Back in 2010 I entered NaNoWriMo for the first time and wrote a 50,000 word novel in one month. Over the following year I revised it and readied it for submissions. It was a contemporary adventure story for boys. I submitted it several places and never got a single request to read past my opening 25 pages. So, I decided last fall that it was time to rethink this story. As much as I liked it, it obviously was missing something. Some higher stakes, perhaps. What if? I asked myself. Instead of my mc being a just-turned 13 year old boy, I made him an almost 15 year old girl. How would that change my plot? How would that affect the other characters in the book? I made the goal of completing this rewrite by the end of March, and here I am on March 31st proudly saying that I have done it. Yes, it still needs some proofreading and tweaking, but the major changes are made. And you know what? It actually is a much better book. It's more exciting and has a lot more oomph to it.
Now I don't suggest everyone do a major change up like this when working on rewrites. However, if something's not working with your story, ask yourself "What if?" and see if a major change is needed. Now I'm back to my WIP to clean it up and get it ready to send to publishers. Wish me luck! Comments are closed.
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D. G. DriverAward-winning author of books for teen and tween readers. Learn more about her and her writing at www.dgdriver.com Archives
December 2020
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Author D. G. Driver's
Write and Rewrite Blog
“There are no bad stories, just ones that haven’t found their right words yet.”
A blog mostly about the process of revision with occasional guest posts, book reviews, and posts related to my books.