Writing Excuses Transcripts

Writing Excuses 5.29: Rewriting

From http://www.writingexcuses.com/2011/03/20/writing-excuses-5-29-rewriting/

Key points: Your first draft, often, you're trying to find your story. You need to learn how to rewrite to greatness. Start with a high-level triage edit. What's broken and needs to be fixed? What needs to be added? What needs to be taken out? Fix the major problems first. If possible, set it aside and let it cool. Second, do a shotgun edit -- read through and look for anything that needs to be improved. Look for general problems. Third, take a character-by-character look to check consistency of voice, description, etc. You may have several more edits, but you also need to get fresh eyes on it. Let someone else read it. You may be surprised at what you left out.
( a live studio audience )
[Dan] All right. Well, I think that we are done with this episode. So this time, we're going to throw the surprise writing prompt at Dave.
[Dave] OK. The writing prompt this week will have to do with rewriting. I want you to take the climax of your story and really look at it. Say, "Do I have all the necessary scenes leading up to this climax to create it so that it's emotionally powerful? What did I leave out?" Find out what you left out of your story. You've almost always left something out.
[Dan] All right. You are out of excuses, now go write.