Revising, Revising, and How to Make it Through
By Heather Webb | August 25, 2016 |
www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com
There are some who are lucky enough to write a novel and make it beautiful in two or three drafts. (Secretly, I loathe them. Why can’t I do that?!) Most of us, on the other hand, spend months and months, sometimes years, perfecting our works. By the time we’ve seen that story seven or eight or twenty times, not only are we too close to the story, but we may even hate it a little. How do we push through the weariness, bleariness, and general over-saturated brain fuzzies? Well, I like to:
Assign Parts, Read Aloud—Without doubt there is someone in your life who loves you (or at the very least is bribable), who will gladly practice reading troublesome scenes aloud with you. If that doesn’t work, read aloud and record your own voice. You’re bound to hear stilted, unnatural dialogue, pacing issues, and clunky phrasing.
Edit Chapters Out of Order—This is my favorite trick. Once I’ve swept through my story a hundred times, not only am I tired of it, but my eyes glaze over and I tend to anticipate the chain of events ahead rather than focusing on an aspect that needs fine-tuning. Reading chapters out of order prevents you from being swept away in the storyline. It gives you a new perspective—as if you’ve been dropped into the middle of the scene. To take this a step further, print out each chapter at a time. Reading type in ink really makes issues jump out from the page.
Read Other Books—When I’m frustrated and disgusted and fed up with my manuscript, the best cure is to read someone else’s beautifully crafted, or at least, highly entertaining novel. It takes me away, out of my head and into another realm. All of that research that says reading is directly correlated to writing skills is TRUE. You may find inspiration in someone else’s pages, or gain insight as to how to solve a craft issue. You may just be taking a much needed break. Don’t say you don’t have time. MAKE TIME. Reading fiction is the single most important way you can do to improve your craft.
Edit With Specifics in Mind—If you’re looking for one thing at a time, you’re more likely to narrow down an issue. Global edits are tough—it’s difficult to pinpoint smaller issues—and sets you up for failure. The character’s arc is weak? Buzz through the manuscript and highlight the exact moments the character changes. There should be a steady progression so that when the big finale comes in the end, there’s a WABAM climax moment of clarity/change in perspective/ shift in behavior. Perhaps the voice isn’t as strong as it can be. This is a perfect time to read your pages aloud. Hearing the characters thoughts and feelings fill a room can really help you get a grip on who that character is and what they should sound like.
Solicit a New, Strong Reader—Sometimes all you need is a fresh take from someone who knows nothing about the project. They may be able to point out exactly what’s missing or needs attention.
Let it Rest—This is by far the best idea and the advice you will hear most often. But it works. Distance makes the heart grow fonder and the vision clearer and all that. Take a breather. Let the elements of the story soak into your brain and stew in their magical way. You’ll come back to your manuscript a little calmer, less likely to set it on fire, and with a clearer idea of where you need to take it. If you’re under deadline this is much harder, but stepping away for even a day and doing something you love to fill the well can be incredibly useful.
None of those work for you? Take out your stick out and BEAT IT INTO SUBMISSION. You can do this. You WILL do this. You are not a whiner, or a quitter, or a talentless hack. Now get to work on that manuscript! Shine it up and make me proud.
How do you approach a book you’re sick to death of editing?
Heather Webb is the USA Today bestselling and award-winning author of historical fiction. As a freelance editor and an adjunct in a MFA in Creative Writing program, Heather has helped many writers sign with agents and go on to sell at market. When not writing, she feeds her cookbook addiction, geeks out on history and pop culture, and looks for excuses to head to the other side of the world. To date, her books have been translated to seventeen languages.
Hallo fellow military brat (do they still frown on climbing the water towers?).
Recently I discovered ProWritingAid. It’s a nifty little tool that highlights problem spots among a number of categories, or all at once. When I’m sick of reading my own stuff, I drop in one chapter at a time, ignore everything but what the tool highlights, and fix those pesky problems like repeated words or long sentences (killer in the middle grade world).
I also do a scan of first words in each paragraph to check for repeats, then do the same for first words in each sentence within the paragraphs. Again, ignoring the story and focusing on first words. That alone cleans up a lot of problems.
I’ll have to check into ProWritingAid, Ron. Sounds great!
Also check out AutoCrit, Mike. I’ve used it for articles and shorter posts, but now starting to use it for manuscript chapters.
Thanks, Kathy. Will do!
I’m a fan of Autocrit and Grammerly – combined, they pick up tons of errors.
I have this and they have one specifically designed for Scrivener. It is a great tool.
Great tips, Heather. The one that’s helped me the most is editing with specifics in mind. It’s easier to resist getting swept up in the story if I have a single thing on which to concentrate. It may be the arc of a certain secondary character, whether I’m using multiple senses when I describe place/atmosphere, how often an image or motif appears, how the various storylines are balanced. With my current ms I’m adding exercises from Don Maass’s Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook and from various WU posts.
Bonus: All these iterations make the idea of counting the number of times I’ve revised the ms meaningless. ;-)
“edit with specifics in mind” is probably the best advice and the hardest one to make yourself do when you’ve already been through more than one revision of your novel. I’m wrestling with that right now in a ms I’ve already re-written at least twice and will undoubtedly have to go through a couple more times. Part of me cringes at the thought of multiple editing passes, but I know it is what will achieve the best result. Good thing I love the story concept of this novel. 8-)
Heather–Writers who follow the advice you provide here will be doing themselves a huge service. For me, nothing beats leaving “it” alone for as long as possible–stop picking at it like a scab! Time provides distance, for which there’s no substitute.
And reading what you’ve written out loud. When I do this, and come to a section that’s hard to speak or to understand, I know something’s wrong. It can be helpful as well (but potentially very sobering) to read aloud from a book you really like, to hear rather than see what makes it so good.
