The Deeper Part of Revision

By Julie Daines

I've been thinking a lot about the revision process lately as I've been revising two separate manuscripts--one for publication and one for submission.

I both love and hate revising because while the process makes my manuscript infinitely better, it also makes me painfully aware of my shortcomings as a writer.

When revising, it's easy to focus only on the surface problems because they are easier to fix--awkward wording, things that don't make sense, poor characterization and dialogue. But often that is merely treating the symptoms and not the disease.

It's so important to consider the deeper issues when revising in order to successfully improve the story. Elements such as structure, theme, premise, and characters are crucial. The irony is that these things aren't often apparent in the first draft and it takes a preliminary write through before even we, the author, can see where all ends meet.

So before you start polishing the windows to an empty view, first make sure you understand what it is in your story that compels you to tell it. Make sure you can see the all-important beginning, middle, and end. Understand exactly what motivates your characters in all their choices. Make sure it is clear to you the deeper meaning within your text.

Set these in order first, or the rest of the revision will not be meaningful or helpful. This is where a good writers group in invaluable. I'm so glad I've got a group that forces me to look deeper into my writing and clean from the inside out.

Revision

Writing the story is the fun part. The revision phase is not as enjoyable. Unfortunately, it is a step that must be taken.

After months and months, I’m ready to move on to a next project. Yet the old one is still there, like a bad cold that won’t go away. I’ve put in my time. I had fun developing it. Can’t I just be done with it?

Not if I want it published.

My critique group looked at it and had wonderful suggestions. Some were the obvious, slap-your-forehead, yeah-I-knew-that type of ideas. At other times, I wondered why those guys weren’t getting it. It’s so obvious to me. Evidently, it isn’t apparent to everyone. That kind of reality check is why I keep them around.

The fixes should be easy, a piece of cake. A week, maybe two then I can send it off to someone. At that point it will be out of my hands with nothing more I can do about it. I’ll have time to work on something else.

But two weeks then three pass and it’s still not done. Revision takes time.

Moving a work to publication is new to me. I think I know how to proceed. Pretty much, anyone who would consider putting this on the market wants it to be good, wants it clean. I think I’ve got story but that’s up to others to decide. The cleansing part is all mine and a necessity to move forward.

The grammar and spelling are easy to fix, the missed or extra word as well. You’d think spell check would have caught it but my critique group found more.

It’s the other that takes so much time. Tightening the language takes time.

Comments like “too much exposition” require a decision. Is it really too much? Does it really slow the story? If so, how much do I keep, what do I pitch out? It’s these kinds of things that take so much time. And why spend all this time now? The agent or editor will just have me do it again, to their liking.

Okay, that’s off my chest. I feel better now. Need to get back to the revision.

Take a Deep Breath, and Revise

By Julie Daines

By now you should be wrapping up your NaNoWriMo projects. I finished my 50K over the holiday weekend. *Wipes Brow*

The next step - Revisions!

Here are a few tips on revising that work for me:

-Let it rest for a few days. A week or two is best, so the themes can percolate.

-Read the last two or three chapters first--without making any changes--and then go back to chapter one. We know our characters so much better by the end of a book--what the main conflicts are, themes that have emerged, the character arc. Keeping the ending in mind will strengthen the beginning.

-See my post on using a timeline to keep track of everything. You can do a lot of jumping around during revisions, and this helps keep things straight.

-Don't be afraid to kill your darlings. You may have written something awesome, but that doesn't mean you can't write something better. If it doesn't fit, it will only cause blisters!

-GET FEEDBACK! Critique groups, beta readers... anything. And listen. If you don't know what advice to accept and what not to, read this post on Storyfix.

-Ask yourself why? Why did my character think that? Why does this upset her? Why did he just say that? Most first drafts are lacking in interiority. Let the reader understand what motivates your character, and what it is that your character really wants.

What are some of your tips for revising?

Receiving Critical Input

By Julie Daines

I had to interrupt my regularly scheduled NaNo to post a link to this fantastic article on the StoryFix blog. Every author or writer needs to read this great advice on accepting criticism, and choosing which criticisms to accept. 

Do it now.

Hurry!

Perfecting the First Chapter

By Julie Daines

I thought I'd add to Scott's excellent post about revising by touching a little on the all-important first chapter.

We all know how important the first chapter is in getting through the slush pile, but some writers can't seem to get past it. They spend months and months revising and editing it trying to get it perfect, but never get around to finishing the book.

That is where Scott's advice is so important. The best way to have a perfect first chapter is to FINISH THE BOOK. 

The first chapter sets up the whole novel. If the ending is unwritten, how can the first chapter set up the story to its full extent?

The first chapter should do several things:

1. Have a hook. Grab the reader’s attention and give them an idea of what to expect. But how can the writer know what the reader should expect until the work is completed as a whole?

2. Create a sense of voice. Voice takes time to develop. If you want a consistent voice, you have to write to the end. By the end of your story, you're voice will be organic and real. Then go back and fix the voice in the first chapter to make it consistent.

3. Use the perfect POV. Meaning that whichever point of view you choose to write from, it should be for a reason. And all the other elements in the story--setting, description, emotion--should be told only as they relate to the MC and the point of view. Sometimes it's hard to know if the point of view we've chosen is the right one for the story until we've gotten to the end of the book.

