rewriting techniques

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  • rewriting techniques

    writing is rewriting. sure. but what methods do you use?

    I approach it in two different ways. The first is to do small rewrites in scene. Change up the dialogue, add small bits of action to clear things up and keep the read going.

    But sometimes I find that working inside the scene to be more cumbersome.

    In those frequent situations I find it's better to start with a fresh new screen. All blank and clean. It's been easier, faster, to write a scene in a new way on a new screen than try to rework it.

    what effective techniques are y'all using?

  • #2
    After doing countless revisions as I write, I print my final actual "first draft." I then take a pencil to that and really tear that sucker up. Only after extensive notes, shuffling and corrections, do I go back to the computer. Old-fashioned, I guess.

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    • #3
      I start by fixing the big problems and work my way down to the small problems.

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      • #4
        lately i've been opening my final draft doc, reducing it so that it only occupies half the screen, then opening a second blank doc beside it.

        as i go through, i tweak a lot of small things in the master draft, but if i see a scene that needs a major overhaul, i copy it to the new doc, go to work on it, and then paste it back in the appropriate slot in the master.

        it's psychological i suppose, but it allows me to isolate the particular thing i'm working on without the apprehension of cutting and replacing things in the master version.

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        • #5
          I'm with pnugentr, I need to print out a hardcopy and edit by hand when I'm really ready to re-write.

          I need to get a sense of how it reads on the page, rather than just moving things around on screen, which feels much less permanent.

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          • #6
            I rewrite from scratch. I may pull in lines from the original.

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            • #7
              i love rewriting. i've found that my first drafts are so bad, but with perfect spelling, i go back and make it better and spell incorrectly.

              it works for me.

              vig

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              • #8
                I always start all over from page one, and I take different things from each draft with me, but I try to build a better story around them.

                Coming up with scenes is easy, if you're writing a det. thriller, you need a scene early on where the Det. is at the crime scene, another when the Killer contacts him for the first time, a scene about right in the middle, where the Det., out of pure chance has a shot to get him, but the Killer slips away.

                If you're writing a Romcom, you need the scene where the two lovers meet, the 'best friend' scenes where they discuss this new romance, the first quarrel, etc....

                It's once you get in the scene mentally and emotionally, that's when the real work begins. How does your crime scene look? Under what circumstances do your lovers meet?

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                • #9
                  If it's my script, I work in revision mode, so I can see all the changes. If it is someone else's, I print it out, read it, close it, then start from scratch.

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