I'm Not That Good!

Red alert!

The rough draft of my manuscript was completed nearly six weeks ago. I let it decant for just over a month and then I started the revision process. To my horror, I discovered that I can’t improve the weak points in my draft! I’m not talking about some niggling grammar or a sentence that doesn’t work, I mean the backstory that is critical to the plot. There are entire sections that don’t flow. I had ignored these weak points during my rough draft with the idea that I would tackle them with a fresh mind later. Now they are sneering at me.

I know I shouldn’t panic. But it’s not easy to keep calm when you realize that your storytelling skills aren’t as good as you thought they were. I still like the story and the characters, but there are some glaring weak links. I’m unable to understand if the execution of these parts are bad, or if the idea is bad and therefore the execution can’t work. I’m really stumped.

There are lots of editing options to get over these roadblocks, but before turning to them I really want to present the best draft possible. So, let’s flip open The Linchpin Writer and see what John has to say.