This post is inspired by Dave K's comment to my post on Heinlein's Rules in "The Rest" section.

Many people's people's idea of rewriting is simply "wordsmithing," which is changing word choices.

A screenwriting mentor taught that keys to rewriting success are:
1. The purpose is to IMPROVE you story, not PROTECT it.
Continue to be CREATIVE as you rewrite and your story
will be amazing in the end.

2. Editors love writers who EXCEED their EXPECTATIONS.

A rewrite process I learned recently is:

A. Basic Story Editing
Make sure your STORY works.

B. Questioning
Questioning is about IMPROVING, not ATTACKING.

C. Separating
Separating is about GETTING CLARITY on important parts of your story.

D. Cutting
Cutting is about CLEARING AWAY UNNECESSARY DETAILS so the story can shine.

E. Applying Writing Skills
Advanced writing skills ELEVATE and INCREASE OPTIONS.

F. Brainstorming vs. Flow (Great for 1st Draft)
Generating a large QUANTITY OF IDEAS to discover a few HIGH QUALITY IDEAS.

G. Wordsmithing
DECORATING your story.

Why won't writers cut bad scenes? They did WORDSMITHING before they completed the OTHER IMPORTANT WRITING PROCESSES.

This is an overview of the process. The methodology is something to be learned and reinforced through constant practice.

Boris