Well, it sure is cold here in the North East, but I haven’t been hibernating.  I’ve been re-writing my young adult novel.  As a mom, full-time attorney and writer, something has to give and if I need to write, it usually has to be other writing, like my blog, but my hiatus hasn’t been for naught.  My re-write is complete, and in the process, I came up with some great tips and tricks for making your re-write not only really productive, but also much less monotonous!  So, here are some of the things I’ve learned during the past couple of months:

Be Ruthless:  What I suggest here might not be a totally new idea, but maybe the way I suggest doing it will be new for you.  Print out your novel and read through the whole thing without touching it (I know, nearly impossible. But try.)  Read it like someone else wrote it and you plan to tear it apart and when you’re done, take note of some of the bigger picture issues:  What areas are skimmed over too quickly and which plod along?  Which characters need fleshing out?  Are any of the characters given too much attention?  How about the places – do they seem real?  Were you lazy anywhere?  Tip:  Be really aware of editorializing.  Editorializing is usually lazy writing and consider going back to those areas and giving them more focus.
Now Re-Read with a Pen:  Re-read the whole thing again and this time, tear it apart.  Note where the book slows down or goes to fast.  Again, look for short cuts and lazy writing, flat characters, but in this read-through, suggest ways to revise.  Consider throwing away entire areas if they don’t work.  Adding new twists.  Also, really look to see if you’ve planted any clues for yourself about where the book should have gone and didn’t.  If you surprise yourself, hopefully you’ll surprise your reader as well!
Look At Your Character Studies Again:  Especially on the characters who are not as well-developed, ask yourself why?  Are they living, breathing people to you or are they two-dimensional?   If they are flat, do you really need them?  Go back and in a stream of consciousness, write everything you know about all the main and secondary characters.  Not just facts, but histories.  Where did they grow up?  What’s their favorite color?  When did they get chicken pox?  How do they feel about themselves and how do they want the world to view them?  What are their secret wishes or insecurities?  Don’t worry about making it tidy or editing, just pour everything you know about the character out on the page.  Even if you never use the information, it will make them more real and inform the interactions with other characters.  Included in this are places or things that are characters in the novel, not just people.  They all have to be very real to you or they won’t be real to the reader.
Write from Another Perspective:  This was my favorite.  I got this idea from Veronica Roth – the first two books of the Divergent series are written from the first person perspective of Tris, but she did some side stories written from the perspective of other characters.  My YA novel is also from the first person perspective of the female protagonist, but I wrote a couple of sections from the perspective of the male protagonist.  Not only was it very fun to get into his head for a change, but it really informed the interactions between the characters in a meaningful way.  It also gave me room to step back from sections I was stuck on and really re-think them from another angle.
Read and read and read some more:  Most important, keep reading while you write and jot down ideas that other books give you.  Try to read things in the same genre you are writing to understand what works and what people like or don’t like.  More importantly, try to figure out what you do or do not like and why.  Read books, listen to book, however you have to do it, make sure that you are getting content input from other sources.

So, those are some things that helped make my re-write productive and fun.  What are some of your tips and tricks for tackling the re-write?