How to Read Your Own Notes

Every note is accurate as a symptom and unreliable as a diagnosis. 'I got bored in the second act' is true. 'Add a subplot' is a guess.

Sort your notes into three piles: things multiple readers felt, things one reader felt strongly, and things that conflict with your intention. The first pile is the rewrite. The second is worth a conversation. The third you keep, but you keep it consciously.

Before you touch a page, write one paragraph describing what this draft is now trying to do differently. Every change should serve that paragraph or get cut from the plan.