Rewind, Rewrite

Today marks a year since I finished the first draft of Judah’s Battle. Crazy. Time flies, whether you’re accomplishing things or not.

My goal had been to finish the second draft by the end of 2024, but, like many goals, I failed to meet it. Progress has been slow and not always steady.

What I keep reminding myself is that the first draft isn’t always the hardest.

(Fellow writers, hear me out before you arrest me for heresy)

With first drafts, you scribble down the story. You put to words the scenes that have been playing through your head for months—or years; you go back partway through to add scenes that might tie things together better; you remind yourself that it’s a first draft, so it’s okay if it isn’t perfect.

Then you finish.

And you’re left with the task of making those scribbles as close to perfect as you can.

Suddenly, those plot holes you’d decided to deal with later need to be dealt with now. Those references to historical, governmental, or meteorological happenings, which you brushed over initially, need to be researched and made accurate.

That’s what I’m dealing with right now. I researched as I wrote Judah’s Battle, but I was missing some information, so I filled it in from my imagination. Now I’m going back through those glaring red comments.

It’s not always fun. There are times I open the document, look at it briefly, and close it again.

Do I have to spend another afternoon trying to figure out which train stations sat between Norwich and Toronto?

How many times have I tried researching what protocol was when the Canadians captured an enemy soldier?

Then there are the plot holes waiting for unsuspecting readers to trip.

Did I show the characters’ subtle changes enough, or is this scene going to be startling?

Is there a way I can develop a certain aspect through action instead of another bout of dialogue?

A few things to remember when working through these difficulties are:

1. If you’re writing fiction, you don’t need to make everything factual

It’s called ‘fiction’ for a reason. You can tweak events as much as you like. Just be sure to include an author’s note so your readers don’t have to sort through what’s real and what isn’t. For Judah’s Battle, I invented my own Canadian battalion; that way I didn’t feel obligated to include real officers and soldiers, and I could move it around the battlefront as I needed.

As one author put it:

“Historical fiction takes what we know as historical truth, changes it as little as possible, and weaves a story through what we do not know … [it] often … requires the weaving of a fictional story through the labyrinth of known historical events.” –John Wilson, Shot at Dawn

2. There is no perfect structure for books

(A little more time please, Writing Law Enforcement Squad)

There are recommended structures. There are often-used structures. There are structures marketed as the best way to write a book.

But people don’t read books for their structure, and God is not bound by man-made structures. I do suggest you have a beginning, middle, and end, and characters that grow in some way through the story. Just don’t get hung up on a road-block labelled STRUCTURE, as I did for so long.

3. Your book will never be perfect, and that’s okay

We want our stories to be the best they can be, and we should. We should ask others to read them, to give opinions, to help us do what we can to make our books lovely. We should seek to show God’s love and might and wonder and mercy in the best way possible.

But we are fallen. We simply cannot make things perfect, and we need to accept it.

Don’t sacrifice quality for speed—but don’t sacrifice the message you’ve been given for a perfect book that will never be.

And why do we write?

Well, here’s a quote from Judah’s Battle that tells the answer:

“I draw for the same reason an author writes … to change the world.” –Drew Gallant, Judah’s Battle

(You can arrest me now)

TRQT