Redrafting is obviously a big deal. You can add and polish enough in the later stages that you can turn a relatively weak story into something really great.
This video is from a few months ago when I was in the later stages of editing my novel, Pursuit of the Heliotrope. I found a couple of significant mistakes and managed to improve the flow of those chapters quite a bit.
I turned a chapter that started with time skip and a tirade by a new character into one that started with an introduction and a little planning by known characters about this new character, rather than just plopping him right there in the beginning.
The lesson is to watch out for tunnel-vision in later drafts! It's very easy to just look for typos or grammar mistakes, and not actually read and think about the story! Instead, always consider the flow and characters, and make sure you keep an open mind that some minor or even major changes might improve things.
I managed to shorten a time gap, introduce a character and a concept before they get used, and clarify something that was a little unclear.
Honestly, this happened quite a few times for this book, but mostly in the earlier drafts. I was really surprised to see a big, positive change in draft six!
Would you like to give Pursuit of the Heliotrope a look? Samples are available at Amazon! If you like it, you can buy it there, or use this link to visit your favorite e-book dealers.
No comments:
Post a Comment