C959&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/time-flies-2470848_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C959&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1575,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2019\/11\/23\/all-work-and-no-play\/","url_meta":{"origin":220,"position":4},"title":"All Work And No Play","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"November 23, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"It only just dawned on me in the last couple of days that I hadn\u2019t blogged in a couple of months. Holy Continuity, Batman! Where does the time go? In my defense, I\u2019ll say that this has been the busiest few months I\u2019ve had for quite some time! In early\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/YouGotThis-scaled.jpg?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/YouGotThis-scaled.jpg?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/YouGotThis-scaled.jpg?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/YouGotThis-scaled.jpg?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":548,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/15\/living-our-stories\/","url_meta":{"origin":220,"position":5},"title":"Living Our Stories","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"January 15, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"In writing workshops, teachers and advisers (and agents\/publishers) all say that regardless of genre, a book's word count is limited. In science fiction, for example, the standard acceptable word count ranges between 90K and 120K. Given this restriction, it's important for the writer to confine herself to those words that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":221,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220\/revisions\/221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nIs this scene description right?
\nDo I have the agent\u2019s ear?
\nHelp me make it through rewrite<\/p>\n