Re

Monday we talked about proofreading.

Today, we're talking about something that many people find equally as important:

Redrafting

Personally, I don't always find it necessary. There are many authors out there who will tell you that you MUST redraft, that the entire book MUST be rewritten before anyone else can ever look at it. But I'm here to tell you that it's just plain not true. There are plenty of works out there that don't need redrafting.

But why is that? As you've probably surmised if you've been reading my blog for any matter of time, you'll know that's one of my favorite questions to answer. Why.

1. Some stories are just plain good

Probably rarer than any other option, some stories are just plain good the first time around. That's not to say they won't need editing, but that they won't need any major changes at all from the time they're first written.

Every story needs to be edited. That's not in question here.

2. Sometimes we authors are so connected to the story the first time that it doesn't need a second time

Realistically, I feel like this happens to me a lot. I dream my stories, and I write them down when I get up (because I can't write in my sleep *wink*). Because I dream them, I'm connected to them from the moment I start to write them down. I've already lived them in my mind -- all I'm doing is getting it down on paper.

3. Sometimes all that needs doing is tweaking, not an entire redraft

This one's the most frequent, in my experience. Most stories at least have some basis of "good-ness" in them, and there's something salvageable within. So we take those bits and we polish the ugly ones until they match and look shiny and pretty.

All without scrapping the whole book and writing it a second time.


But, of course, there are always exceptions. Many stories do require a rewrite, and for those I suggest a box of tissues, a bag of candy, and some mood music.

[love <3]

{Rani}