Rewrites – A Thing to Fear?

I once went to my daughter’s class and spoke about writing.  When I asked the teacher what I should cover, specifically, she said rewrites.  Apparently, the children thought you wrote a book once and were done!  Ha!

Today, I’m going to talk a little bit about rewriting.  What I do when I rewrite.  I’ve gone through my novel and wrote it all.  Beginning, middle, end.  For me, a rewrite is the physical returning to the manuscript to make it better, give it that extra special magic that will make the reader fall in love with it.

I know some of you dread rewrites.  It is not my favorite part of writing, either.  Why?  Because I’ve written the manuscript already.  I’ve created the characters and the plot and the twists.  The manuscript holds no surprises in the rewrite.  In the rewrite, the real work begins.  I add depth to my descriptions (which is always my weak point J), sometimes I have to flesh out a scene.  When something doesn’t work, I have to fix it.

Rewriting is the backbone of writing.  I usually rewrite my full length novels no less then five times, making sure words aren’t overused, the characters motivation is solid, continuity is there (you don’t want your heroine in a red dress at the beginning of the scene and blue at the end; or how about eye color changing?).

Rewrites are a chore.  But an important chore, not to be feared, but to be accomplished with pride so that you can sit back when you are done, sigh and say that was the book you meant to write!