Fun Things To Do During The Second Draft
I’ve spent a lot of time in my life writing first drafts. Sometimes they get finished, sometimes they don’t. But I’ve learned a lot from it.
The next phase, The Second Draft, is a comparatively new phase for me. Do not be fooled. Your book isn’t done after one go. And maintaining that energy long term, past the first blush of getting the story out, is part of writing.
Each time I do a second draft, I get better at second drafts. And this time… I’m kind of having fun with what used to be a torturous process of OHMYGOD WHATDIDIDO? HOWDIDIMESSTHISUP? HOWDOIFIXIT?
Now I understand that the first draft was me telling the story to myself and getting to know my characters and discovering how things happen. So the second draft is going back over it and detailing, expanding, hilighting, and fixing the comical mistakes that happened when I didn’t know my characters quite so well. Which are NOT a flaw or a sign that i can’t write, but part of the writing process and a sign of how much the story has grown and I have grown as a writer.
So. A list of fun things you can do while revising your first draft:
Toss in foreshadowing. that’s a hint, y’all. it’s gonna come back later. I know because i can’t wait til you see it.
Switch someone’s character description, gender, hobbies, personality traits, etc. Because some of my secondary characters went from little to big, or male to female to non binary, or from alive to dead. Shut up. don’t @ me. I kill people in my stories. Anyway, it’s quite a shocker to be reading my first draft and find a character I decided to kill off walking around and talking. No no. It’s not quite as bad when I misgender a character or have them speaking as a tough guy when they’re really quiet and spiritual. Or make them a tiny delicate girl instead of a physical force to be reckoned with. No no. Fix that. Ew. Gives me the willies.
Take out the “blah blah” OMG, shut up MC. I don’t want to hear you go on at length about how you feel about your sister. You know how when some boring person won’t shut up and you have to listen to them? Second draft. Don’t have to listen. Shut them up. Interrupt them. Have another character butt in and point out their mopiness. Make them take action instead of ruminating. BRING THE SISTER IN AND HAVE HER SHOVE IT IN HIS FACE.
Laugh at how cardboard the MCs are in the beginning and then add in some details that you know from later to make them vaguely foolish… or maybe sad. Sometimes both. Both is good.
Come up with subplots for the secondary characters who were ignored the first time around and sprinkle that in throughout the whole story, so that by the time they get to the end, they too have had a transformation that we only realized in passing because it wasn’t the main plot.
Realize how small scenes through out the first draft connect to the larger universe you have created and realize that if you tweak this or that, you can set up BOOK TWO. Like, from the very beginning.
Oh yeah, those secondary characters with subtle character development? They’re getting a romance in the sequel. And that leads to conflict and connects with the politics and the science fiction. And OMG I’m discovering something about my new plot by revising my old one? YAY. I’m outlining book two while revising book one. Oh, the foreshadowing.
Enjoy the story. Read it like a reader. If something turns you off or makes you close the doc, take that as a sign that it won’t thrill your reader either. That troublesome passage/chapter has a problem, and you need to puzzle it out. It’s a puzzle. Figure out what bothers you. Take it out or fix it. For me, I’ve seen too much blah-blah, a character who doesn’t belong in the story, a flat character who is boring, too much backstory, a passage that needs more action or dialogue, a character who is acting OOC. Each time it’s a sign that I need to give attention to the problem. And when I figure it out and fix it, it’s SO much better and I get happy again.
Have fun with your second draft! It’s like a game where you can rearrange things and see how that changes the whole picture.
