How to Make the Most Out of Your Second Draft

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Note: this article, “How to Make the Most Out of Your Second Draft,” appeared in Metastellar’s Writing Advice of the Week.

So, you finished your first draft. You might have a ton of new ideas that you now want to incorporate into your story, and you also might have a lot of things you want to change. It can be overwhelming. However, there is a way to make the most out of your second draft. How do you do that? Read below to find out.

First Things First

When you get back into your draft, this time with the intent to edit and rewrite, you need to first figure out what you want to get out of your second draft. Your second draft needs to work for you above all else. So before you get back into your draft, decide what you need to work on and work on things one at a time. There are a few ways you can do this.

Create a tiered list of what you want to accomplish – if you have a list of items that you want to improve in your second draft, then creating a list of what you want done first helps tremendously. Write down the biggest issues, such as adding worldbuilding details, rewriting segments, new characters, and other issues, first, and make that the first tier. Then add smaller issues, such as changes to details you’ve already written down. Then make the tiny details you wanted to add to the last tier. Now you have a concrete plan on what to tackle first.
Write down the biggest issues with your writing that you want to tackle – do you struggle with adding description or making three-dimensional characters? You have the chance to improve your writing in your second draft. Besides your tiered list, also write down the techniques and aspects of writing that you want to improve. That way, you can keep it in mind and do your research while you’re working. Attach this to your tiered list, so you’re aware of what you need to work on.
Acknowledge that you need to work on things one at a time – lastly, don’t overwhelm yourself! Remember that you need to work on things one at a time, chapter by chapter, scene by scene. If you need to focus on one thing more than others, that’s fine! You’re taking the time to make things the best they can be. Besides, you always have the third draft to improve things even more.

Get the Biggest Issues Out of the Way First

Now that you have a tiered list, you can start by focusing on the biggest issues first. These could be any of the following:

Your worldbuilding – rough drafts are a place for dumping in ideas that you’ve had stewing for a bit. While writing, it’s not uncommon for writers to come up with a better version of an existing idea that they need to amend in the second draft. This might take up the majority of the second draft rewrites. But take the time to work out these issues and start rewriting, especially if this is at the top of your tiered list.
Your characters – you might want to change a character’s personality or even add or remove characters. This takes more rewrites, and it might also be a huge part of your tiered list.
Your writing – rough drafts are also the place to just get things down. This isn’t a draft where you should look for perfection. So you might find when you go back into your draft that you have a bunch of little mistakes, such as grammar, punctuation, and general writing. You might also notice you reuse phrases, dialogue tags, and more. Take the time to fix these in your second draft, as your writing will see a huge improvement.

Do Your Research (and Your Worldbuilding)

I mentioned earlier that you need to work on your worldbuilding in your second draft. However, worldbuilding also connects with the research you should be doing while working on your story. When you get into your second draft, go in having done a lot more research than when you were throwing things together for your first draft.

This is where you take the time away from writing and focus more on researching. The key is to do research in a way that improves your worldbuilding in your second draft. There are a few methods for going about this as you include more worldbuilding.

Research mythology, culture, and more – if you’re writing a fantasy, for example, you might base your world on a specific culture or myth. Do a bunch of research on these things to improve your world, especially if there are details overall that your rough draft lacks
Build specific details related to your themes or topic – if you have a specific theme or topic that you want to include, do your research on those things specifically. Then start incorporating them into your second draft
Develop details scene by scene – lastly, it’s a good idea to stop and develop the specific details you need for specific scenes. Build your world one scene at a time so that you have a solid second draft by the time you’re done

Add All the Details You Want

Now that you have the major parts of your draft out of the way, you can get down to the little details that you want to include. Now that you have done a bunch more worldbuilding, this allows you to make this draft the best you can make it before you head onto the next draft. As I said before, you can include more worldbuilding scene by scene. The key is to include as much as you need.

Don’t include too much or too little. If you include too little, your world will feel underbaked. If you include too much, your story will be bogged down, and readers won’t want to continue reading. However, whenever you think of something that would be important to include, add it in!

This also helps you to add depth to your second draft. You’ll find that you’ll be able to include more with fewer words, and scenes will become richer as you continue developing these details. Most of all, have fun with adding detail!

Once you get through your second draft, you’ll have a much stronger foundation than you had before. Keep these tips in mind when you get back into editing and rewriting.

Happy writing!

Check out my video for this article on Metastellar’s Writing Advice of the Week!

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