How I Write a Novel - Part 3 Second Draft

by Elva Cobb Martin

To recap this series, in Part 1 we shared how important prayer and faith are in writing Christian Fiction. I shared a special prayer I pray over my writing and some strong Christian Writer's Faith Confessions. Find that blog here: http://bit.ly/2I4PPqA


In Part 2 I shared how I plot storm, then write that difficult first draft to get the main plot points down without much editing. I describe documents I open up and save on my computer that I'll keep adding to as I write the first draft.  To read that blog, click here: http://bit.ly/386UnXX

Now we begin Part 3 - The Second Draft. This draft seems easier than the first draft when I was working hard to get the main points of the story down. So I now have my story, the beginning, middle and end, in about 40,000 words. My goal is 60,000 for this second draft, so I must keep writing. 

In the second draft, I do some fine tuning:

• Add more details, descriptions, research, I skipped or skimped on to finish the first draft.
• Check for staying in deep point of view (DPOV) with each main character's voice.
• Add the five senses more
• Double check the book's opening hook and make sure each chapter ends with a CLIFFHANGER hook to keep readers reading.
• Evaluate/strengthen the three main parts of my story: the romance, the adventure (outside happenings that affect the H/H), and the spiritual arc or how my H/H will grow in their faith, or be tested or learn to overcome.

Next time I'll share how important I've found it to be, to print out that second draft and what I check for.

Thanks for stopping by. Would love your comments about how you write a novel. Please share on your social media by clicking on the small icons below.

Blessings,

Elva

Elva Cobb Martin is 2020 President of the SC Chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers. She is a former school teacher and a graduate of Anderson University and Erskine College.  She has three inspirational novels published, Summer of Deception, a contemporary romantic suspense, and two historical romances, In a Pirate’s Debt, and Marisol, Book 1 in a new Charleston Brides series for  Wild Heart Books. All three novels have spent time on Amazon’s 100 Best Sellers List for Women’s Religious Fiction.

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