Things I've Learnd from Preparing to Rewrite

    I've been working on preparing to rewrite a manuscript lately. Not actually revising it yet, but just preparing to by creating a guideline of notes to follow. I've found that when I just dive into revising a work, making changes one chapter at a time, overall plot problems are overlooked because I can't see the story as a whole. Editing a book involves adjusting the plot and characters and making sure everything's balanced, and it can be pretty hard to do that when one doesn't prepare beforehand.
    I haven't really revised a long writing piece like the one I'm working on now in a very long time, so I've had to play with note-taking strategies for rewriting chapters. This experience has been fun and interesting, and I've learned some very helpful concepts in the process; I hope you don't mind if I share some! :)

There's no "perfect" way to take notes,
but I find typed notes more convenient
and neat, provided that they're
eventually printed.

     Thing Number One that I realized: when one has a computer with which to take notes, they should use it! During my first attempt to take notes on the manuscript, I wrote by hand. I got the basic ideas down, but when I was finished, I noticed that I had notes in later sections that I should be able to see while working on earlier chapters, but I couldn't exactly move them there because it wouldn't all fit in the margin (plus, cluttering up the margin like that makes the paper hard to read). So I ended up copying all my written notes onto a computer document, and not only was it quicker, but I found it easier to add more ideas that came to mind.
    Thing Number Two that I learned while preparing to rewrite: prioritizing is very, very important. The notes that one takes when preparing for a revision is what they'll be paying close attention to when they start rewriting. When I start my revisions, I plan to study each section carefully, taking in everything; too much unnecessary information (like a character's physical description, when the current rewrite is only focusing on plot) will seriously slow down the revision process, and create distractions. I've had to resist the urge to write down every really awesome bit of dialogue or funny moment that I read, and just write down what I'll be needing, but now I see it's been worth it because the concise notes won't have to be sifted through later.

These are my chapter cards.

And this is the calendar; it was great for
solidifying the plot structure.

    Thing Number Three that I've learned: preparing for a rewrite should have multiple mediums. Not just notes that point out problems, but visuals that help one understand the structure of the story. For my own manuscript, I ended up making little "chapter cards," each with one or two sentences summarizing a chapter. Laying them out and using small objects to highlight chapters with certain elements (like putting strands of yarn on chapters where the antagonist appears, or placing pencils between cards that occur on different days), I could see the story as a whole, notice imbalances, and be more able to tell when chapters need to be added or removed. In addition to the cards, I also typed up a calendar, which really helped with making the timeline of the story clear.

It's so satisfying to have a finished set of notes
at the end. :)

    And finally; Thing Number Four that I've learned: keep working. Not for hours on end, attempting to write quality notes and plans for twenty chapters in a single morning, (because when that isn't impossible, it's utterly exhausting),but just making sure to keep working consistently. Like during any other stage of the writing process, when one stops thinking about a story, or takes a long break from working on it, the details and the mindset for the story fades from memory, and one loses the sort of groove they had when they were working on the manuscript every day. So even if it's just one chapter's worth of notes, I think it's worth taking the time to complete it.
    So these are a few things that came to my attention while preparing to work on Draft Number Two. What about you? What kind of things do you do to prepare for a revision?