The Plot Doctor is IN!

Holly writes:

Maegan- 

I’m more than ¾ of the way through my book. I’ve always known that this is merely a first version—that it will require multiple rewrites. Recently, it’s occurred to me I want to add a character, develop one or two current ones differently, switch part of it to a close third POV from my current 1st person POV, etc. Here’s my dilemma—do I finish the book now, “pretending” I’ve fixed all this stuff? Or do I quit now, go back, start my re-write? One problem with that is, the problem I’ve had all along—I never know what’s going to happen next. So for me, the advantage to finishing the book knitting in (or sticking in, more like it) the revelations I’ve had will probably reveal to me even more stuff I need to fix in the beginning and throughout. In other words, I don’t want to kill my momentum, so “close” to the finish. As always… your opinion is much appreciated and valued!

Hi, Holly ~

First of, congratulations for being so close to your goal! You're in the home stretch--be proud!

As for your question... Whether you should go back and start your re-write now or wait, is really a personal preference. If all you were doing was switching the POV for 1st to 3rd, I'd say do it now but it sounds like you're trying to capture ideas as they occur to you. That's kind of hard to do when you're bouncing around in your story. Difficult but not impossible...

As a writer, when I know that something is wrong within my story, I find it almost impossible to move forward until it's fixed. I will stop all forward progress and work on the problems until they are fixed. I'm a linear writer. I've never been able to write scenes out of sequence or just "pretend" that a problem is fixed and move on from there... mostly because I know I'll forget what needed to be fixed in the first place!

If waiting is what works for you, then I say wait. Just make notes on what needs to be fixed and where and you'll be fine.

Good Luck!

Maegan