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While these could be chosen to only apply to wizards, or might work for other prepared casters. Obviously one shouldn't implement all of these as that would break things. However some of these might ring a certain truth for your view of your campaign if you feel like these casters are suffering.
I personally liked the old historical rules where a prepared slot could be left open and filled by later preparation even if it isn't as efficient then. It was a simple and elegant solution for people who knew they were going into an situation with some definite unknown. It cost immediate availability of resources early on and a little time to help insure you had a more tailored resource in the future. However, as that isn't the baseline any longer, so I'm trying to work from there and think of other ways to help prepared casters. I'm also trying not to simply give away the substitution thesis, although I'll confess the potential of someone feeling like this treads on their area of expertise. I still think these items don't completely destroy the flexibility that the Substitution Thesis could grant a wizard, even if one of these other rules in play. Some might even strengthen the flexibility of the Substitution Thesis.
* Re-preparation Exploration Activity
One of the ideas is to allow the approved classes to have a 10 minute activity that would allow a prepared caster to re-prepare a spell they had prepared earlier. They would select a different spell of appropriate rank that they still have prepared, and it becomes un-prepared, in order to re-prepare the first spell again.
* Casting a cast spell from their Spellbook metamagic/spellshaping
Another option would be to allow a wizard to preform a 10 minute activity [perhaps a new form of metamagic/spellshaping] using their spellbook that would allow the caster to immediately following, cast a spell they had prepared earlier in the day but have already cast, using up one of their other spell slots of appropriate rank instead losing preparation of whatever spell was in that slot.
* Wizards Signature Spell feature
Another option. Give wizards a signature spell feature. A wizard's (prepared caster's) signature spell for a rank is chosen when they get their extra spell for that rank. They can choose to spontaneously cast a signature spell from any appropriate rank for that class, using up the prepared spell in that slot.
Specialists might likely be limited to picking their signature spell from their curriculum. Or it might only limit the highest level signature spell, but the bonus slots, if limited to only curriculum spells might still be limited to only being usable for signature spells if they are curriculum spells, leaving an advantage to keeping most signature spells in the curriculum.
This actually seems like something that could help give the Wizard class and even individual wizards additional flavor, which sounds like a good thing.
* Prepared casting duplicate preparations feature
People seem to mention signature spells as being strong for spontaneous casters, I could see an option allowing a prepared caster (any prepared caster potentially) to slot the same spell more than once, the spell becomes spontaneously available from any rank the spell was slotted in.
So a wizard slotting Dispel Magic into two first rank slots and a Magic Missile in the last, could cast Dispel Magic up to three times if they chose to use their Magic Missile slot to cast Dispel Magic. If they go up in level and slot Dispel Magic in first and second ranks, it would allow them to cast the spell using any of their first and second rank slots. (starting using their original assigned slot, but can use up other prepared slots of the designated ranks)
While this steals from some of the spontaneous caster's strategic strength, but doing it is inefficient (so has strategic cost) since it uses up extra prepared slots. However, in cases where a wizard is already knows they may need multiple castings, this lets their preparation in that respect get rewards by committing to their choice. Honestly I sort of feel like if you do this, one should allow it for all prepared casters, but that's my feel on it.
* Extra preparation selection feature for prepared casters
You could also simply allow prepared casters, or prepared casters limited to by spellbook/familiar, to prepare one more spell than slot. When you have used the last slot in that rank, you can no longer cast spells from that rank. (i.e. you have so many memorized, but only so much 'strength')
If people feel that prepared casters, in general are hurting due to their need for preparation, you could grant all prepared casters an 'extra' preparation for each rank, and that the casters that are limited by spellbook or other mechanism to subsets of their lists and grant them up to two extra 'preparations'. I'm not sure I really like the idea of two extra's but it was a potential thought.
So, I've been thinking, and both Wizards and Witches are both prepared casters, as well as limited to a slowly acquired subset of their spell list, and seem to from literature often associated with the use of wands.
Would the following buff of their prepared spellcasting seem useful as well as in line with the flavor in the lore that we think of for these kinds of casters.
[Reaction] Bolstered Overcharging of a Wand
If a caster has just cast a spell from a wand, and the caster has a slot prepared with that spell, the caster may as a Reaction, may instead expend one of their own spell slots of the rank of the spell cast from the wand and ignore the results of the flat check. The slot expended need not have the spell cast prepared in it. [The prepared spell slot must be from a casting class with this ability, and may not be a prepared slot that was not been replaced with a different prepared spell using some other feature such that it is no longer considered a prepared spell. It can however be a spell that they had prepared but have since cast it.
This means that with preparation/investment (something prepared casters are supposed to excel at) it gives these casters a bit of an edge, allowing them to mitigate some of the risk of using wands more than once a day and allow them to cast such spells more than once a day using a wand.
i.e.
most casters can count on 1 casting from a wand per day, and risk losing the wand to cast it twice a day. Only cost for second casting being the potential loss of the wand.
Wizards using this would get the one normal casting, but they also have the ability to combine both investment in the spell, and the item to be able to get extra castings of the spell, at the cost of other prepared spell slots.
A benefit of this concept is that it actually gives some life to potential stories of magicians using wands to cast magic missiles several times in an encounter validating that lore more.
If you feel the need to limit this ability, you could limit its use to their INT modifier times per day which could be a silent 'nod' to the old bonus spells mechanic.
One might need to determine how to rule on flexible casters. If you allowed them this ability, but only if the spell were prepared in their collection, they theoretically could have cast the spell from their collection without the use of the wand. However, it would enable them to safely try to cast the spell, and be satisfied with a roll of casting it, and breaking the wand, but not destroying it. Enabling them to get one extra casting that day, for the inconvenience of having to get the wand fixed. Much less of a boost, but still helpful if you happen to choose to prepare a spell you could get once per day free. I think that is how I would rule on flexible spell caster wizards and witches.
I think the above could also help Magus, but I haven't played a Magus enough to know if that sort of ability would be too much of an advantage for that class or not. It seems like they tend to re-use spells (the traditional shocking grasp spell people are discussing being potentially lost in remaster for instance) so it would probably benefit them. Question being would it benefit them too much, I'm not sure if it would or not. I'm curious if someone more familiar with playing Magus would feel this would be too powerful for them or not.
I like the general idea of buffing prepared casters through wands. But personally I'd try to keep it as simple as possible. Something like:
Wand Attunement (Feat 6)
tags: Animist, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Magus, Oracle, Psychic, Sorcerer, Summoner, Witch, Wizard
During your daily preparations, you can attune to a single non-specialty wand in your possession. For the rest of the day, you can expend any spell slot of a rank equal or greater than the rank of the wand's spell to use the wand once with no risk of breaking or destroying it. You can do this multiple times, expending another spell slot each time.
A Wand attuned this way becomes unusable by other characters for the day. Using a higher spell slot does not heighten the wand's spell. This ability does not allow you to use a wand that is broken or destroyed.
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And then for good measure you can give Wizards a Thesis that builds off of this, maybe allowing spell heightening, or specialty wands, or attuning multiple wands.