By Rosemary Bird-Hawkins
Why re-write?
I often tell my creative writing students that the secret to writing is re-writing. It’s a phrase that I’m sure you’re all familiar with; that writing groups, courses, agents and publishers would agree is important.
Group workshopping is probably the way that most writers receive feedback on their work. You share your work with others and then discuss what is and isn’t working; it’s a good exercise for spotting superfluous description, smoothing out inconsistencies and honing your writing techniques and skills, but it tends to encourage in-depth analysis of pieces of writing – a lone scene, or stand-alone chapter perhaps – which can lead to a disconnect between writing and writing to tell a story. To structure and sustain narrative it’s important to step back and consider what the piece is trying to do, and whether it’s doing it.
Consider what your piece is trying to do, and whether it is doing it.
For me, re-writing is when you look at your first draft as a whole, follow the story arc and assess if the story is coherent, well-paced and focused. Stephen King explains that ‘when you write a story, you’re telling yourself the story... when you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story.’
When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story. ~ Stephen King
Everyone’s doing it…
JK Rowling’s website chronicles the amount of re-writing that she undertook for the Philosopher’s Stone. Originally the book started with the Granger family and Hermione’s father rowing out to a small island after an explosion takes place and discovering Harry amongst the wreckage. Rowling comments ‘I can't remember now why I thought this was a good idea, but I clearly recognised that it wasn't fairly early on, because the Potters were re-located to Godric's Hollow for all subsequent drafts.’
It’s fascinating to know how much background work Rowling undertook, especially for her minor characters. Speaking about Dean Thomas’ character she says ‘I had a lot of background on Dean, though I never found the right place to use it. His story was included in an early draft of 'Chamber of Secrets' but then cut by me, because it felt like an unnecessary digression.’
It’s important to write instinctively and to follow your characters, but at some point you have to take control, and ensure sure it’s going somewhere interesting and meaningful, otherwise it doesn’t matter how beautiful or evocative your writing is, you will take your readers nowhere.
It's important to follow your characters, but at some point you have to take control.
Who’s afraid of the Second Draft?
Methods to help a rewriter:
- Create a timeline of your story – start before your story begins and end after your ending. Include all your characters to see where they fit into the story. This will help you follow the story arc and understand the story history.
- Get to know your characters – answering questions as your character which range from the basic (age, appearance) to the more unusual (favourite music, strongest memory) can allow you to find out whether they are fully rounded. If they’re not, should they be there?
- Break down your book into its chapters and chart the flow of action throughout it. Note at which points the tension slackens, or the story begins to meander.
- Distil your story into one sentence – (e.g. boy wizard fights for freedom, family, trying to survive and stay together during a time of war). Keep this sentence in your head as you read and re-write; it is the essence of your story.
- As you re-read make a note of any questions that arise and highlight the text where you think of them. Are these questions meant to be being asked or do they indicate gaps/inconsistencies/confusion in plot or character? Are all questions answered by the end?
- Do all your characters have a part to play? Imagine your characters in a hot air balloon; the balloon is losing height, it’s going to crash and the only way to avert disaster is to throw out unnecessary weight. All the sand bags have gone overboard. Make an argument as to why each character is necessary for the story to work. The one with the weakest argument is thrown out.
Free yourself
The decision to write on a fresh page rather than working on what you already have can be daunting, but also liberating – you are freeing yourself from the weight of all those words. Refocusing on the story and the characters will make the next draft stronger.
I’m starting a fourth draft of my novel StorySeeker and at times I worry that I am writing in circles. But I only have to take a look over the work that I’ve done to see how much I have learnt and how much I continue to learn by rewriting. I’m learning about the craft of writing, about my own motivations and processes and I’m learning to make every sentence and every character count.
