How To Write A Second Draft in 14 Weeks OR LESS
I’m not crying, you’re crying.
I’m not actually crying. I’m genuinely very excited about the edits I have ahead of myself. I’m three days into my writer’s retreat and have spent all three days aggressively planning out my second draft. I think I’ve finally reached a point where I can JUST draft tomorrow. We’ll see how many lists I decide to write in the morning!
Last night, our class met for our session on revisions. Peter basically put us all through a mental cheese grater making it clear how much work there still is to do once you type “The End” for the first time. I already knew this (not to sound hoity-toity) so I wasn’t too discouraged, but one thing he pointed out that I somehow willfully forgot is that we have fourteen weeks left to knock out these second drafts.
Um… eek?!
I’m hoping to start a full-time job soon, and potentially start studying for a CAPM exam, so I took to heart one of Peter’s biggest recommendations: sitting down and setting a schedule for how things will get done over the next fourteen weeks. However, when I tried to get more granular than just fourteen increasing word count quotas, I struggled.
This week (so far) has been ALL about planning for the second draft. Before class yesterday, I:
Read the entire manuscript from start to finish. This resulted in about 3 pages of handwritten notes, plus 428 pages of line edits in beautiful red pen. (There’s something so great about printing the manuscript, and I’ll stand by that til the day I die!!)
Panicked about what 50 pages to send in for my final workshop submission since I know so much is going to change already.
Wrote a chapter-by-chapter breakdown of all the major plot points. (Technically I finished this after class, but it’s not in the same category as the other stuff I’m getting to.)
I had a loose game plan, but then Peter introduced a TON of technical/procedural advice for second-drafting, and I threw my game plan off the porch. What’s more, there were a number of “homework” tasks he assigned as part of our final workshop submissions, so I had to get those figured out, too:
The chapter-by-chapter summary
an introduction of the major characters
an examination of the novel’s themes
an inventory of 3 to 8 scenes that “best represent the novel”
and a full list of things we already know we need to work on.
So, I had to knock all those out today to stick to my submission deadline. I’m not complaining, though — far from it. That work was EXTREMELY helpful in terms of getting myself organized for the second draft. Finishing those supplemental materials helped me plan for the rest of Peter’s planning suggestions.
Peter recommended creating or updating the following between finishing a first draft and starting the second:
Reading the entire manuscript without marking things up or taking notes. I already failed at that, but oh well.
Make a list of the 5-10 top-priority-specific things you already know need fixed.
Turn that specific list into a game plan/timeline. It’s really tough to write a second draft without a schedule. (Especially when you’re on a deadline!!)
Update a full scene catalog with everything that you’ve already written and everything you still want to write. (Or if you’re me, start the scene catalog from scratch because you didn’t really use one during your first draft. Oops!)
Write a complete cast list of everyone in the novel, who they are, and the page number of their first appearance. Then, calculate out how “important” each character is by assigning a percentage of pages to them.
Create a “reverse outline,” plotting the novel as you wrote it, not necessarily how you envisioned it at first or how you’re envisioning it now.
Reread AGAIN once you’ve done these things.
I spent last night and today working my way through all of these tasks. The only one I half-assed is my cast of characters. I’ve already identified so many structural things I want to fix that it doesn’t feel worth it to be extremely detailed about the cast yet. So many things are going to change cast-wise when I write the second draft. (I’m holding off on that second reread for the same reasons.)
This is partially because of my big decision to totally switch up the point of view. Instead of first-person limited, I’m switching to third-person limited with rotating narrators. This is mostly because there are certain plot points that the main character (J) can’t be physically present for, and it’s really boring to have other characters just explain those events to her in dialogue.
I’m taking a page out of Malinda Lo’s books (ha) as well as Anthony Doerr’s and choosing a primary narrator or narrators, with a few rotating entries from OTHER narrators throughout. In my case, the primary narrator will be the main character, J, with asides from the rest of her Scooby Gang, her mother, and an important historical figure.
Which brings me to… TIMELINES!!!
Because this story has a decent amount of time travel in it, it stands to reason that it also has like fifty bajillion timelines to reckon with. I spent the largest chunk of my time today writing out what those timelines actually look like.
