I have gone over editing and briefly mentioned writing but this article will be more in depth on the topic. Having a reader of your story tell you that you should rewrite your novel can be heartbreaking to hear, it can make you say screw the process I can get criticism another way.
Writing isn’t for the faint of heart, people are more willing to tell you what is wrong and not what is good. Still hearing that you should rewrite the novel you spent a year on is like nails on a chalkboard. But this is a great opportunity to fix any flaws your book has.
“If you can read it through out loud without spotting error or wanting to add more to this section the book is ready to edit, but if someone is tell you what they don’t like listen to them and look at the part that is in conflict as objectively as possible, chances are the words aren’t the best fit. That is why you find new ones. That is what the rewriting process does for us, it allows us to work and hammer out sentences so that they are neat and tidy.
Rewriting can be done in several ways I can tell you a few ways. The first is to go line by line from the start until the end. This is long and it will have a lot of writing to your book, line by line will take you just along to complete as when you first wrote the book.
That is why it is good to print out a copy and get a red pen. Mark up that copy with notes and corrections. From there you correct the novel. This way takes long too, why if both methods are time consuming, why do them? Rewriting it is not easy, but it provides better work, it can sharpen key scenes and cut unnecessary and long-winded scenes. Not everything makes into the final cut. The rewrite is usually where I decide to cut down the vulgarity on my sex scenes.
I provide a way to phrase the scene to be sexy but not over the top.
The longest I ever spent on a rewrite was one year on a novel I ended up never doing anything with the novel, but that extra time with it provided that moment where I was able to look at the novel and not think it was worth pursuing. By not getting discouraged I got back on the horse and wrote another and then another.
Rewriting is a mental bootcamp to, it separates the writers from those who want it and those who deserve it. Doubling down on themes and ideas will enhance the novel and that clearer novel will become transformative to the readers who consume them.
In the end, don’t rush a rewrite, cut out more than you add and be diligent your book is not ready to share so don’t, friends and family may not be gentle with an unedited novel, but you never know until you put yourself out there.