🥑 redraft! (ripple effects 4)

Since I started writing seriously in 2018, my process has evolved constantly.

This year’s biggest shift? I’ve embraced the rewrite.

As I revise Stories That Bleed this summer, I’m redrafting several scenes to accommodate the changes I want to make. After listing those changes in my story revision spreadsheet, I have a better idea of how the scene should progress.

This is how I audition my ideas:

• I keep the old scene and the new scene open side by side (Scrivener is great for this, but you can do it with any word processor).

• I write the new scene from the beginning, transcribing what I wrote in the old scene (and often cutting extraneous wording from the old draft).

• As I go, I incorporate scene-level changes into the new scene. Some examples directly lifted from my notes for Chapter 2 of STB:

  • [REDACTED] pained and grieved; show this at beginning; tension with [REDACTED]; he doesn't have a father anymore; figures that the one man he wants dead is now suddenly on his team

  • show what [REDACTED] wants—help overthrowing the Empire; using his father to do it

  • he's sharing because Safran needs to know the truth

  • incorporate tension in surroundings (White Caps outside, bartender, patrons, etc.)

• I work these ideas into the scene’s narration, dialogue, and interiority. This usually happens one of three ways:

  • 1:1 changes, e.g., replacing one piece of dialogue with another that fits the new motivation I’m presenting

  • Insertions, e.g., adding interiority before a character’s action to provide justification

  • Deletions, e.g., removing a character’s actions that don’t align with their goal in this scene

My guiding questions: does this scene feel internally cohesive? Do these characters feel consistent? Does this scene feel cohesive with the story as a whole?

For the whole process, I use my story revision spreadsheet to ensure I don’t miss any details. Download yours today!

Next time, let’s tackle the ripple effect on prose.

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