Novel Progress: Second Draft FINISHED at 115,000 Words

[mabfan]

Just a few minutes ago, I finished my revisions to the novel. I ended up cutting a chunk, but the second draft is still a good sized book.

I'm hoping that this will be the end of it, and that it's good to go. However, I do have two professional writers who agreed to take a look at the book and give me feedback, and then I have to send it to my agent, and listen to her suggestions. But at this point, I'm ready to take a break from the project again, and concentrate on some other, shorter work that has been waiting for my attention.

Comments

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

Hm. Well, it's the final copy as far as I can tell. If either of my readers or my agent tells me it needs more work, then obviously it's not going to be a final copy in just two drafts. :-)

However, the answer kind of lies in advice that Scott Meredith gave in Writing to Sell, advice that Barry Malzberg followed and recommends himself. He basically suggests trying to make your first draft as close to your final draft as possible. In essence, that's what I was aiming to do.

[jenwrites.livejournal.com]

The problem that I tend to have is that I don't realize until two or three drafts in that certain elements and/or characters aren't working. I get so deep into the universe that I have trouble seeing its flaws.

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

Here's something I do that may help -- after I write an outline, and then the first draft, I go back and revise the outline first. That allows me to see if the plot elements and characters are all working well together, before I delve into the second draft.

[jenwrites.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Well, I'll try that with the next piece that I outline. My outlines aren't super detailed, though. They're more a series of landmarks that I know my plot and characters need to find to make it to their final destination. I haven't yet figured out a way to make them more substantial, since so much gels for me in the actual writing process.

[sdavido.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm. Interesting idea there. Then again, I haven't had the opportunity to write much fiction lately . . . but I'm going to keep this in mind!

[sdavido.livejournal.com]

I've been much the same way. Every mystery I've ever written has had a change in "villan" by the second draft. It happened by accident the first time, and I've come to enjoy watching it happen *grin*.