The more you get to know the characters in your book, the more lifelike they will seem to the reader. You want to get away from flat characters and breathe some life into them. The only way that you can do this, when writing a fiction book, is to get to know them. This is naturally more difficult to do with fiction than non-fiction because the characters are a figment of your imagination. You have to want to make your imagination come to life on paper when you write your book.
Make sure that there are no loose ends in the book and that every sentence drives your plot forward. Get rid of unnecessary dialogue that will slow down the process of your book as well as unnecessary descriptions. The best books are those that continue to move the plot forward and have meaning in every sentence.
Do not mistake rewriting as checking for grammar or spelling. This will be done when you are proofreading your book, although you should naturally make any corrections when you see them. Proofreading is very different than rewriting and will be discussed shortly.
One thing that you may want to do to make your rewriting easier is to give yourself a rest between the rewrites. This allows you to look at the book with fresh eyes and get a fresh start reading it. If you have a friend or trusted person to whom you can give the book, you can give it to them for a critique. They may be able to see glaring errors in the plot that you may overlook. While you are close to your book, you may also be too close. It is helpful to have a second pair of eyes read the book after you have rewritten it to sufficiency.
You cannot rewrite a book too much. There does have to be a point where you say that you are satisfied with the story and what it conveys. After you have completed your book and feel that it is publication worthy, you are ready for a grammar check.
Go through your book and look for grammatical errors. There are some instances when grammatical rules are broken, especially when it comes to dialogue. You want to make sure that you have proper grammar used in your book. If you have a grammar check on your word processing program, use it. You can also use spellchecker as well. But never depend on a spellchecker to do you proofreading for you. When you have finished your book, it is time for proofreading.
