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Wednesday 25 February 2015

Beyond first draft: Richard Buxton's Top Tips for Redrafting

Please welcome writer Richard Buxton back on the blog today ... he's generously come along to share his 5 top tips for redrafting. The Indoor Writer is applying all of these to her novel (now in third draft), but some of these apply to any form of fiction.



Richard Buxton is studying for an M.A. is Creative Writing at Chichester University. He has recently completed a novel set in the American Civil War and also writes historical, contemporary and experimental short stories. He dabbles in poetry but really shouldn’t. He is a member of the West Sussex Writers and lives in Worthing.
Check out Richard's website
Twitter:  @richardbuxton65

1 - Start with a reduction draft
Chances are you’re going to work through many drafts, each concentrating on a different aspect: plot, character, drama. I’d recommend you start with a draft where you look to reduce the word count. You can nip out sentences, paragraphs and sometimes whole scenes that you won’t have to sweat over later.  If you have thoughts on character or plot, put them in a log for later drafts.
2 - Get someone to read it
But don’t, while drunk on the euphoria of finishing the first draft, send it out to all your friends and relations. I guarantee you’ll regret it. There are only two possible outcomes. Either they shower you with praise – this is actually useless in terms of developing the book – or they’ll say something that you’ll want to punch them for every time you see them. It has to be someone who understands writing. Above all, someone who’s opinion you respect, but who won’t be bringing up your plot flaws down the pub or over Christmas dinner. But remember, it’s your baby; no one else’s.
3 - Handling of time
How is time handled in your novel? A strong, forward moving narrative is often best supported by the simplest handling of time. Has your character had to dip into their childhood more times than you are comfortable with? Do you beautifully paint a place and time at the beginning of a chapter only to go into flashback from the second paragraph? Could a flashback be softened to a simpler memory? Does the reader need to know all this, or are you really writing character notes to yourself?
4 - Visualise your plot
Get an A1 pad, or better yet a whiteboard, and draw time along the vertical axis. Then sketch in your plot as it’s presented in the book.  Put in the key events as milestones, draw arcs for the main story line and the sub-plots. Then stand back and see what you’ve created. Are there sufficient subplots and payoffs to keep a reader happy? Is there a satisfactory convergence of plot lines towards the climax? Maybe one plot line doesn’t sufficiently relate to the others. Do you need it?
5 - Be precise about emotion
It’s really easy to write a good, well-choreographed, visual scene without ever having asked yourself what are the emotions in play. Identify the emotional highpoint of the scene. Have you built up to this? Do your characters' emotions change or intensify? Often, just by getting the emotions clear you’ll draw out the drama.


All good tips. Thank you, Richard!

(Now as I'm currently reading the finished version of Richard's novel I'm a little nervous about his right hook ...)


16 comments:

  1. Excellent advice. I particularly like numbers 3 and 4 and will endeavour to follow Richard's advice.

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    1. I've found all his advice & support incredibly helpful, Lindsay. It's good to hear tips from a writer who's been through this stage.

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    2. Thanks Lindsay and Tracy. And thanks Tracy for the invite. I enjoyed writing about it. Very cathartic.

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  2. A really good post, Tracy, with excellent advice from Richard. Thank you both. I like the idea of mapping it all out on an A1 sheet of paper and being able to see key events, story arcs, plot lines etc.

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    1. It does help, Jan. But my sheet usually ends up looking like a map of the underground!

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  3. Hi Jan,
    Thanks for the comment. It's amazing how much new thinking is forced out if you make your plot visual. And while it will no doubt throw up questions, it can also be quite reassuring.

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  4. I have recently cut 20,000 words from my novel. As I had over a 100.000 words I knew some serious deleting needed to happen. I feel my book is stronger for it. Thanks for the good tips.

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    1. Thanks Angela. Sounds like a strong position to be in.Good luck with it.

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    2. Good progress, Angela. I need to cut about 10K words from my novel, but I find I cut 20 and add 10!

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  5. That's a great list of tips and I wish I'd had them from the beginning! Thanks, Richard.

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  6. I read all this good advice, Richard, and know I should be doing all these things but then I fire up the computer and just write. Tracy knows I'll probably never change. Which is why you will produce a beautifully crafted novel and mine will look like a ball of wool the cats have been playing with!

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    1. Ah yes, but then I know your first draft looks like most people's final, Wendy! But come back to Richard's tips when you've typed THE END of that novel ...

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    2. Also Wendy, I think you often need to start with a ball of string. The uniqueness and intrigue of any given story doesn't benefit from a highly systematic first draft.

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  7. Cutting out things which aren't really needed at an early stage is very sensible. It's easier to do when the section looks a mess than when we've spent time tidying it up.

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    1. I agree Patsy. And painful though it might be to cut something, it's a lot easier than after the 5th draft!

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