Guest blogger, Carole Gift Page, continues to share her Ten Steps in Writing a Novel.
STEP NINE: WRITE THE ENTIRE ROUGH DRAFT OF YOUR NOVEL; THEN EVALUATE WHAT YOU HAVE WRITTEN. An artist would be foolish to finish one small corner of his painting while leaving the rest of the canvas blank. By the same token, don’t insist on editing your first few chapters to perfection before tackling the rest of your novel.
Rather, work at completing the entire rough draft before going back for intensive editing. Why? You may find that your perspective has changed drastically and your original vision for the work has undergone a transformation. When the entire “picture” is finished, you can step back and scrutinize the whole. But give yourself—and your work—time and space. Only then can you come back fresh to analyze and evaluate the separate parts.
Ask yourself these questions:
1. Have I achieved my purpose in writing this novel?
2. Are my characters lifelike, interesting, sympathetic, compelling, unique, and realistically motivated?
3. Do I make my reader care deeply about my main character?
4. Do I have a worthy theme? An engrossing, credible plot?
5. Have I utilized the tools of fiction (dialogue, description, scenes, characterization, conflict, etc.) effectively?