No one produces a perfectly polished novel in one draft. Everyone starts out writing rough first drafts, but the ability to revise those drafts is what separates successful authors from struggling authors.

Every author knows that good writing requires rewriting, but there is a big difference between making changes and making improvements. Rewriting only improves your rough draft if you know what to look for. 

The term “revision” means “to look at again.” So, how do you know what to look for? How do you know what needs to be rewritten, revised, reworked, or even rejected? 

Angela Hunt has mastered the art of revision. She’s the author of 165 books in various genres and has sold over 5,000,000 copies worldwide. It’s safe to say Angela has transformed hundreds of manuscripts into masterpieces through her revision process.

Did I write a masterpiece or a monstrosity? 

Thomas: When we finish a manuscript, we initially feel like it’s a masterpiece. But after we sleep on it, give it a few weeks, and start the edit, we start to believe there’s nothing salvageable in that draft.

But neither extreme evaluation is accurate.

Angela: At this point in my career, I never think that my first draft is a masterpiece. Never. In fact, it usually seems like gobbledygook; but at least with one draft written, I have something to work with.

I don’t really know what my story’s about until I’ve finished a first draft. After I finish the first draft, I’ll have a vague idea about where my story is going.

In writing, the more you know, the more you know you don’t know; and the worse your manuscript seems. Regardless, I’m always grateful to have completed the draft so that I can start operating on it.

How do you keep from getting discouraged?

Thomas: Many authors finish their manuscript, realize it’s not a masterpiece, and start to feel hopeless. They wonder if they should give up on being a writer.

What do you do when you see a bunch of problems in your manuscript?

Angela: If you’ve finished a first draft, pat yourself on the back. Many people say, “I’ve always wanted to write a book,” but few of them do. If you complete a first draft, you deserve congratulations because that’s hard.

I always use the analogy of birthing a baby, which I’ve never done; but I hear it’s hard work. Women huff and puff, sweat and cry, and groan and moan; but when they’re done, they have a baby. It’s messy. But the baby is born, and that is cause for celebration.

Don’t be discouraged when you look at your pile of words on the computer or paper. You have accomplished what most people only talk about. You have created a first draft. There’s always tomorrow to start revising to make it something you can be pleased with.

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Angela Hunt’s Five Steps of Revision

Angela: I go through a five-draft process. Sometimes it’s six drafts, depending on how much work needs to be done.

Step 1: Create the Rough Draft

Rough drafts are tough. I’m writing one now; and when my husband asked how it was going, I answered, “I don’t know what I’m doing. I just fling words onto the computer and hope I’m going in the right direction.”

It’s that bad, and I’m a plotter!

Thomas: You’re a plotter who’s written 150 books and sold 5,000,000 copies, so are you saying it doesn’t get better?

Angela: No. It gets harder! The bigger your vision for a book, the harder it is to encapsulate.

My goal for the first draft is to get the story down on paper. Once it’s created, I can clean it up and work with it. My number-one mantra in the first draft is “Do not stop.” You get momentum in your writing zone. I don’t break my momentum to look something up. That is for the second draft.

Instead, when I’m writing my first draft, I’ll write, “She went down [find the name of the street she would have gone down] street,” and I keep writing. I might write, “He took her to the temple of [figure out what temple was at this location].”

Step 2: Filling in the Blanks

Draft two is about filling in the gaps and blanks.

As I’m writing the first draft, ideas will occur to me; but I never stop writing during the first draft. I never go back to edit or fill in anything.

I write in Scrivener. On the right side of the screen, there’s a lovely place where you can jot notes. If I think of a detail I need to add to my story in the second draft, I will make a note of it on the side of my screen.

I might make a note that says, “Incorporate a spiritual element here,” and I will do that on my second draft.

My second draft is all about filling in the gaps, deepening the story, adding characters I’ve discovered, deleting redundant characters, or combining characters.

Readers get daunted if you use too many character names for them to remember at once.

Draft two is still very writing oriented. The editorial part of your brain is different from the creative part, so I stick to using one part at a time. In the first two drafts, I concentrate on writing.

I can finish a 100,000-word book in five months, which allows me one month for each draft. I never work on Saturdays, and I rarely work on Sundays. That means I’m writing five days a week.

Thomas: You’re writing 100,000 words in one month by focusing on writing instead of writing and editing at the same time. You simply don’t go back and edit while you’re in writing mode. Many people think that’s impossible, but you’ve done it dozens of times.

People who have been working on their books for years are constantly going back to fiddle with things, and it’s unproductive.

Angela’s process is productive and reproducible. I’ve noticed that prolific authors have a regimented process. They know what they’re doing in each draft, and they know what to worry about later.

You’re not messing with commas or passive voice in the second draft. You’re just adding things that you forgot the first time.

Angela: My first draft will only be about 50,000 words. It’s bare bones. I am slapping that stuff into the computer off the top of my head. I don’t stop to research.

However, before I start writing, I do about a week of big-picture research.

For instance, my current book is set in ancient Rome. I’ve written several books set in that period, but not in the city of Rome itself. I’ve been focusing on the great fire of Rome, which happened in AD 64; and I’ve had to resist the temptation to make the book about the fire. It’s such an important event; but in my story, it’s just the inciting incident.

In the second draft, I’ll search my document for the brackets I inserted in the first draft; and then I’ll fill in those gaps. During the second draft, I’m still in creative mode and continue to flesh out the story.

By the time the second draft is done, I’ll have added words. If my first draft was 50,000 words, the second draft may well be 65,000. But I’m still not done, and I’m still not sweating it. I still don’t think it’s irredeemable. I know it’s a whole lot better, and I’m making progress.

Thomas: Stephen King very famously believes that the second draft should equal the first draft minus 10%. But in your method, the second draft is the first draft plus 15%, roughly, because you’re adding details in that second draft process.

Those brackets can save you a lot of time because once you get into Google research mode or get lost in Wikipedia, you may not return to the writing world that day.

Angela: When you start your research, you don’t know what details you’ll need. Some fiction writers make details up, but I don’t dare do that because there are so many Roman experts out there. I am going to take the time to get those details right. But I didn’t know which details I would need when I was in my research mode.

The second draft has all the bones of the plot skeleton, and I review it to see if anything is missing.

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Sometimes when I hit a wall and the story’s just not hanging together, I’ll discover there’s a bone missing. Maybe there’s an element in the plot that’s completely missing, or perhaps I named the wrong event the wrong thing. This is where I go back and make those adjustments.

Between each draft, I take at least two days for what I call “triage.” Sol Stein says that in medical triage, you fix what’s bleeding or whatever is most urgent. The same applies here. I search the draft I’ve just finishe