The Dreaded Second Draft

I’m working on a new Shinobi Mystery this morning. I wrote draft one in November (it’s not intentionally a “NaNo Novel” per se, but my normal writing schedule puts me into first draft mode in November, so I run with it) so now I’m working through what always proves the most difficult draft for me. In my world, first drafts offer a time of excited discovery. I work from outlines, but the characters and plot threads always change themselves around on the page, so the first draft rarely turns out exactly the way I thought I’d write it. The second draft,

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