So, I finished a novel first draft some months ago, and I've decided to start going over it. I'm actually quite shocked at the standard of the writing... I thought it was far better than it is. Looks like it'll be a big rewrite job. Anyway, question of the thread is, do you find there's a gulf between first draft and later versions of your novel? Or does the final version end up very similar with only a few tweaks?
All the things I've redrafted have ended up vastly different from the first draft. Whenever I write, the first draft is dull, uninspired, styleless ad totally unpublishable. Its the very basics of the story....the plot, the skeletons of characters, suggestions of what kind of style might work....then on subsequent rewrites I focus on one thing at a time....characterisation in one rewrite, tightening the plot in another, and finally (the really big, most important one) rewriting for style.
Exactly the same with me. People always ask whether they need to know exactly where they want to go with their novel. Well, after your first draft you should, at least. The first draft speaks for itself; it's just a crappy version of your final draft. Fix it up, manipulate it, fix your grammar, watch for flow, etc, and you have yourself a second draft. After that... you might just have to do it again...
This happens to me alot. Its a pain, but you gotta read your whole novel and edit things, probably re-writing it totally. As said before, you will get a smaller gap in between though.
I find, I rarely change the themes within the story. The words however, almost always look different between drafts.
For me, after the first draft, it's about layering and refining, always conscious not to detrimentally affect positive aspects.
