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Home • Fiction Writing Tips • 2009-08-23 - Rewriting a manuscript

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• 2008-11-25 Why do readers seem to know more?
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• 2009-08-23 - Rewriting a manuscript
• 2009-02-04 Why Ross is out of favour
• 2008-06-15 A wonderful book
• 2008-05-15 A tough job
• Rewrite Man
• 2008-12-21 Location, location
• 2008-10-16 Second printing
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• Staying at it - 2008-01-16
• Writing a new book - 2007-12-30
• MacDonald vs. McDonald - 2007-12-15
• Being seen in Toronto - 2007-09-27
• Where ideas come from - 2007-08-17
• Starting over - 2007-08-14
• Writing like Elmore? - 2007-08-01
• The future of crime writing? - 2007-07-15
• Is Body Contact subverting a tradition? - 2007-06-15
• Do writers have a life? - 2007-06-12
• Begin with an ending in mind - 2007-06-01

Rewriting a manuscript
In early summer, my nephew Brennan Carroll and his wife Erin read the manuscript of a book with two possible titles. It's a Carl North novel, a sequel to Snow Candy, which seems to be selling better than any of my other books.
This new novel had been critiqued (hope that's acceptable as a verb) by family, friends and fellow writers. Their comments were all helpful and instructive.
But Brennan and Erin got the heart of the matter.
The book, they said, needed some major rewriting. The action peaked too soon. One of the main characters needed some work, and so on.
Not what you want to hear but what you need to hear. So, where there is time, to work.