I Revised - Now What?

I finished the first revision a few days ago, and I don't think it's done. Clearly, the book isn't done, but I don't think the first revision is really done.

I tackled the big things that jumped out at me in the reading, so I do have a 2nd draft.

I once heard someone on the publishing end say not to send an editor anything earlier than a 5th draft, preferably 6th or 7th. Most online information I've seen says "three". I'm thinking that a lot of the "3 draft" people must combine revisions.

My second draft is ready for me to go through it for more big stuff. I'm not sure about the storyline. The story is told in the order everything happens, but I think the secondary plot might be better split up and told at various times instead of as it happened in the timeline of the primary plot.

For my second draft, then, I plan to go to the corkboard (in Scrivener) and play around with the order. See what sticks best. After I get that where I like it, I'll go in again and make sure it reads smoothly in the new order.

I think after 3 or 4 drafts, I'll be looking into beta-readers.

This is a work in progress - this "figuring out how to do this" - so I'll keep documenting each step as I go. That's what this blog is for!

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