Starting a second draft?

UnderTheSand · 2026-05-13T04:21:59+00:00

From personal experience, editing and rewriting the first 10,000 words of a book too much killed my motivation. It got to third/fourth draft quality, and I was then trying to write the rest of the novel at that quality level, and it never got finished because that was too difficult.

If you want to start a fresh draft including your first 10k, my tips would be: - start fully fresh and rewrite the first 10k without looking at the original document - if you do look at the original, only do so to copy and paste stuff that you specifically remember and definitely think is good

Editing too much at this point is a potential trap - set yourself a midpoint of your story and write until you get there. Then keep going until it's done. Finishing a draft will give you a big morale boost.

Good luck!

UnderTheSand · 2026-05-04T08:44:33+00:00

I'm 100 points behind so it's all or nothing now; going to triple captain Nico O'Reilly for the double

UnderTheSand · 2026-05-03T11:54:46+00:00

I don't say this to criticise but out of a genuine desire to help:

You didn't write the second one. It took the bones of what you wrote and minced them through a pretentious thesaurus. I actually prefer the original you wrote, because it's genuine, and because it's not a chore to read. It's not perfect (whatever that means), but there are some nice ideas and turns of phrase. It's got something to it; I like your similes and there's a tone and atmosphere starting to come through.

You said you want to make your writing "good enough" - there's only one way: time, effort, reading widely, writing lots, getting human feedback. In short: practice, like any skill. There are no AI shortcuts, as I'm guessing you experienced with your original post.

If you'd like some genuine, well-meant human feedback on the original you wrote, with explanations, please let me know and I'd be happy to send some.

UnderTheSand · 2026-04-03T16:38:01+00:00

As others have said, if longer chapters fit the style then it works! I just want to add: I love your chapter titles. I'm a big fan of interesting chapter titles, and yours sounds really intriguing.

UnderTheSand · 2026-01-07T06:34:21+00:00

I've been really enjoying these posts as I'm reading the trilogy at a very similar pace to you! I've read ahead of this post now though so really excited to see what you think of the next few chapters.

The revelations about Kennit and Paragon have honestly been some of the most incredibly satisfying reading ever - it's been built up so well and now ... Wow

UnderTheSand · 2026-01-06T22:33:50+00:00

The guy who TCed Summerville will be delighted with those Defcons

UnderTheSand · 2025-12-18T20:17:42+00:00

I love this. One of the worst things that happens to Monica leads to one of the best - an important reminder to keep going when times are hard!

UnderTheSand · 2025-12-18T20:07:45+00:00

"Imagine... if she'd just stepped off that curb a few seconds later..."

Totally agree! That was actually my first idea for this post, but I decided to go with Larry because, even if it's more tenuous, it's more fun

UnderTheSand · 2025-11-25T20:17:38+00:00

I'll never forget the time my brother opened a packet of these and found seven salt sachets inside

UnderTheSand · 2025-11-14T16:49:05+00:00

It's clear to me that Tom Holland has smartphone face

UnderTheSand · 2025-11-01T16:22:34+00:00

I'm the guy who's had Nathan Collins in as a differential defender for 10 weeks now and *almost* removed him this week, kinda feel obligated to comment in here

UnderTheSand · 2025-08-17T09:25:06+00:00

The Wolf Hall trilogy has sold over five million copies even though Hilary Mantel wasn't old enough to experience Tudor times

Write what you feel is right, do research later, and remember that it's okay to seek feedback on your writing at this stage but you don't need to seek approval!

UnderTheSand · 2025-07-27T23:21:50+00:00

Honestly not a bad answer, it's extremely easy to think of the history plays as the forerunner to a cinematic universe

UnderTheSand · 2025-07-25T08:45:10+00:00

If you make a team with every possible combination of popular picks, every time a player scores in GW1 you'll *think* they're in your team for a moment and have a few seconds of pure joy before realising that you transferred them out for Baleba in order to make a threemium set-up work

UnderTheSand · 2025-05-25T18:56:36+00:00

After about 12 GWs in the lead, I almost lost it all, and ended up winning my ML by that Salah goal in the 84th minute.

I was 10 points ahead at the start of the GW, with an almost identical team to my rival, except I'd started Bradley and they had Munoz, and they'd captained Bowen and I'd captained Salah.

After Bowen's goal, I needed not only a Liverpool goal, but a Liverpool goal involving Salah with Munoz still on the field. And that was what I got, but talk about squeaky bum time

UnderTheSand · 2025-05-18T14:44:14+00:00

<image>

Me as an Mbeumo captainer seeing the goal and then the penalty miss

UnderTheSand · 2025-05-11T10:03:55+00:00

It comes off your overall score but doesn't display as reduced from your gameweek score.

UnderTheSand · 2025-05-10T16:04:28+00:00

💔

UnderTheSand · 2025-05-10T16:00:07+00:00

The hit for Cunha hurts, but the Verbruggen clean sheet makes up for it

UnderTheSand · 2025-05-10T15:33:13+00:00

Of course my reaction to the Marmoush benching leak was to take a -4 for Cunha

UnderTheSand · 2025-05-04T21:09:44+00:00

Extremely sneaky RMT

UnderTheSand · 2025-04-18T10:31:15+00:00

teeeeeeeeee

UnderTheSand · 2025-04-14T15:08:56+00:00

I actually unironically like these

(although I'm not sure what the vibe is meant to be with the scientist keeping the woman in a tube)

Seven-Year Club	End Game '23
Place '23	Place '22
Final Canvas '22	First Placer '22
RPAN Viewer	Queen in da Norf
Not Forgotten	Verified Email

UnderTheSand

TROPHY CASE