Big Picture Revision: Part 2

My Deepening Draft

The second part of my big picture revision process is what I call the “The Deepening Draft.” In this draft you still don’t look at the spelling errors, grammatical mistakes, or punctuation issues, this is the draft where you replace that 35% to 45%  that you took out during the cutting process.

A deepening draft is exactly what is sounds like, its the draft that you add more to your story; and by more, I don’t mean that you add fluff. This is where you add depth, to both your characters and your story. You fill in the plot holes. You move around scenes. You answer any questions that were left unanswered. The deepening draft is where you fill in the small details to make your story come to life. Those details help to make your story more organic and realistic, and to add a cohesion that might not have been there during the original draft.

When I do the deepening draft I try to print my story and write out everything I want to add by hand, but I know that isn’t practical. So, what I would suggest is to add your changes in your word document like normal, but underscore them. Why? So, when you go back and re-read it, you will know where you made changes.

After adding your changes, save it, and walk away from it for a few days or weeks. Again, distance will give you some clarity and will make it easier to see any issues than if you were to read over it an hour later.

So, at this point, you have two options: 1. You can repeat the cutting and deepening process again (in fact, I recommend repeating the process a few times.) And 2. You can look beyond the big picture and move on to editing.

Next week I will give some tips on editing. I really hope that everyone has a happy holiday and great night!