Welcome to the Celebrate Africa Awards 2021
The Ambassadors Africa team invite you to join us as we celebrate the unique culture and voices of Africa brought to life through storytelling. We welcome our African brothers and sisters to share their st...
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Acclaimed author, Neil Gaiman, has said 'The process of doing your second draft is the process of making it look like you knew what you were doing all along.'
Writing a great story has many stages. You can think of it as a several story building. The first floor represents your first draft, the second is the first revision, and so on until you reach the top floor. Some writers may have three floors. Some seven. Some ten. And every level is critical to crafting a great story. In that spirit, we will do this in levels, narrowing it down to four to get you started.
Level 1 - Take a break. Writing a novel is an emotional experience, so chances are you'll be ready for one after completing that first draft. If you begin your editing process when you're still wrapped up in the emotional release of finishing your story, then you will lose objectivity. Leaving your manuscript to sit for a while (the rule of thumb for many writers and editors is 2 weeks) will give you time to regroup and get some perspective on the project. An editor must be objective and even a little cold-hearted to kill all those little darlings.
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Level 2 - The first pass. This is when you make sure the novel is actually finished. As you read, take note of things that must be added or corrected for the story to make sense. You'll want to fix inconsistencies in the plot, as well as the characters and their world. This is not where you add that new subplot idea you had. In fact, try not to add anything that isn't critical for the reader to understand what is already on the page. Why? If the story makes sense as is, then adding extras is only padding the story with details that will likely drag down the pacing (unless you are short on word count and are looking for places to add a few). Of course, be sure anything you add forwards the plot.
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