This picture sums up how I feel right now.
Listen, I don't like change. I frequently rewatch my favorite T.V. shows instead of trying new ones, have had the same favorite restaurant since I was five, and rotate through the same small group of shirts in my closest.
But for some reason in the middle of the night an idea popped into my brain. What if I rewrote my book? The same book I've been working on for 2 years, which has gone through a total of 8 drafts of revision. I know. I know. It sounds crazy. Why rewrite something after I've spent so much time refining it? I had even sent out a few queries in the fall and gotten a full request in PitchWars, so what was the point of completely redoing my manuscript now?
Well, the idea that popped into my brain wasn't just to rewrite my book. It was an idea which completely changed the course of my story. The best comparison I could make would be to spilling out tooth paste. Once it's out you can't put it back. And once I'd discovered this new change to my book, I couldn't undo it. I had to rewrite my book.
So, what'd I change?
Before After
The pictures above are two aesthetics which I made for my book. The left is the one I made before my rewrite and the right is the one I made afterwards. I put them in because, well, I love aesthetics for books. Plus, I think they illustrate some key changes in my book in a fun way.
As you can see, the left is a much warmer picture which focuses a lot more on technology, birds, and the sun. The right has lot more cooler colors and focuses more on animals, mountains, and nature. Before the rewrite my book's world resembled the left aesthetic. It took place in a sunny kingdom filled with bright colorful birds, ancient artifacts, and mysterious technology (which wasn't very well fleshed out).
However, the idea that I had for my rewrite was to take the people of that sunny kingdom, my favorite characters and villains, and trap them behind mountains in a forest filled with monsters. Instead of being a prosperous country which casually Chose a hero every fifty years to protect their kingdom, they became a desperate one trapped in a dangerous land which Chose one with the hopes that they could rescue the country from the mountains' grip.
Not only did this change give my story more stakes and deeper world building, but it completely re-contextualized a lot of my story's character arcs, themes, and world. For example, my main character's BFF went from tagging along with her for no reason to chasing after her using a wolf pack he controls (it's a long story...) Suddenly his arc and purpose took on a whole new meaning in this vastly different world.
Okay, But What Is Rewriting a Book Actually Like?
Hard. And weird. There is a lot of advice out there on writing books. How best to write them and what to expect when writing your first draft. Tips on editing, and refining your manuscript. Then finally on how to query if you want to traditionally publish, or how to self publish in general.There's not really that kind of advice for rewriting your book. At least from what I've seen, and without a guide in this process I had to stumble across a lot of unexpected hiccups and benefits by myself.
The Benefits!
Now, the great thing about rewriting a book is that you already have source material to draw from, whether that be previously developed character arcs, plot points or more. I actually copied an entire fight scene from my original book and only changed a few aspects. Basically you get to keep the best parts of your original book and get rid of the worst parts.
The Problems :(
However, when rewriting my book I can't help but get the eerie feeling that I'm starting over. Not only is my book filled with almost entirely new content, but the actual writing process feels a lot more like writing a new book than editing a draft, meaning that I'm basically writing a third different book even though I'm technically only supposed to be editing my second one.
So, why is this a problem? Well, like I mentioned earlier, it took me two years of editing to get my book to the place where I was ready to query it. During that time I went through numerous rounds of developmental, and line editing along with working critique partners. As a result the idea of having to completely redo all of that work is very frustrating! It also brings up a lot of weird questions, how much developmental/line editing do I need? What about critique partners? After all, I had several read my previous drafts before my rewrite, do I really need that many to read it over again?
Is There Hope?
Ultimately, this rewrite has gotten me to be much more passionate about a story which I was previously beginning to lose interest in. Plus, I do feel like the rewrite has genuinely improved my book a lot, even if it does take extra work.
If you're considering rewriting your book, I'd recommend reflecting on the points I wrote about earlier. Rewriting is a lot of work and it may require you having to completely restart your book. However, it can also tremendously improve your work, so do whatever works for you and most importantly have fun writing!
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