4. Establish the main problem of the story. According to Martine Leavitt, the best books must have the problem front and center. I've found for me, the problem I start out writing about doesn’t always end up being the most important one in the novel. That’s why it’s so important to know the end before the beginning can be perfected.

So, follow Scott’s advice. Finish your work. Let it sit. Then go back and revise the heck out of your first chapter. Your work will be stronger, more powerful, and more meaningful if you do.

For more advice on the first chapter, see my blog post here.

Be Wise. Revise.

by Scott Rhoades

Finally, after months and months of work, you're about to write your book's final chapter. This is an exciting moment. You've always dreamed of writing a novel, and in a few hours you'll be able to say you have. In the rush of much-deserved emotion and pride, it's easy to get ahead of yourself and start querying.

Three words: Don't do it.

Be proud. Be excited. Dream of success. But whatever you do, don't short circuit that success before you've had a chance to plug it in.

Many writers (points at self with both hands) get so excited about completing that first novel that they start querying the book before it's ready. This is a bad idea.

Many more writers know better and spend a couple of weeks intensely rereading and revising, and then they query. Still too early. Still a bad idea.

I've read that you should plan to spend as much time revising as you did writing. I've also read that you should plan to spend at least two or three times as long revising as you did writing. That's difficult advice to take. You love your book, and you don't want to wait to fulfill your dream of seeing it in print. Besides, the writing is the fun part. For many writers, the joy is in the creativity. Revising is drudgery. Writing is play. Revising is work.

But querying too early guarantees rejection. Not only are those too-early rejections discouraging, they also cut off potential markets that might be available to you if you wait until your book is truly ready. Most agents and editors won't look at something for a second time. That means, if you query too early, even an agent who loves that type of book becomes unavailable to you after rejecting you.

It's easy to fall into the trap of believing that your book is so good that you can get away with querying early, and revising once an agent or editor can point out the weak spots. But this industry is full of people who think we are the exception. A little secret: almost nobody is an exception. Even the very few writers who make millions have to revise--or pay somebody to do it for them.

Don't think of revision as work. Revision is where craft comes in. It's where you graduate from writer to Writer. It's where you go from sketch to painting.

Here are a few tips:

1. Put the manuscript away for a while.

If you revise immediately after finishing the last chapter, you're still too close to the work. You're still in the heat of the moment. Revising requires distance. You won't find mistakes when you're excited about what you wrote. You won't spot certain types of flaws while you are still so close to the work that you're actually reading what you think you wrote instead of the actual words on the page. Confusing passages or scenes will be clear because you know what you meant. Time and distance makes it easier to read as an editor instead of as the writer. I've heard people say to stick the manuscript in a drawer for a month, or a year, or whatever works for that writer. I know that stuff I haven't looked at for a long time practically throws its flaws at me when I pick it up again, and the longer it's been, the better I can revise. What do you do during the rest time? Start another book. Learn how to write a query. Research agents. Develop a marketing plan. Pay attention to your family. Read. Take an editing class.

2. Read in reverse.

A key element of revision is strengthening nouns and verbs, eliminating unnecessary adverbs and adjectives, and making sure every word is strong. That's hard to do when you get caught up in your own story and get excited by your writing. So start at the end of a scene and go backwards, scanning the words instead of reading the sentences. Don't worry about context. Just mark potentially weak words. You can go back and check them later to decide whether to keep them or change them.

3. Look for one thing at a time.

Look for adverbs. Adjectives. Weak nouns and verbs. Dull, purposeless dialogue. Repeated words. But don't look for all of them all at once. Trying to do a single comprehensive edit, especially in the early stages of revising, guarantees that you'll miss stuff, and that you'll get caught up in the story. Remember, distance is key. Don't read for anything except that one thing you're looking for. Use different colors to mark each type of potential problem.

4. Print it out.

It's so easy to edit your manuscript in your word processor. That's one of the great things about technology. Plus, paper costs money (not to mention printer ink costs--what's up with that?) and creates garbage. But you can thoroughly mark up a printout. More importantly, just the fact that the page looks different will help you find things you don't see in the writing tool you're used to looking at. If you really don't want to print it, at least paste scenes or chapters or troublesome passages into your email or Google Docs or some other thing that makes it look different.

5. Read it aloud.

Nothing helps you find awkward bits like reading aloud. Those of you in writing groups know that, no matter how much you polish your chapter before taking it to group, as soon as you start reading you find junk you thought you'd fixed, or that you would have fixed if you had noticed it. Never send out anything--sample chapters, a query, a synopsis--until you've read it out loud. Another thing that helps is using one of the free software programs that will read it to you. Listening to a dull emotionless computer voice helps you spot problems that are easily covered by a dramatic reading.

Every writer can add to this list (and I hope some of you do). There are also many books that will provide much more detail than I can in a single (albeit over-lengthy) blog post. Here are three books that I find useful:

• Self-Editing For Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King
• The First Five Pages: A Writer's Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile by Noah Lukeman
• Spunk & Bite by Arthur Plotnik

You could also do much worse than to read back through the excellent advice that has been posted on this blog. It's a treasure trove of good editing advice. And it's free.

One last personal note: Happy birthday, Granddad. I miss you.