Why I’m Rewriting My Novel (Again)
Fifth time’s a charm.
When I was a sophomore in high school, I wrote what I thought was going to be the next Great American Sci-fi Novel.
I have recently reread my first draft of this book, and, to put it bluntly: no one in their right mind should ever have to read a book that bad.
During my junior year, I decided that the book was terrible, and I needed to rewrite it. So, I did.
That draft wasn’t good, either.
My senior year — you’ll never believe it — I rewrote the book for a third time, cutting out 3/4 of the characters and knocking down the word count from over 156,000 words (in the first draft) to a little more than half of that.
I did nothing with this book until I reread my third draft my freshman year of college, when I realized that — another shocker — it still wasn’t good.
I know what you’re thinking: why didn’t I just give up? Clearly, it isn’t working.
Well, I wanted to give up.
But I had faith in this book, and I had faith in the story itself. I did not want to let it go.
So I didn’t.
I spent my freshman year of college rewriting it for a fourth time, and I was absolutely thrilled when I finished that draft. I loved…
