How to Write the Second Draft


What happens after the first draft?

I didn’t know there was supposed to be a second draft when I began my first novel as a wee seventh-grader. I thought you write the story, tweak it for grammar, send it off to the publisher, and become a bestseller. Simple.

The first draft is just the beginning. The real writing comes with revisions. The problem is, how on earth do you do that?

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The 5 Stages of Rejection

The 5 Stages of Rejection | Sarah Biren Writes

The 5 Stages of Rejection | Sarah Biren Writes

That’s a great motivational quote. Except it’s a lot easier to share it on social media than to internalize its meaning.

Rejection is a horrible experience, especially in the publishing business. To authors, their books are practically their children. For years, they brainstormed, wrote, revised, worried, cried, nearly chucked the drafts into the trash, and finally—finally!—felt confident to send it off to the world. Yet the world sends it back. It stings, especially for new writers entering the publishing game with big dreams and thin skin.

Frankly, after a rejection of my own, I’m not the mood to preach why rejection is a good thing and why writers should embrace it as a way of life. This post exists to validate the emotions of a publisher’s rejection. Like therapy, except free and more entertaining.

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Pep Talk: Write Garbage

Pep Talk: Write Garbage | Sarah Biren Writes



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Why You Need a Book Bible For Your Novel

Why You Need a Book Bible For Your Novel

Bible or codex, call it what you want. You need somewhere to store all of the scribbles for your novel. I call mine an almanac.

It’s very easy to lose papers in a shuffle. You can have a great idea for a scene, quickly write it on a napkin, and then someone throws it away. Now, what was that great idea again? It’s gone forever.

Or you could have a sketch of your villain or a list of his descriptions, and when you are writing his scene, you forget what color eyes he had. Were they blue or grey? Wait, you wrote that down somewhere… but that paper is nowhere to be found. Now you have to read through the entire manuscript to see if you mentioned his eyes or just write it whichever way to edit it later.

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