The four timelines are:
J in present day
J’s childhood from J’s perspective
Events from just before and just after J’s birth, told (mostly) from the perspective of J’s mother
A generation from approximately 200 years ago, when a similar disaster happened to what J is dealing with in her timeline.
I always knew there would be (at least) two timelines: J’s present day, and J’s childhood. However, I found myself needing to expand on these as some of the subplots became more apparent.
Originally, I wrote most bits from the “200 years ago” timeline as journal entries from E, an important historical figure in J’s culture. However, the journal format caused me way too many narrative constraints, so I’m giving E his own chapters in full narrative. This will hopefully help me solve some of my “everybody sitting around talking” problems: if I can have E just live through some of the important plot information himself, I can hand J his journals and have J read that for herself without having to reformat very action-heavy sequences into dry journal entries.
The choice to add J’s mother’s perspective has similar motivations. (Her name also starts with an E, so let’s call her M.) There are multiple mysteries happening at once… And one of the most important subplots involves a “mystery” (and major crime) that M got wrapped up in. So, I’m giving J’s mom the same treatment: She can tell her damn stories herself, and J can figure them out from other people, instead of constricting myself to dialogue-heavy scenes where somebody tells J a long and rambling story. (Worth noting: J’s mother died when she was 14, so it’s not like she can tell J these things herself.)
Then, I made a fifth timeline, tracking all the main characters’ ages during plot-specific events. Because, if I haven’t mentioned yet, TIME TRAVEL IS INVOLVED, so everybody’s ages keep getting f*cked.
After that, I also wrote a sixth timeline, which just tracked the day-by-day events on the island while all this sh*t is going down. What I thought was a three-ish-week-long timeline actually takes place over 9 days, technically 12 if you count the epilogue.
According to Scrivener, that’s a total of 7,821 words just in bullet-pointed planning documents, which doesn’t include the 2,608 other words I wrote for my supplemental class materials. And according to my watch, all that took up 11 hours of work. Scheize.
Because I was flailing about, convinced I’d made no forward progress today, I also managed to write the book’s new prologue, which I’m planning to be the ONLY chapter in the whole book that takes place from F’s perspective. F is an extremely plot significant side character, and the mystery surrounding her is deeply connected to all of the timelines. (I only just realized that as I typed it actually — how wild is that?!)
The funniest part there for me is that I came up with F as a throwaway character. She popped into my head early on in this process as someone who would show up for a scene or two, and now she’s pretty much the heart of the novel. Ain’t it strange how that happens?
Anyway, this new prologue of F’s actually brings me to a new concept I’ve decided on. J is still the main protagonist and the primary narrator, but there will be some scenes from other people’s POVs. I’ve decided to structure these as “memories,” vignettes that appear between chapters or scenes.
Basically, these sections switch into present tense and a new POV (still in third person). They’ll all have similar headers: “A Memory: [1-2 word description.” So, for example, the new prologue is called, “A Memory: Fireflies.” They’re designed to be short, visceral moments in time (literally, someone’s memory) that reveals some key piece of information or character context.
I’m pretty much using this new format as an excuse to get poetic and literary, but also to get across plot-relevant information without feeling like I’m just forcing J to listen to a lecture again. (Especially because people literally aren’t supposed to talk to her, but I digress.)
Tomorrow’s my last full day at the retreat here in Virginia, so I want to make the most of it. While Monday and yesterday were mostly reading-heavy days, today I was a total workhorse. I got so much done and I’m so proud of myself, especially because I feel so clear and so excited about where I’m going with the second draft. So, tomorrow I’ll be able to hit the ground running with new content and edit-ready old chapters. The major planning hurdles have been hurdled, and I have a clear idea of where I want to go next.
And that’s not to say I didn’t make any forward progress today. All told, between the new prologue and full edits of the first chapter (which I literally forgot I did until just now, damn I’m tired), the second draft is sitting pretty at 2,256 whole words.
Which means — the game is afoot! The adventure has begun! The racers have left the starting gate!
The hermit crabs are scramblin’!!!
And I’m going the hell to bed.
Til next time,
Mags