Re-Writing is the BEST Writing

Hello lovelies. I hope you're well and doing your best as always! In this article I wanted to tackle to art of re-writing. As writers, we naturally re-read over our work to make sure it makes sense and flows together. After this, we instinctively begin revising our words to make it sound 'better', or more 'poetic'. Congratulations, you have one or two lovely sentences, but how does one write a short story or embark on writing a book?

It is a word that makes all writers somewhat automatically feel exhausted by and instinctively pop the kettle on - drafts.

When you are writing, sometimes, it is best to get let your mind wonder, the fingers type, or the pen take over. The secret answer to the craft of writing is re-writing. Re-writing is the BEST writing. But how can you re-write if you don't have enough to re-write to begin with? Drafts.

Whenever you are writing a creative piece, you should always have one of two drafts. I am in many writing groups outside of Vocal, and I see a lot of aspiring writers claiming to write a full book in a week (although they never disclose whether they are using AI software). In some miracle, they could write well the book but in a week? It is highly unlikely. How many times do you think Tolkien re-wrote sections of the Hobbit? When I went to the British Library once, I saw a real first hand draft of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. And it had scribbles all over it.

Say it with me now - DRAFTS.

Now, the first draft will always be utterly atrocious. No-one in the history of writing has a solid first draft where they haven't revised, not a single word. Drafts are supposed to be a messy shitshow of the alphabet, and sound absolutely ridiculously out loud. The key to drafts is to get the very idea on screen or paper.

There is no such thing as a bad story, but there is bad writing. Take Game of Thrones Season 8. That script was awful. It was a draft. It felt rushed, and a little empty. It was like it something was missing and the magic touch that made it so brilliant in the first place (book material), was gone.

So never look back at your writing and think, this is a terrible idea, or it makes little sense. No. That is not true. The truth is, it needs refining. I feel sometimes as writers we push ourselves too much to be like all the great writers that have come before us and compare ourselves and our work to others. Don't. As I have said before, it is the thief of joy.

The first draft of anything is shit.

– Ernest Hemingway

A common thing I noticed us writers do other than procrastination is in which the method of re-writing our work. Just get the chapter down, revise it a little, then move on - repeat. Keep doing this until you have a finished piece. Although finished, you are not.

This is where you get a few 'beta readers', maybe friends and family, to tell you what they liked and disliked. Workshopping comes hand in hand with your drafts. My advice, invest in a printer so you can print off your work and physically see any typos, mistakes, see if the sentences work, etc. Also, invest in a shredder - yay for recycling.

Once you have got positive feedback and constructive criticism, it is time to do a re-write. Create another draft and begin your narrative journey again. The great thing about the second draft is that you already have a foundation to build upon. Getting that very first draft down is the hardest step.

Eventually you will see your book come together, and every workshop you do, you'll see how far you and your work have come. The document will probably be named something along the lines, like:

FINAL FINAL FINAL DRAFT dox.

My advice is to never fear the draft, the workshopping, the process, you are making art. Beautiful art that takes time. Remember: ugly ducklings become beautiful swans.

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