![]() This is a cognitive bias where you unconsciously assume that the reader has the same knowledge or background information about you do. ![]() One of the main reasons is because you have the curse of knowledge. Seeing these story-level problems in your own draft can be difficult. You don’t want to work through the sentence-level corrections when those sentences might not stay. That’s why editing always comes before proofreading. In the process, she might need to undergo some significant changes. In fact, most of these issues will demand that you revisit your protagonist. A character might need to come out of the story or a new one should be added in. To fix these issues, you might need to remove a whole chapter or restructure a series of events. Details that seemed significant but didn’t pay off.A protagonist who didn’t actively drive the story - things kept happening to her.Some common problems I’ve seen in manuscripts recently include: So when it comes to editing, you should shore up the plotholes before you worry about commas. First drafts often contain story-level issues because no matter how carefully you planned your story before writing it, it’s hard to nail a narrative on the first try. But a quick polish and spellcheck are not enough to transform a piece from a first draft to a final. Edit the story before the sentencesĪ common misconception is that editing just happens at the sentence level. Because no matter how strong of a writer you are, your first draft is still far from the end of its journey. The exercise gives you much-needed perspective to determine if your story took a wrong turn or is running into a dead-end you can also better determine what you need to do to get back on the road. Oh, and also, you have to find a way to get back home.Ĭreating an outline after you write a draft is like retracing your route on a map. The new route could be better than the original plan, but the only way to know is to stop and look back on the journey. ![]() Almost every writer says that somewhere along the way, their characters took the wheel and sent the story in a different direction. As you trace your finger along the roads you highlighted before you left, it becomes clear where you deviated and where you should have turned to get back.įinishing the first draft of your novel is often like this. When you finally get to your destination, you get out your map. You kept going west you’d get to the other side eventually, but you knew you were taking a different route. You set out with a plan, and you knew exactly where you were going.Īnd yet, somewhere along the way, you took an unexpected turn. In fact, you mapped it out very carefully so you could stop in a number of places along the way - national parks, historical points of interest, and the world’s biggest ball of yarn. ![]() You wanted to drive from one side of the country to the other, so you mapped out your route. ![]()
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