Weaker in the first half than the second.

Off the top of my head? Rewrite the beginning of the second half so the book starts directly in the action. Then use the first half as a back story that can be revealed in pieces sandwiched between the superior verses of the second part. Ether that or rewrite part one.

~N

I felt very similarly the first time I re-read my manuscript... all those initial chapters seemed great to me when I first wrote them, but going back and reading them again 2 years later really brought out the contrast to my more recently-written chapters. My approach was to re-write completely the chapters that were awful but mostly just re-write/add/remove paragraphs that seemed not to flow. The cool thing about improving you writing craft through practice is that you also improve your ability to judge what works and what doesn't (or so I think).

I would go through and heavily edit part one to reflect your current voice.

This happens to me often. We grow as writer (hopefully) and often in the span of one novel. I often find that by word 75,000, the voice of the novel and my abilities have drastically changed.

It's work, but it is important your work is consistent. Edit, edit, edit!

I think this happens to most people when they're first learning to write. I used to see major improvements just over a matter of weeks when I was new to the craft. It levels off eventually, at least for me. I still learn new things and improve, of course, but it's at a much slower rate, and the things I'm improving now have more to do with structure and plot than the prose themselves, so older scenes don't read much differently from new ones.

Anyway, go back and edit the earlier scenes to be as good as your current ones. Then be prepared to do it all over again later, when you're even better.

Sorry to be a wet blanket, but sometimes rewriting is exactly what's needed. Its not a bad thing, though. You've obviously found your voice in the second half and grown as a writer. Once you rewrite the first half, my advice would be to then go back through the whole novel, start to finish, to make sure your voice is consistent throughout.

You'll probably have to rewrite it. Trying to edit it into being at the same quality will probably just leave the story feeling disjointed. A lot of writers have to rewrite when they're learning. In fact, both series I'm currently working on are rewrites. My writing skills have improved so much since I first wrote them. I like the stories, though, so I can't just abandon them.

There are no short cuts. If scrapping the first half and rewriting it is what's required, that's what you have to do. And remember that when you try to sell this novel the start and not the end is what goes with your query, so has to be as good as it possibly can be. Your second half could be brilliant, but nobody will ever read it if the first half is weak.

None of what you wrioe before is wasted. It was your first steps on the road to figuring out how to write and how to write this story. Now you have to take what you learned from that and make this story you love the best it can be. Go through that first half and figure out what in it is salvageable. What about it makes you love this story. And then get the essence of that into the rewrites.

I know the feeling of impatience, after losing a lot of time in the past. I want stories done. NOW. But this writing game is a marathon not a sprint. Books take as long as they take. Better to take the time now and make it as good as it can be - because if you don't you'll waste even more time later sending out queries that come back rejected.

Definitely have been in the same boat as you, and to be honest I am more than likely still rowing that boat madly towards the shore (land`s in sight though…I think )

I would have to say I agree with what others have said before me. Like you, the material I wrote years ago wasn`t in balance with my newer material. So as others suggested I went back and significantly re-wrote it from beginning to end. More than that I also put it in a drawer for a bit and came back to it after a bit of a break from it. That way I was able to come back with somewhat fresher eyes, and I have since been (potentially) obsessively polishing it with subsequent edits.

Benedetto Youssef said:

Yea I'm going to do major rewriting for the first half to bring it in line with the second. Then I'm going to print it all out, take a big fat red pen, and edit til my eyes fall out.

The thing is I just love the story and world I have created, and while not perfect, I think I really have something special and unique going.

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That's a great attitude! you have to believe in your product.

Good luck!

Benedetto Youssef said:

So here lies my problem:

I started this, my long thought out fantasy novel, several years ago. I conceptualized, made notes, and even wrote the first few chapters before putting it aside for a year or so. Since then I have practically finished my novel, but the problem is the first half of the book I feel is poorly written, or not up to the standards of my second half.

I guess this isn't a bad thing since it means I am improving as a writer. I mean every chapter I feel is better written than the last. Even when I think I have written the best chapter than cannot be topped, lo and behold, my next chapter bests it.

I guess I am asking if I am alone in this, or if anyone else is in the same boat as me?

How would one go about bringing the quality of the first half of the novel to the second half without completely scrapping half the book?

Thanks in advance friends!

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What is the main problem anyway? Is it just the technical side that you feel isn't up to snuff, or the content?

I don't think there's any problem with the second half being better than the first, content wise, as long as the first half still gets the reader to read on.

If it's the technical side that's off? That's absolutely no problem. Just tighten, rewrite and rephrase as necessary.

If the content is off though, in the first half of the book, I'm not sure what to advise doing. I do shorts and every attempt at a novel has been abandoned so far. I can go back and rework the technical side of things no problem, but the content? If it's off and I've written quite a bit past the content that's poor, it involves changing a lot. So, when I find the content is not working, I stop until I can work it out, deleting and rewriting as necessary. Basically, I need the content to be right, before progressing, unless there's only minor reworking needed.

So, I simply don't know how to advise regarding the content being off. Could be that you could just delete the parts that aren't needed. If there are any, as long as things read right later in the novel.

But I think the main thing is, if you're happy with the first half yourself but worry about readers not enjoying it, it might be ideal to leave the content as it is. Afterall, I think a writer should just write for themselves and then 'hope' others enjoy what they've written, rather than aiming to please readers. Besides, if you're happy with it yourself, then there's bound to be others out there who would find it enjoyable as well, right?

Anyway, good luck! And sorry if this post wasn't too helpful.

Benedetto Youssef said:

How would one go about bringing the quality of the first half of the novel to the second half without completely scrapping half the book?

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Are plotting issues the problem, or writing issues? The latter can be fixed by rewrites. The former may call for a completely new first half.

Going through the same thing, the first several chapters just aren't as good as the last several. I'm currently rewriting them so the voice is closer to matching with that of the last chapters, plus working to reduce my word count and fix cruddy dialogue and everything else that's wrong with the early chapters. I knew I would have to do this since I was learning to write through this story. Hopefully once I'm done with draft #2 it'll be dramatically improved from the first, and the drafts afterward won't need as much tweaking.

BethS said:

Are plotting issues the problem, or writing issues? The latter can be fixed by rewrites. The former may call for a completely new first half.

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Indeed. Not sure how Benedoto can fix the first half if it's the content that's a problem, without rewriting completely.

I always try my best to get the content right straight away to avoid said problem.

Then that's fine, Benedetto. Don't sweat it.

Making changes on a technical level is part of writing, even with good first drafts of flash fiction/a short. I wager nothing has ever been written without a comma being taken out or added (often multiple times), words being deleted etc.

Good luck with the novel.

One thing you might try is create a detailed outline of the book with the changes you'd like to make and then write it from scratch without referring to the old version. I'll bet the writing will be better than the "good" second half of the original.

I know it seems like a lot of work, but there are far too many beginning writers who spend far too much time fixing something that is better left abandoned.