Right now, I’m in the throes of rewriting a novel I had originally started back in 2014. Generally, I’m the type of writer who “front loads” rewrites — in other words, I tend to excessively rework outlines and scene beats until the kinks are ironed out. (That’s not to say that I don’t rewrite drafts afterwards, just that I don’t tend to need to do massive rewrites in the second or third iterations of the story.)
However, with this novel….complete invasive surgery is required to save it. It was the first novel I had ever written. Back in 2014, I hadn’t quite mastered how to write a scene. Most were were overlong or unfocused. Character’s motivations nebulous. Moments didn’t quite land. Some of the plot snagged. You know, all the typical stuff rookie writers are wont to do.
Because of the totality of these issues, I put off rewriting the novel for years. The rewrites felt overwhelming — what to keep? what to shred? But, I came across an Instagram reel in which another author said that when she rewrites, she rewrites the entire novel, word by word. My first instinct was to think this was an insane waste of time. What could be gained by writing everything over again?
To humor myself, I considered for a moment doing a total rewrite for this novel. I realized that it meant all the decision-making that was wearing me down would no longer be a factor. I wouldn’t have to judge and tweak every sentence. I would be able to complete all levels of necessary tinkering (pacing, plot, character, etc.) in one go by simply starting over with the bones of the story.
I’m now close to 40% of the way through this rewrite, where I’ve kept exceptionally little of the original text. What shocked me about rewriting these scenes a decade later was how efficient I’ve become as a writer. In the first draft, it took me about ~17,500 words to reach the inciting incident. This rewrite? Only about ~12,500 words. And the kicker? I actually ended up telling more story in that amount of space than I had the first time.
In hopes this may help another writer out there, here are the top three things I’ve learned in doing a complete and total rewrite:
Total Rewrites Are Faster. Over the years, I picked at this story, trying to unravel it. But sometimes the best way to untangle a knot is to cleave it in twain. It’s helpful to remember that despite rewriting every word that you’re not starting over from scratch. You know your characters and plots intimately after the first go around. This time you get to present them all with a bit of “practice” under your wing, so to speak.
Default to the Original. I’ve learned that if I’m at a loss as to how to improve a plot point, the answer is that the original might not actually need to be changed. If I’m stuck on something in the rewrite, I will often reread the old version for inspiration. Sometimes, I discover that I had encountered the same problem in the first version and had already solved it. So, while I’ve taken to “don’t fix what isn’t broken,” I’ll still rewrite the entire scene to give it another layer of polish.
Kill Your Darlings. I have some bangers in the original version that I’ve tried to shoehorn into the rewrite. But I’ve learned that shoehorning rarely works (particularly in dialogue). I’ve had to garrote those darlings without mercy. But in doing so, I’ve opened up the page to accommodate brand new ones. In other words, instead of treating darlings like they’re a scarce occurrence, I’ve taken to an abundance mindset and now trust a new one will arrive if I leave the door open (which is weird given the town rumors of what happened to those last darlings).
Now let’s hope I can finish off this rewrite in the next two months.