Post History

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/29921
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/29921
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

I don't know about "deeper questions" in a scene; but I generally reread what I have written, in its entirety, six to twelve times before I am satisfied. Even a 250+ page novel. And that is on top of re-reading and rewriting scenes a few times as I produce them, with an occasional "start from scratch" on a scene.

I do this because by the time I finish a piece of work, I know my characters best, what they are capable of, where they are headed. I don't want the beginning of the work to be inconsistent in the slightest way with the end. If possible, I can add foreshadowing, or early hints of pathologies or decisions to come later; basically I can justify a few character traits or skills I **_now_** know are crucial to the plot turns or final resolution.

But most importantly I can rewrite things that are out of place, delete things that are wordy or over-explained, and I have enough mental distance from the previous visit to this writing, that I can be brutal with myself, or recognize my writing did not actually describe or convey what I was really imagining. (A problem for other writers too; when they read what they were just imagining, their imagination fills in the gaps for them so the writing seems good: But if they come at it 'cold' after a few weeks or months, they can see the words are not doing the job after all).

### "Deeper Questions":

I'd be careful about this, it sounds dangerous. The questions you should answer are those that, if unanswered, could degrade a reader's suspension of disbelief. But those kinds of questions should be pre-emptively answered chapters before the reader would question something in a scene!

The only other kind of question you should answer are those central to the plot or what happens next (or happens later). Delete answers to questions that do not "matter", meaning the answer doesn't ever have a use later in the story. Answers like that are just stuffing to make a story longer, which dilutes action and impact. It is boring.

Do not satisfy your own desire to be thorough, or prove how much you know about some topic: Every time you do that you take a chance of giving readers an excuse to stop turning the pages.

Original score: 2