How do you find the elements of your own story that need to be rewritten by yourself?

[JoshRaed]

Aside from just shelving a first draft for a month, is there any sort of way to make the mistakes in your writing clearer to you as the writer so you can improve the story?

I wanted to rewrite a story so I could resubmit it for feedback as a different version of itself, but the only thing I could think of to make it an actually different story in any real way was to add a whole new character simply because there's a precedent for them to be in it, meanwhile the whole story already happened without them being in it. Like I don't think the story is that good, but I can't actually imagine a better version in which I can make a big change and think "yeah the story is better now that I have done this".

Is there any sort of trick that allows you to read your story as though you were an outsider to it?

[InTheEndlessMidnight]

Writing an outline of it? Compile it in a different format, export it to a book that allows you to do notetaking as you read, make sure that it isn't in the same font as the one you typically write in (or a different device, or even a printed out would be better). Time is the best judge, as it allows the writer's mind to in a way clear a lot of the memory built up from the story, like after that you can come back with a fresh pair of eyes, or much fresher than if you don't.

[moontokkym]

Personnally it helped me a lot to look up stuff like storycrafting methods. You don't have to follow them but it can help you reexamine your story with a different lens, see where it follows story structure and where it doesn't,

For exemple in my story, the 5 person main cast and the general vibe of each character was the same, but my pov character came off so unlikable that people just hated them so much they didn't want to read being inside the head of this stuck-up douche. I read the beat sheet in "Save the cat" and that inspired me to push the "save the cat" moment to way earlier in my story, which is when mc meets and instinctively saves mc2 from danger despite posing as a misanthropist. Doing that showed the audience that there was a reason to root for the character because they're not all bad and changed how the character was received.

Also just really attack your story with a barrage of questions. Try and tear it down and see what holds up, then work out how to weave everything together so it all stays sturdy.

Why is this character doing this? What do they want to achieve by doing this? Is that really a credible thing someone would do? Remember that no one ever does something for reasons that seem illogical to them, so "they're just bad" or "they just want to hurt people" doesn't hold up. Why? Why do they want this? What is their reasoning as for why it's ok for them to do it? How does me changing this element of character ripple effect all their relationships?

Is this event too much of a coincidence? What questions does introducing this thing about my world bring up? Am I going to answer them? Should I answer them? When? Does introducing this power/element create a plothole for previous story beats? If I read my story like I don't know what's going to happen does any inconsistency jump out at me?

What is the point of this scene? Does it advance the plot, or characterisation? Can I do both at the same time (yes)? What is my A plot and what are my B plots? Is this really what the characters would focus on in this situation? Where is the tension coming from? Would this be better as subtext? Am I thinking ahead and foreshadowing?

Basically be a child that won't stop answering questions about your book. It can also help to read reviews of other books to see what kind of questions readers ask and when so you can get a feel of what you should be asking yourself. I've given you a short list of the questions you can ask.

[Lensing]

I don´t know any trick to read your story as though you were an outsider.

I read other stories and compare them to my writing.
What makes me continue to read a story, what makes me stop reading a story.

How not to bore or confuse the reader. Both leads to them to stop reading your
story

[NickRowler]

Maybe you are not going to like this answer but it is what most writers do.

If you have a bunch of ideas, write them down. It doesn’t need to be a full outline, it could just be bullet points.

Pick the idea from your list that you think sounds the best. Write an outline from that. Wait at least a day, read the outline and think “does this work?” If the answer is no, pick a different idea from the list and make a new outline.

You can even “Frankenstein” two outlines together if they have pieces that work.

[RedLenai]

If I don't find them and fix them on the go, then I'll probably see the elements once the entire thing is finished.
I either draw or write and once I finished the entire thing, have the product in it's final shape, I can properly analyze it.
But I don't fix nor rewrite it, I rather move onto the next project or task and keep what I've already finished as a reminder to what I can fix later, I rather have a product/something done than being stuck rewritting/redrawing over and over and have nothing tangible at the end of the day.

[Mallory]

See if you can get your hands on the book “Self-Editing For Fiction Writers”. Every chapter walks you through common writing mistakes, gives you a few exercises, and then invites you to check your manuscript for the same mistake. Not every writer makes every mistake, but I was guilty of a bunch of those.

Also… sometimes there just is no substitute for distance. It’s harder to find and edit mistakes when you still remember making them and have reasons for why you made them.

[EncryptedWriting]

Something I recommend, which might take a second, is to put your novel into a word to speech generator and listen to it. From there, you can likely catch errors and what you like and don't like.

[JoshRaed]

I used to do that but only to identify word mistakes, like when I leave sentence fragments in and stuff.

I think i’ll use it more now.

[river121693]

put your story away then come back to it after atleast 4 months, ideally a year. You'll find all sort of issues.

Listen to videos and podcasts on writing and story structuring (there're few threads on this forum) and it will give you plenty of ideas on how to improve your story.

[Lensing]

Thanks for the book recommendation, I will check that book out too

[gabriellabalagna]

reading it out loud, printing it out, or even changing the font can help give a fresh set of eyes. but yeah, the best is just putting aside for a while like you said.

[JoshRaed]

So is 2 months possible or is it important to wait a full four months?

I Haven’t touched chapters one and two of my story since the last day of march, so it’s been a month and a half.

[river121693]

The longer you wait the better, but it's up to your schedule too. 2 months is better than nothiing. The point is to distance yourself from your story, even forget as much of it as possible, so that you're able to read it with fresh, objective, eyes. It lets you see all the flaws that you've missed when you're so focused on writing down what you might think is a cool idea at the time.