#redrafting

I think I've finished my most recent redraft of the first Violins and Violets book!

This morning, I woke up early to write before I got out of bed, and, since I was on the final scene, 300 words flew out of my pen and onto the page... And now I'm done!

It's been just under ten months since I started this draft (24th July 2025), handwriting nearly every word (with illness, major surgery, and cancer treatment all slowing me down, which was a bit frustrating), but it's done! It's safe to say I've enjoyed the whole process, just wish it hadn't been hindered so much.

I finally seem to have the writing bug again, and it's making me very happy.

Different, That sunrises and sunsets were sat on different Pages of the same dictionary, So that the two ideas could never Intertwine, Share definitions for different Places in time.

I used to think sunsets were Different.

I used to think they never Happened, That their placement in the day Defined their placement in time. That just because they hadn't happened Yet, Doesn’t mean they won’t.

[I.D. A header image of two pencils on a yellow background, with title reading ‘Redrafting’. End I.D.]

I think redrafting can sometimes be a bit of an elusive topic. I see loads of posts with advice for finishing the first draft (which is fantastic!) but advice for what comes after you’ve finished that mammoth task is less common. Here I’ll be outlining my redrafting process, and you can pick and grab whatever bits are useful for you!

1. Let the manuscript rest.

I love to fixate on my projects (what can I say? It’s a serotonin mine!). This focus is great for finishing stuff, but it can get in the way of redrafting, because you get too close to your work to be able to spot things that need changing. When you finish a manuscript, put it aside for however long it takes for you to be able to look at it with fresh eyes. I find this is usually a month or more for novels. This is a great time to work on other projects!

2. Re-read the manuscript, then outline (or re-outline).

When it comes to re-reading your manuscript, try to look at it with a critical eye (note: this doesn’t mean you have to be negative about it! Just have your editor hat on). Don’t make edits as you read, instead, jot down anything you think needs changing. At this stage, it’s going to be big picture stuff, structure, characterisation, plotting, novel pacing etc. Small details like phrasing come much later.

After this, take your list of changes and think about how they’re going to alter your book, then make an outline based on this new structure. I think this step is incredibly helpful regardless of whether you plotted or pantsed your first draft (I’ve done both). It makes the next stage so much easier.

3. Take your outline, and write the book again.

This is a lot of work, and believe me, if I thought I could get away without it, I would, but I haven’t found anything else that improves my books as much as a rewrite. If you start over from scratch, you’re less tied to what you wrote in your first draft, so it’s much easier to make the big changes that you need to make. This doesn’t mean you have to throw your first draft out, though! You worked hard on that, there’ll be a lot of good stuff there. I like to keep it open in another window while I write the second draft, so I can copy and paste scenes I want to put in the new version (with a bit of an edit).

4. Third draft time!

After letting the manuscript rest again, come back for some editing. Don’t worry, it’s not another rewrite (unless you want to do that again...). This is where more ‘medium-picture’ changes come in, things like deleting unnecessary parts, editing the pacing of scenes, making sure character details are consistent and the like. This isn’t an exact science, you can do small-picture edits to get your prose how you want it (I’d probs advise not to go hog wild on these though, since there’ll be more changes later), or you can do more big edits (I ended up deleting a whole subplot when I was doing the third draft of my most recent book). Basically, the idea of this draft is to make it the best you can make it with only your perspective to go on.

5. Let other people to take a look.

This is where I bring in beta-readers. It’s the scariest part, in my opinion, but so worth it. Other people will spot things about your book you’d never in a million years be able to spot yourself. I like to give my books to about 3-5 people, get their feedback, then make changes based on whatever they’ve said that I think is useful.

6. Rinse and repeat.

Keep getting feedback and making changes until you’re happy with your book! This can be from beta-readers and critique partners, also sensitivity-readers and editors if you can afford those services. The idea is that with each round of revision, your manuscript should become more refined, and the changes gradually get more and more small-scale (though sometimes a reader will throw a curveball that makes you realise more big edits are needed). This is a long process, and it can be a bit of a slog, but you can work on other projects at the same time, and actually, I think the editing process itself can be fun! It's the satisfaction of polishing a rough-cut gem.

And that’s it! I hope you find these steps helpful in developing your own revision processes. Happy editing!

I don’t sleep. Not anymore.

The city burned the habit out of me a long time ago.

Now, it’s all blurred edges between twilight and dark.

The sun barely touches me anymore, but I gotta wonder if it ever really had.

High up, on the forty-first story balcony of a residential archology, a lone woman leans on the railing, staring out blindly. She’s not anything remarkable, but that’s intentional. An athletic, if somewhat undernourished build blends well in the sprawling blight of Extant.  Her hair hangs loose in long greasy strands too lank to really move with the wind. The glass ashtray at her elbow is overflowing with snuffed out cigarettes and another slowly smoulders ignored between two delicate fingers.  The pillar of ash that hangs off the end doesn’t fall despite the slight tremble in her hands.

Stretched out before her is a panoramic view of Extant in hues of blue, white and gold light. At this distance it’s impossible to see the thousands of people still out scurrying in the underbelly of the city, even at this hour..  The view was the only reason she’d given in to living in one of these sanitized archologies. From this distance she can almost see the beauty the architects had envisioned when they’d built the expansive skyscrapers and web work of streets that strobed with red and white lights.  From up here, she can’t see the slums full of sweat shops and illegal flea markets selling anything from contraband tech to recalled augs.  It is almost, almost, like she’s somewhere else altogether.

There comes a point where you know too many of Extant’s dirty secrets to ever find peace here.

Maybe I’m just jaded.

But I look at these ghost towers the rich have colonized as a buffer from the rest of us—and each other—and laugh. As if this will ever keep their glittering hoards safe. Their dynasties.

They have no clue how precariously they sit upon their thrones. How all it takes is someone like me slipping in to ferret out the right secret.

I could destroy them all—and yet I don’t even know where my next meal is coming from… That is what it is to live in Extant.

And I gotta ask myself, “Magda, is this still worth it?”