After the first draft ends

It has been said that the only certainty in life is change. Caterpillars become butterflies. Students become unemployed. Cows become steak. Change.

The one thing that has seemed to stand alone in defiance against the tide of change is my first draft. It shames me to say that it has been twenty one months and six days since I typed 'The End' on my first draft. In that time I can tell you exactly how much it has changed: not one single word. Not one single letter. Not even a full stop added or taken away.

First of all I'd read that you should get some distance after writing the first draft, so you can see it more critically when you go back to revise. Then, after a month had passed, I returned to the draft and cast my critical eye over it. I circled it for a bit, poking it with a stick to see what would happen. I printed it out, red pen at the ready. After a few pages of red lines and professional looking scribbles, I put the pen down and wondered what the hell I was doing.

Struggling to work out my next step, I found a few willing volunteers and let them have a look at the rough draft. The response was positive, better than I had expected. They let know what worked, and more importantly, what didn't work.

So what did I do with all that good advice? Nothing.

Knowing I had to something, I started reading as many writing books as I could get my hands on. In particular, I felt that the structure and plot needed tightening up, and I read some excellent books on the subject. 'Structuring Your Novel' by +K.M. Weiland and 'Plot And Structure' by +James Scott Bell have both been invaluable in helping me understand a bit more about making a tight well-structured story, whilst 'Nail Your Novel' by +Roz Morris is a book I will return to time and again, all books I would recommend to other aspiring authors without hesitation. I worked on deep character profiles and transcribing my story onto index cards along with many other exercises, all of which were helpful. Yet still the first draft lay there, staring at me in an accusing fashion.

So it was that earlier this week, I came to the end of yet another writing book and started looking for yet another one to read. It was then it struck me, that I've read enough books to do what I need to do, so why wasn't I getting on with it and actually revising this damned book? I realised that reading all these writing books had become a way of me feeling like I was writing without actually having to put my butt in the seat and put pen to paper. I have no doubt I will read many more books on the craft on writing, and I will doubtlessly go on learning more each time, but if I wait until I've read every single one before I carry on with the redrafting, then the story will never progress. And progress is essential.

So no more waiting. No more paralysis through analysis. I'm going to finish up this blog post, and I'm going to go straight out to buy a tub of Ben & Jerry's ice cream. Then, I'm going to come back and I'm going to work out exactly what scenes need to be written to complete the novel, and I'm going to actually write them. It's time for change.