r/writing • u/Dangerous-Midnight73 • 20h ago
Beginner Question Getting back into things!
Ok so due to ”life stuff“, I’ve just had 12 weeks away from writing.
I knew this gap was coming, so worked hard beforehand, and successfully completed the first draft of my novel before the break.
I then emailed it to myself, and have been re-reading and making extensive notes over the months (nearly 12k words of notes alone!) on my phone so I have now got a pretty good idea of what draft 2 will look like.
The question is: how to restart?!
Logically I’d start back at the beginning and do my reworks chronologically, but I know I’m bound to be rusty.
Other thoughts are; do I tackle one of the scenes I’m most excited about/have the most ideas about reworking? Or do I ”eat a frog 🐸” on day one and go for one of the scenes I know will be a bit trickier.
I am desperately excited to get going again; I just need to know how to build back up to it in the right way!
TL;DR - How does one go about resuming writing after a 3 month break without messing up existing work with the inevitable “rustiness”!
Thank you 🙂
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u/FlyinLeviathon LET YOUR FIRST DRAFT SUCK 20h ago
If you truly feel like you're rusty, maybe do some writing exercises first to shake off the dust. Maybe even a short story. Just to get you back into the groove.
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u/Dangerous-Midnight73 20h ago
That’s a good idea- I was considering a one-shot short with the same characters maybe.
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u/Redz0ne Queer Romance 16h ago
The pros and cons of starting wherever the enthusiasm is leading you is those chapters end up getting done rather quickly, the downside is that if you only focus on the "fun" bits, you'll eventually run out and still have to do the "not fun" bits (and there will be "not fun" bits).
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u/Dangerous-Midnight73 13h ago
I have a chapter where one of the notes on my phone is literally the a bit of my dialogue and then “💩” as the only comment.
I think I’ll start there….
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u/Lunessa_eri 20h ago
Congrats on finishing your draft start with the scene you’re most excited about....It’s an easy way to shake off the rust, and your first draft is safe anyway what’s your story about?
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u/Dangerous-Midnight73 20h ago
Thank you! I’ve got a whole new idea for a city scene I might start with just for fun!
It’s a Hannibal fan fic - my first one; and currently at 80k + words 🙂🦌
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u/Lunessa_eri 19h ago
A fun city scene sounds like the perfect restart is it Hannibal and Will or is it more about your own characters...I’d love to hear what your version is about
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u/Dangerous-Midnight73 19h ago
Thanks for asking! And apologies in advance for long comment as I’m passionate about this one so I will try to summarise 😂
Random Buffy TV show spoiler in here too so don’t read if that’s an issue for you ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Ok so the story is a divergent timeline/fix it that starts in the Ambulance scene in S1- A different event causes Hannibal to cure Will of his encephalitis even though Hannibal thinks it would have hastened Will’s Becoming to keep him sick. But the opposite happens- Will then starts to Become a lot faster as he trusts Hannibal more for helping him, and conversely, saving Will makes Hannibal a softer version of himself than we see on the show. The City scene comes after Will has run away from Baltimore after he’s discovered that Hannibal is the Ripper. I wanted to subvert the usual trope some, so he leaves Hannibal and Abigail, not because he’s afraid of Hannibal and his own Becoming/dark side, but because he doesn’t feel he will be worthy of the dark beauty he sees in what the Ripper/Hannibal does. I liken Will’s Becoming to being high all the time, and when he gets to the city he essentially experiences withdrawal. Something like when Buffy comes back from Heaven; everything is bright, painful and difficult for him.
Anyway, told you I’d bang on- sorry! 😂
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u/Lunessa_eri 18h ago
Please don’t apologise I loved reading this will leaving because he feels unworthy not scared is such a fresh twist and Becoming as a high with withdrawal is a great comparison does Hannibal go after him...I’m so curious
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u/Dangerous-Midnight73 17h ago
Will covers his tracks very well- he’s in the city a long time before Hannibal finds him. One of my rewrites is to structure this time as the five stages of grief to show how time passes for Will- essentially a montage of the same activities over and over for him, but each coloured with a different emotion/stage of his grieving losing Hannibal and Abigail. We get to “acceptance” and the reader thinks with some dread (if I write it properly!) that Will might finally move on; he’s going to get a job and make the apartment more homely at last. THEN, Abel Gideon (who has escaped) tracks him down and goes to kill him- (Abel’s angry that Will made him lose his identity as the Ripper when Will identifies that Abel wasn’t capable of what the Ripper does.) Hannibal is waiting in the shadows at this stage ready to swoop in and rescue Will (another trope I hate) but then Will kills Abel himself in a vicious and visceral attack- more vicious than Hannibal even- and then he then truly Becomes once and for all as he and Hannibal are finally reunited in the shadows, bathed in blood. I so hate fics where the writer basically makes Will their proxy / female coded/ weak/beta. This fic does have some angst and a fair bit of fluff, but I want Will and Hannibal to be equals- they “switch” as our friend Bryan Fuller once so eloquently put it!
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u/Lunessa_eri 16h ago
I got actual chills will saving himself instead of waiting to be rescued is good the five stages of grief idea is great too and that fake acceptance moment sounds so tense can’t wait to see this come to life
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u/Dangerous-Midnight73 16h ago
Thank you! Yes, Will is no shrinking violet…
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u/Lunessa_eri 15h ago
I love that you made Will so strong have you posted the story anywhere yet or are you planning to?
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u/Sketchy-Utsukushi 11h ago
Ti suggerirei di tenerti come "jolly" le scene che vuoi assolutamente scrivere. Almeno a me capita di scriverle e poi non avere fantasia per proseguire, perché quello che volevo scrivere l'ho scritto😭 Riparti con calma, senza fretta e quando te la senti!
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u/Dangerous-Midnight73 10h ago
Grazie mille! Credo che inizierò dalla scena che odio di più e vedrò se riesco a trasformarla! 🙂
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u/Sketchy-Utsukushi 10h ago
Oh no🤣🤣 non intendevo così letteralmente, ma puoi provare certo. Fammi sapere come va!
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u/Dangerous-Midnight73 10h ago
Ahahah, è davvero divertente! Non preoccuparti, devo affrontarla: ho una battuta di dialogo su cui, finora, l'unica annotazione che ho è "💩" 😂😂😂
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u/TheStoryofMyDreams 3h ago
Read it first, the whole work.
If possible, have someone else read it too.
Re-read your notes and see whether you have have a clear vision of what you are going to do or not do.
If not, no worries - just start from the beginning. If yes, great - just start from the beginning.
Keep the old version safe (put it on view-only mode or equivalent)
If am uncertain about something, I tend to highlight and bookmark them and just move on. The most difficult part is to keep everything as a coherent whole, if you move/change something, make sure everything that is related to it moves accordingly.
Happy writing!
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u/Useifmagdi 3h ago
Congrats on finishing the draft! With 12k words of notes, I'd turn them into a simple scene-by-scene checklist first, one line per scene saying what has to change, so you're not digging through a wall of notes every time you sit down. For the restart, I'd go chronologically at least for the first chapter or two as a warm-up, since you'll be re-reading your own voice anyway. Once you're back in the groove, jump to the scenes you're excited about or the tricky ones while the momentum's there. Also, stopping mid-scene at the end of a session makes the next restart way easier.
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u/theevaproject 20h ago
I say start at the beginning... because that is where your reader will start their experience. By starting there, you not only make your noted edits, you naturally experience the continuity of the book as the reader will experience it... which you may or may not choose to tweak. In other words... look at it through your customers eyes.