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Ksenia Anske

March 26, 2016

The process of cutting your draft in half

by Ksenia Anske


Illustration by Eryn Lou

Illustration by Eryn Lou

Illustration by Eryn Lou

Illustration by Eryn Lou

So you asked how I did it, cut TUBE Draft 2 from 153K words down to 74K words in Draft 3. I didn't do it on purpose. It just happened, so I'll describe to you what I did and then maybe together we will glimpse some magic (I'm sure there is some, there always is).

1. I typed the new draft in a new file.  

I suppose this is how revising looked like in the times of the typewriters. You set the manuscript on the desk and looked at it and typed it up on the clean piece of paper with whatever changes came to mind. And the advantage of this is, as I learned, is getting carried away by the story and typing it without even looking. That's what happened to me. I'd remember what happened next and type it up and then look and see that I have said it in fewer words. At first I freaked and tried preserving the previous draft. However, the new clean concise writing was so much better that I soon abandoned the effort. And thank God I did.

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TAGS: there is no secret to this, really, just write every bloody day, and eventually you will find your own method, this is my method, if it works for you, SEND GIFTS, I love gifts, I love you