As I revised my manuscript--strengthening character, plucking out repetitive words, and deleting nonsense--I had the feeling I'd written The Worst Thing Ever Written (TWTEW). But it wasn't TWTEW. How do I know?- Readers--my talented agent and beta readers had caught plot holes and character inconsistencies. They'd questioned the time line and reminded me when an issue became repetitive. Sending our manuscripts to other readers is terrifying (or is that just me?), but it's a must.
- Lessons learned--with each pass, I recognized things I hadn't known about before. We're constantly improving as writers, and as we read and learn and read and learn, we're able to spot nasty little problems and apply those new lessons.
- "Once upon a time" to "The End"--after the revision, I read the story from beginning to end and became excited again. The disjointed parts were in context, and it flowed well. It was no longer TWTEW, it was actually pretty darn...dare I say it...good.
We've all learned that our original drafts are bad, but probably not as bad as we thought. And as we revise and revise and revise, our manuscripts are no longer The Worst Things Ever Written.
Do you ever feel like you've written TWTEW? (you haven't!) How do you remind yourself that it's not?