Re-Writing vs. Editing
How to know which your first draft needs and why.
So you’ve completed a first draft. Congratulations! That is a huge accomplishment!
But, being a first draft, it’s not very good. Your characters are under-developed. Your world seems flat and lacks the details that bring it to life. You have a plot hole (or several). Maybe your word count is vastly beyond what is normally acceptable for your genre. Maybe your manuscript is not long enough for your genre.
It’s common knowledge that first drafts are not very good. Most first drafts are not fit for publishing. But they serve an important purpose. First drafts mean you started and finished a manuscript, which is a great accomplishment!
So you have your manuscript that only it’s author could love. What do you do to make it shine?
Re-Writing vs. Editing
You have two options before you. The first is re-writing. When you re-write, you use your first draft as an outline. Your goal is to take your outline and turn it into a good story. When you re-write, you identify the wholistic deficiencies (plot holes, flat characters, etc.) and fix them from start to finish.
The other option is editing. When your manuscript only needs editing, the bones are good. It just needs…
