Update on My Novel

The Rewrite Process is Slow, Dangerous and Necessary

Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

I’ve been heads down writing this weekend. After weeks of preparing for the rewrite of my science fiction novel largely based on the feedback of beta readers, I spent six hours updating the first chapter. I don’t know if this is the right way to explain it, but I imagine it is like operating on someone. Because at times, I fear that I’m killing my book.

But I don’t think I am. Here’s what I did to prepare for the rewrite:

• The past four weeks, I:

  • spent hours reading through the feedback

  • categorized each comment as specific or general

  • noted the chapter (if possible) and page (if possible) for each comment

  • for those comments not specific to a chapter, organized them altogether as those are broad sweeping comments that could potentially affect a variety parts of the book

  • logged a response to each comment for context and clarity

  • reviewed the reverse outline I created that summarizes the key plot pots, chapter by chapter in order to ensure the broader scope, themes, character development, plot and subplots progress clearly and resolve appropriately

During the rewrite yesterday, I realized there were some things that needed to change that could affect every part of the novel. For example, subtle adjustments that I make to the story in chapter one could change the motivations of characters or a key aspect of a relationship that requires changes throughout the entire novel. It is quite the challenge to manage these changes as they aren’t isolated to just one part of the novel. I need to continuously remember them as I read through the novel, modify, log, read through the novel, read the log again including what I already changed to see if it needs addressing, modify, read the log, read the novel and so on.

Essentially, I need to remind myself of every single change that I make so I don’t mess up the plot. And I have logged 128 beta reader comments! In the six hour session today, I’ve addressed only six of those comments. Yikes!

The rewrite process is about what I expected. I think I’ll get into a rhythm and things will pick up, but for now, it is a slow, careful, slug as I open up my novel and operate. Pray that I don’t lose the patient!

Peace.