First Look at a First Draft: How to Revise Your Manuscript

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Holiday prep had me buried all weekend, so let's dip into the archives today with how to look at your first draft.

There's something exciting and rewarding about a first draft. The story that's been in our heads is finally down on paper and we can see how it developed. Sometimes it unfolded exactly how we pictured, but more often we encountered snags here and there and discovered fun twists and plots as we wrote. The draft might even be, shall we say, a little messy.

And that's okay, because first drafts are often messy and filled with holes. It's what you do with it from here that really matters. As the adage goes...writing is rewriting.

(Here's more on the imperfect first draft)

During that first look, I like to start with the macro structural issues, because if they aren't working, no amount of polishing the text is going to help. It's much easier to do the heavier rewrites in draft form before the story becomes mentally "set in stone." Drafts are supposed to be messed with. So I recommend analyzing your goal and plot structure to make sure your story has something driving the plot, reasons for those somethings to be happening, and that you keep building your stakes to the end.

Continue ReadingWritten by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com