Tag Archives: revision

My takeaways from The 90-Day Rewrite by Alan Watt, also author of The 90-Day Novel

1. The instructional heart of the book consists of his 90 ‘letters’ to the reader/rewriter. This approach evoked a more conversational tone to each ‘day’.
2. Watt gives ‘rewriters’ a short ruminating or writing assignment that reinforces that day’s letter.

Some examples:

Day 46: Today–Write for five minutes beginning with ‘My story is about…’. Surprise yourself and be willing to write the forbidden.

Day 57: Today–Where you choose to reveal information can alter the pace and meaning of your story. Are your story’s revelations placed as effectively as possible?

3. I like Watt’s Week 1 prescription of creating a new outline.

“If it seems strange to simply be re-outlining something that we have already written, that is not what we are doing. Rather, we are allowing ourselves to imagine the most compelling version of our story, which may contain large swaths of existing material, but also material yet to be written.”

4. Quote from Day 69 letter: “Ultimately, the decision [on how to divide the novel–chapters, sections, etc.] is an intuitive one. Each story has its own unique way of being read.”