When that happens, re writing, it’s useful to start over. Not completely over; but to do what writers call a ‘rolling rewrite’, going back to the start the book and editing forward in rapid motion.
So the page count has started over, and will follow the re-write.
Don’t panic: this is ordinary.
so we should see the graph progress quite quickly, in fact?
Quick like a bunny. I’ve been messing around trying to make the threads make sense after the interruption of a convention—happens a lot—and there’s nothing for it: rolling rewrite is the quick way to gather up the reins again.
I’m glad you made this post as the first thing I ever check when I come to the website is to see the progress bar and today I almost whimpered when I saw the roll back..
Echoing Apf. My first reaction was “What? Ooohh nooo!” Thought you had some lost the *whole thing*. Many thanks for the explanation. 😉
I only do a rolling reread to catch myself up. Since I’m a newer writer, if I went back and rewrote passages and edited every time I improved, the manuscript would soon turn into Odysseus’s death shroud and never be finished. So as much as I’m tempted, I have had refrain from this till the first draft is completed. I do fix continuity issues and expand scenes, but am leaving the other editing till the very end or second full draft.
Though in the future, this may be a useful way to do things.
It’s good to know the rewrite’s progressing quickly. It’s even better to know you didn’t have to start from scratch, either because of a computer problem or because you *really* didn’t like how a draft was going. I’ve seen when amateur writers (me, others) toss out a draft because the story was not taking shape or some major thing made a redo necessary. I would presume even pro authors with many stories under their belt might do that, early in a first rough draft, but I would think that would not often happen, after much experience at writing. What *does* really happen, if you find a story idea isn’t jelling? Or does it have to percolate a while before you begin the draft, so that you avoid such messes?
Good luck! I love to see how you do this work.
I’m in the midst of rewriting a much older project. Several books worth — stipped down to outline format and the plots reworked. When I get to the point where I rewrite them, the prose will be better than the originals. It has to be. Those books were really poorly written. It’s amazing what I’ve learned in the last decade, and what I still learn.
I decided to go with this series because I had a choice to either completely abandon it or completely rewrite it. I like the characters. And I figured, if nothing else, I would learn something from it.
I’m up to outline #5 with far too many left to go, and I’m not sure at what point I’ll start the actual writing process. Probably when I can’t bare to look at another outline. (grin)
I didn’t know there was a term for that. I do it all the time — it’s the only way for me to get back into the story if I’ve been away for more than 2 days. It does mean the beginning is way more polished than the end by the time I send out first drafts to people… which I did for the latest story today! Woo hoo! Now I get to gnaw my fingernails while waiting for critiques to come back.
Zette: I have a book I started 20 (yes 20) years ago that I rewrote 6 times in the first ten years, and haven’t been able to look at for the past ten years. I started recasting it as a comic book, which made it fun again. Maybe I’ll make a web comic out of it…