Writer advice

[Lynna]

So...I love writing. And I'm in the middle of re-writing a half-writen story of mine. I would like some advice on it.
When re-writing a story, should you re-write every word,or just the parts that need re-writing? (I am making sugnificant changes to the plot, by the way)

[goldenspines]

From my limited writing experience, unless your significant changes to the plot affect the whole structure of your story, you only need to rewrite the parts you're changing. But if you're changing so much that nothing will really tie together anymore, then it would be best to rewrite the whole thing.
Best of luck. ^_^

[Tsukuyomi]

I don't think you'll have to change every single word.. Unless you really want to ^__^

Maybe instead of changing every word, maybe add on to them or use different forms of the word ^^?

[Lynna]

I'm not trying to change every word, I'm just...
well, you see, the problem with my story was that there wasn't enough "glue" sticking my story together. There wasn't enough conflict driving the characters forward, so I added in a new character and more conflicting problems. So...allot has changed, I guess, probably enough to re-write at least the most of my story

[LadyRushia]

Every time I rewrite something, I always start from scratch. What tends to happen is that you cut out a lot of words, which makes everything flow more smoothly. If so much has changed in the plot, then there's almost no choice but to rewrite. Cutting and adding characters tends to restructure everything.

[Esoteric]

There's no right or wrong answer, basically whichever works best for you. Some people like to start fresh, some like to edit the snot out of what they've got, repeatedly. Use whichever approach that's going to help you finish.

[TGJesusfreak]

The best way for me to do it is I'll get my general idea make sure I know what the goal is for that section, then I'll write draft 1, read it, adjust it, reread it, adjust it. So 3rd time seems to be the charm. However if I changed a large part of the plot. I would look over what you were planning and ask this: Does this contradict or flow with my main plot idea.

Hope that helps

[Wikiwalker]

I like to write short summaries of my scenes on index cards so that I can see how things play out in the long run. Then it's easy to rearrange the cards until you think the order is right, and remove the ones that no longer fit. Then I like to rewrite some scenes from scratch and leave in the ones that still work.

I don't know if that would work for you, but it works pretty well for me.

[Twila27]

I also adhere to coming up with the new scenes on index cards, arranging them in order, and then if I have to revise I'll make a new index card for the scene's re-write. It helps smooth out transitions when I try to fit it into my overall plotline. ^^

Good luck~! X3

[Lynna]

Thank you minna! I really apreciate it

(Minna="everyone" in Japanese. It's just a habit of mine)

[Wikiwalker]

You're welcome ^-^