Resurrecting a story: Rewrite or Edit?
I started a book about 2 years ago, got about halfway through, and then got sidetracked. I know this is a typically bad habit of novelists... Fortunately, the book idea that distracted me made it to the finish line.
Now, I want to return to the first book, but the energy of the book I carried around in my head has disappeared. I have to get to know the characters all over again. I do want to write this story, and I've had a lot of cool ideas over the last 18 months I want to incorporate. Also, I think I'm a better writer now than two years ago.
So my question is, should I start over at page 1 and rewrite the story using my first draft perhaps as a guide but basically rewrite everything, or should I open my chapter files and edit them as needed knowing there will be some massive makeovers?
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1 answer
I wouldn't rewrite it if you don't have to. Perhaps you could start by reading your existing draft and making notes, perhaps in the form of an outline, as you go along. If you didn't leave yourself an outline of the second half before you set it aside, then it might be helpful to make an outline before digging in to writing the second half.
You might even want to experiment with leaving a gap of time between the first half and the second half. It could be rather fun.
Of course, if you find that a rewrite is necessary, that's okay too. But at this stage it might be helpful to crank out some sort of draft of the second half before getting too involved in making improvements to the first half.
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