Everyone talks about how to FIX a broken draft.
But what if we turned that around that talked about finding the golden nugget instead?
Look for the bright spots. First, look for those spots which are working and working well in your story. Are you doing dialogue well? Was chapter eight laugh-out-loud funny and every reader wants more of that? Where is the novel working well?
Why did that bright spot work? Analyze the bright spot to figure out what was working. You delved into the character’s emotional state by providing a flash back. Or, you had two slapstick events and one joke in that funny chapter eight. Try to be very specific. This section of your novel worked. Ok. Why did it work?
Clone that bright spot. When you have specifics, write up a recipe-only-to-be-used-for-this-novel. You say to yourself: I MUST add two slapstick events and one joke to every chapter. Or at the three important moments of your story, you MUST add an emotional flashback. This one can be easily overdone, so be careful how you set up your recipe. You don’t want flashbacks in every single scene. But at important moments, it could work well.
For those days when you are sick and tired of “fixing,” try revising by identifying and cloning a Bright Spot.