Kia ora, readers!
Life has been wonderfully busy lately. Not in that dastardly capitalist way that some people like to proudly proclaim, as if it makes them more interesting — How are you? Oh, I’m sooooo busy — but in a comfortable and fulfilling way.
The best kind of ‘busy’. I’ve always had something to do, something to look forward to, and something to reflect on.
What’s been going on?
- I went to Venice for the Biennale Arts Festival. This was more for my partner than me. In fact, I didn’t even go inside the art exhibitions. Instead, I wandered the streets, drank Aperol spritz and had entire pizzas to myself while she looked at art.
- At the airport before we flew to Cork to see Crowded House play, I saw one of my favourite bands waiting in the security line near me. Luckily, I was close enough to say ‘Bad Nerves rock!’ and was rewarded with a fist bump and a quick chat with the drummer. Rock on, Bad Nerves.
- Our upstairs neighbours have decided to learn line dancing at 3am. At least that’s what it sounds like. The result has been minimal sleep and a feeling of dread around bedtime.
- I’ve been recutting episodes of the TV show we filmed in March/April. The second pass of the edit is often the most fun because you get to make the big, bold changes that help the story leap forward.
- I bought a tennis racket. So, I’m a tennis guy now. I even bought high socks, so I look the part.
👀 A Peek Behind the Curtain of Rewriting Book 3
In my writing life, the most interesting and important expenditure of my time has been the plotting of Seen in Silverbridge Book 3. Nicholas Heering, a collaborator of mine, has spent the last two years writing a juicy 90,000 word draft of the entire book, but now they are busy with a university degree so I have inherited the book to rewrite.
Rewriting someone else’s draft of a novel is no simple task. The draft needs significant rewriting with reshaping of both the plot and the character journeys. While Nicholas has been writing the draft, we’ve published the first two books in the series, changing and transforming the characters, throwing Nicholas’s plans out of whack. The result is that Book 3 has become a Frankenstein’s monster of gorgeous pieces of writing that, when put together, don’t quite gel as a full work.
I’ve spent the last month pulling the draft apart and preparing to build it again from scratch. How does that work?
I’m glad you ask. Let me share.
The Rewrite Process
- Read the draft - 1 week
During a concentrated read of the entire draft, I paused to write an outline of each chapter, taking care to list what’s happening plot-wise, and any character changes. This is extra-challenging because our genre is mystery, so I had to pay special attention to any foreshadowing I suspected was happening, and any clues that were appearing for the murder mystery. - Make a list of major changes - 1 day
Once I’d read the entire draft, I knew what the story was truly about. And once I knew the core of the story, I knew what subplots and secondary characters were more distracting than helpful. I made a list of things to expand upon, and things to slice and dice. Trusting my instinct was of utmost importance. - Break the book into five parts - 1 week
When writing a long-form story, I like to approach the process methodically, and plan. There’s the three-act structure, the eight-sequence structure, the twelve-part hero’s journey… All of these methods are wonderful. For films, I use four acts. For books, I use five parts. - Make a timeline on Google Sheets - 1.5 weeks
To visualise the story and ensure I know the order in which everything happens, I build a spreadsheet. In the first column, I write the Story Date. In the next column, I write a brief summary of the event, like ‘Faven interviews Character Z’. On the next column, I write the character change, like ‘Faven realises she has a crush on Character Y,’ or ‘Growing consternation between Faven and Huds because he keeps giving her advice — she ends up snapping at him’. I do this for the entire book’s events, adding and swapping and conflating and distilling as I see fit. - Because Seen in Silverbridge books are told in multiple perspectives, I split the events into ‘lens characters’ - 2 days.
Now that I have a timeline of events, for both plot and character changes, I can see through whose perspective it would be most interesting to witness events from. Sometimes it’s obvious and sometimes it’s a matter of asking myself, ‘What would happen if this character beat for Huds happened during a chapter from Luce’s perspective?’ I like being surprised. As I do this, I start to see the chapters come into being. - Rewrite chapter outlines - 1-2 weeks
This takes a lot of time and concentration. Keeping so many character motivations in my head for the duration of an entire novel is a challenge, and I find that I have to read almost the entire outline before I’m able to move forward and write more. It’s only by being present in the story that I’m able to flesh out the chapters in a way that feels real. ‘What is Luce feeling right now and how does that affect her next action?’ is the kind of question I’m constantly asking in the background. - Rewrite chapter outlines again - 1-2 weeks
Yeah. I do it all over again. By going through the entire story in chapter form, the story has revealed a bunch of intricacies and plot twists I hadn’t expected during the outlining of the Parts. This throws new light across what I’ve already written, and reveals plot twists and character motivations that no longer make sense or feel right. So, as exhausting as it can sometimes be, I must go back to the beginning and rewrite each chapter outline, knowing what I now know about the rest of the story.
This is where I’m up to and what writing this newsletter is currently helping me procrastinate from.
After I’ve finished my second pass of rewriting the chapter outlines, I’ll be ready to knuckle down and start writing the first draft. With any luck, my detailed outline process will have helped make the drafting process relatively straightforward.
However, the experience of writing full drafts of novels has taught me that the first draft rarely goes according to plan. Once I’m experiencing the story in real time, characters won’t act as they’re meant to and I’ll be forced to follow them as they split off down different paths from what I planned for them. These story-tributaries make for a more interesting story, so if I’m brave and honest enough, I’ll trust the story to take me where it wants to go.
Wish me luck as I continue with fleshing out the chapter outlines!
📣 Shout Out to: The Two Triangle Method
This video came up on my homepage for YouTube and on a whim, I skipped through it. Then I went back to the start and watched the whole thing.
The Two Triangle Method is a brilliant, quick and concise process that has helped me craft the characters for Seen in Silverbridge Book 3 to a satisfying degree. Highly recommended.