One of the questions I see a lot (especially from writers coming out of NaNoWriMo) is how to write a second draft. I can’t answer this for everyone, because everyone has their own process which works for them. I can tell you about my process, and the process I recommend to clients.

1. Take a break.
2. Figure out where your first draft can be improved.
3. Read your first draft.
4. Start revising!

Seems pretty simple, right? Let’s break this down a little more. 

Step 1: Take a Break

You have just finished writing the first draft of your novel, and you are so pumped! It’s time to jump into the revision process, right?

Wrong.

First, take a few days to congratulate yourself. Eat some ice-cream. Tell your mom. Blast it out on social media. Celebrate. You’ve just done something amazing.

At the end of the day, finishing a novel is a very different mindset than editing one, and if you don’t take a moment to savor it, you might just regret it later. The truth is that you’ve just accomplished something amazing, but that’s really only the tip of the iceberg. You’ve still got a long way to go.

Take a few days, a week, a month, however long works for you, and do something else with your writing time. Try a new sport. Go on a walk. Write a completely different book (that’s my approach, right there). Whatever you’re doing, just make sure you’re not thinking about that beautiful thing you just finished writing. 

Why?

I’m so glad you asked.

As the book sits in your mind, the recency of writing the last half of your book will fade. You’ll start to remember the most important moments, and the little stuff that didn’t matter will be replaced by the essential plot beats. This is what you’ve been waiting for.

Step 2: Figure out where your first draft can be improved

You’ve just taken a break from your book, and you’re itching to go back and read it. Should you? Not quite yet. First, it’s time to do some book analysis.

You might be saying, “but I’m a writer, not a student in English class. Why should I have to analyze my own book? I wrote the thing. I know what’s in it!”

Do you really, though? Can you boil your book down to its most important points and connect them with a cohesive theme? This is the goal of this second step. In order to figure out what your next draft should focus on, you need to know exactly what your story should look like. To figure that out, I use this handy-dandy Revision Map.

Feel free to use it, too. Or, if a blank journal page or word processor screen works, go ahead and do that, too. At the end of the day, this is a tool, right? Use what works for you.

Here’s what I do. I start with the very beginning and (still from memory) figure out why the readers want to read my book. What in the first few moments of the book stand out? What is my hook to draw people in?

Honestly, I’m a pantser when I write. I fly by the seat of my pants, and I don’t look back. I have no idea what’s in that first chapter, or what my hook is, or any of it. That’s just fine. Actually, that’s kind of the point. I don’t know what my hook is, which means I need to figure out what a good hook would look like. I jot down a few ideas of what sort of hook would draw a reader into this book I just finished, and then move on to the next point. 

What starts the action? Where does the plot actually begin? This is the inciting incident, and it’s got a big job. The Hook got my reader’s attention, but the Inciting Incident makes it so they can’t put the book down. What scene did I write in the 1st draft that serves that purpose? Write it down.

What is the first big plot point after the Inciting Incident? Where does the Main Character decide that they are actually invested in this fight? Once I figure out where this moment is, I write it down.

What is the middle of the book? If I had to pick (still from memory) a big event that marks the middle, what would I choose? Where does the Main Character learn a big lesson that will help them defeat the bad guy in the end? I figure it out, and write that down, too.

What about my Dark Night of the Soul? Where does the main character lose all hope? Where does the bad guy win, and the main character reach their lowest point in the story? I figure it out and write it down.

Finally, what scene functions as my Climax? Where does the main character overcome the bad guy’s perceived victory in the Dark Night of the Soul, and finally find victory?

Now I’ve got a list of scenes. This is all from memory, so it’s probably a little more idyllic than what actually exists on the page, but I’ve got a starting point. Now it’s time to look at that list of scenes and figure out how they can be improved.

The biggest thing here is to see whether all these plot points connect. Does the Midpoint follow logically from the Inciting Incident? Does the Dark Night of the Soul happen because of something that occurred in the Midpoint? Is the Climax inherently connected to the Dark Night of the Soul? Does the Inciting Incident foreshadow the Dark Night of the Soul and the Climax? All of these things should be linked. If you can’t link them on a plot level because they don’t follow logically, then you’ve got a plot hole somewhere. If you can’t link them on a characteral level, with the main character learning things as they progress through this list of scenes, then you’ve probably got a theme issue. The important thing is to identify these issues so you can fix them later.

Disclaimer: these are not the only plot points you can put down. There are more detailed plot lists out there, and you can absolutely use those instead of the ones I’ve provided. These are just the ones that work for me.

Step 3: Read Your First Draft

You’ve got your map of scenes. You’ve got a pretty good idea of where some of the issues are. You’ve done some serious analysis of all the important parts in your story, and you’re ready to get going on fixing them. The problem? You’ve never even read through your first draft!

Well, now’s the time to fix that. Open that novel up and get to work. Was your memory of these scenes correct? Are there scenes that better fit in some of the plot point slots? Are there scenes you completely forgot about? Are there scenes that seemed better in memory? Take note of all these things while you read. (I mean it. Write these notes down. You might think you’ll remember later, but you definitely won’t.)

When you finish reading your first draft, you’re liable to have some feelings about it. Some scenes are going to be even more brilliant than you remember. Some scenes are going to be so much worse. Some things will surprise you, and you’ll look back on other things with a wince. That’s alright! It’s a mixed bag, and that’s actually wonderful. Take those feelings and use them to revise that wonderful little plot sheet you made earlier. Were you right about where the inciting incident was? Did you actually have a decent hook in that first scene that you subsequently forgot about? Does your Dark Night of the Soul resemble a papercut instead of a world-crushing moment of despair? Write it all down.

Now, take a look at the paper. What can you do to fix the plot holes? Which scenes need punched up, and which scenes need punched down? What scenes are so tangential to everything that they just need to go away? What changes can you make to keep your theme on track? What characters provide no help whatsoever to the plot or character development of important characters? What concrete changes can you make to this story? 

Can you guess what I’m going to say next?

Yup.

Write it all down.

At this point, your plot sheet probably looks a little gross, with comments scribbled in the margins, and scene names crossed out, rewritten, and crossed out again. There are probably some eraser scrub-marks from where you decided it was safer to do this in pencil rather than in pen, and your sheet probably got crumpled around the edges from where you only just barely avoided balling it up and throwing it in a recycling bin. Really, what did you expect? This is your entire first draft stuffed onto one measly little sheet of paper. 

The point is, it’s time to re-write this entire sheet so that it looks pristine. Transfer all your actionable comments onto a new sheet of paper. This is your new revision guide. Congratulations. You are ready to start writing.

Step 4: Start Revising!

There are lots of ways to do this step. I’ve dabbled in them all. Sometimes you want a nice, white, clean slate so you can wrangle all those plot points into shape. Sometimes you want a white page, but have your first draft pulled up in the next window over so you remember where you’re going. Sometimes, you retype the first draft and make changes as you go along. Sometimes, you open up that original file and go after it with a butcher’s knife. Just do whatever you’re feeling at the moment. You can always decide to change your style halfway through. The important part is that you whip your story into shape.

As you’re going along, you might realize that some of your revision strategies don’t work quite as well as you thought they would on paper. That’s fine, too. Sometimes we all need to go back to the drawing board. The important thing is that you now have a good idea of what you want your story to look like. Eventually, you’ll get there. Just keep going!

Anyway, I hope this post on my revision process helps. Feel free to leave your questions in the comments. Happy revising!