Re-drafting the novel – part 2
Work continues apace on the novel. I’m up to about page 65 of 300; there are sections I’ve not yet worked on, as they need fairly comprehensive re-writes, but I plan to work on those in one go.
It turns out re-drafting is a more time-consuming activity than writing the first draft; more intensive, at the very least, requiring far more of a view of the whole and how it hangs together. It took me a week to write 600 words which normally would have taken an hour; sections which now fit between two known points have to join them up effectively, which is quite a constraint.
I’m also finding that I have more ideas now about how to tie the whole thing together, and larger themes and ideas are emerging.
One thing I’ve learnt – and this may be of use to other writers – is that I have to let go of word count now. I’ve gone well over 80,000 words, so I can lose 8,000 or so. I’m writing new sections too, and these will replace what I remove. There are large blocks of text being removed from the chapter I’m currently working on and it’s very tempting to try to re-write these when, really, they serve no purpose and – if anything – break the flow. There are long sections of self-indulgence which really need to go, too, and it’s an interesting exercise to see how much my writing has changed over the nine or ten months I’ve spent working on it. The end is far more descriptive, using far more of the “show, don’t tell” principle so many writing teachers recommend.
Right – I will go back to it. More insights to come soon, I hope.
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