Rewrites

I said on Wednesday that I've never been here before in reference to rewrites.

In a sense this is entirely accurate. In another, it's not so much.

You see, way back in high school I had this brilliant idea to write a screenplay. That evolved into writing a novel. (Don't ask me how.)

Said novel got off to a very slow start. It took me years to get a few chapters written. In fairness, I spent the majority of time focusing on graduating high school, graduating with my bachelor's and then with my master's degree. After grad school, as I've shared on here at the beginning of this blog, I sat down to salvage the book.

What I did then was start over with a blank page and write the story anew. I finished the book, finally, and set it aside in favor of an SNI (shiny new idea).

So, yes, I've been here before with rewrites. But with that book, that first book I ever undertook to write, I started my rewrite without a finished draft. I never finished that first version of the book. (That book would need an entire new rewrite to salvage today.)

This time with CofL I do have a finished draft. And that's what prompted me to actually realize I needed a complete rewrite. The character development at the end of the book does not logically lead into what the character becomes at the end. Yes, books are supposed to have character arcs and such. But the character should at least start out in a place where they're not TSTL. And that's how I wrote my MC at the beginning of this book. Somewhere in the middle she becomes not TSTL. And she's awesome by the end of the book. But it's inconsistent and illogical to end her where she does when she starts where she does.

Rewrites are daunting things. But I think in some ways this rewrite of CofL will be easier and stronger than the rewrite of that first book because I have an ending already in mind. I'm rewriting a completed draft, not an overly wordy portion of a draft that should be burned.