But the truth is, writers fall between two extremes: those happy few who breeze through from start to finish with nary a speed bump (think Mozart’s scores, virtually free of any evidence the composer ever changed a thing), and those like me who keep finding “things” up to and after the file leaves home for college, so to speak (Beethoven’s scores are so crowded with deletions, editions, etc., as to be all but unreadable).
Wonderful post, Heather. Thanks a lot.
Barry, I couldn’t help thinking of Mozart and Beethoven either.
Like you, time away helps the most to gain some distance.
Heather, I’m not yet sick of my story but I wish I could know the things I know now 5 yrs ago and the things I don’t know that I need to know now. Wish it weren’t so hard and thank you for the great tips, esp. about beating it with a stick! Haha. I’ll never give up. I’m being a more intentional this time round, having a clearer idea what I need to do.
After I planned Book 1, I wrote a full draft beginning to end.
Then I realized there were a few structural problems, and I took the time to re-do the plan. Most of the material I already had belonged somewhere in the final draft, but the writing was execrable.
Then I took my new organization, and rewrote the whole book, one scene at a time, but taking care to make each scene perfect before I moved on. When I had about 40 of these, I started a blog, and started posting a finished scene every week – and somehow that worked. I’d used up my buffer by the time I got close to the end, so if I ever blogged a novel again, I would start with a bigger buffer!
I put each scene through a complete workout until it flows, almost like a short story, before I move on. I don’t go back unless I’ve discovered a timing problem (there were three tiny ones I had to straighten out before I published).
I call myself an extreme plotter (I use Dramatica) – and it works for me, though I’m not sure it would work for anyone else – because I can only hold a relatively small amount of plot in my head at a time, and this way I know the pieces will connect up smoothly.
The to do list I put each scene through is brutal, but it’s become comfortable – and now each requirement seems to click when I’ve finished it, and I can move on.
Most of my ‘method’ won’t be altered until I finish the whole trilogy, so a half-million words, written over 15 (+ however many more years it takes me to finish the second and third volumes), will feel ‘of a piece.’ I don’t want the work to show, only the final product, and I was very happy with the way the first book turned out: my readers don’t seem to see the seams.
I guess that’s what happens when an idea grips you and won’t let go. Book 2 is well underway. Hope it doesn’t take quite as long!
You absolutely blow me away. I’m working on a series of novellas. Dithered away at Book 1 for over a year. 40,000 words, people!!
Your method sounds great!
I don’t recommend my method (though I blog about it). It is designed to compensate for a damaged brain – and is a LOT harder than necessary.
There must be an easier way – but it won’t work for me.
On the other hand, I really like the results. Shrug.
What I needed to read today, Heather. Thanks! My new resolution is to figure out how to produce better rough drafts the first time around. I tend to speed write, but I’m weary of the never-ending clean up that my fast and furious drafts seem to require. Luckily, I’ve recently discovered that old dogs LOVE learning new tricks. I can do this!
Nice piece, Heather. As I tweeted not too long ago, “Nobody hates a book as much as the author who just launched it.”
My third novel is dropping in mid-Sept. I can assure you it will be years before I, myself, crack open a copy. (I must have read the damn manuscript ten times during the final proofing/formatting process — and that was AFTER it was professionally edited and proofed. Fittingly, the title of the novel is ‘Sick to Death.’ )
Best,
GL
Heather, editing out of order is the most revealing to me. Sometimes just picking random paragraphs or sentences things jump out at me. I thought it was my weird technique. Thanks for making it acceptable!
Great guidelines and just what I needed to read today. Thank you!
I’m currently in stick mode. Thanks for some good and timely advice.
All great advice, Heather. And a break from the manuscript often helps me see it with fresh eyes. I know the story, but if it’s not on the page, then I haven’t done my work. Writing a book can be compared to building a structure, everything must fit and be in the right place. Thanks.
Great advise, Heather. I’m an advocate for the “Let it rest” idea, and I also believe that no novel need go to waste, even ones we put away in a drawer. Instead, why not think of them like wine that just needs different periods to ferment.
I’m presently reconnecting with the third novel I wrote, which I’ve been away from for more than 2 years. I’d moved on to write a 4th novel, and now I’ve put that away while I write a 5th. But as I’m also taking some time to go back to this third novel, which I’d put away as “lost”, I’m finding I’ve gained perspective, not just on how to flag some glaring writing errors that I’ve learned to identify from 2 more years of practice and education, but also, on just what this novel is. It turns out this is a coming of age novel set in a dystopic epic fantasy world, not an epic fantasy novel. That’s a huge distinction because, all the complex plotting is dead weight that sinks the story, an attempt to turn it into something that it’s not, thus eclipsing the central importance of the protagonist’s journey of change. With this fresh perspective, I’m excitedly piecing together a reworking that will zero in on the coming of age aspect, while letting the epic fantasy world backdrop add uniqueness and flavor to the story, a spice rather than a main dish.
There is just no waste — it’s all lessons learned, and stories, like an oyster’s pearls, are immutable, even if it takes a long time to figure out what they are and how to finalize them.
Very timely for me as I’m feeling the drudge of editing work which at the moment, doesn’t feel very creative. Decided to break up periods of working on chapters (yes, printed out. Much better to see issues that way) by writing some free writes just for the fun of it.
Heather, great advice. I’ve started out by beating other people’s novels with a stick, for writing better than me (the nerve!). I did a couple of editing rounds with my latest, on screen, let it rest for a couple of weeks, and have just begun reading it aloud from hard copy.
It’s clear now that if I kill my darlings, I will have at least three paragraphs of good stuff left, so what was a 90,000-word book will become flash (in the pan) fiction. That cruelty aside, it is fascinating to note what problems you see (and hear) from reading from a printout rather than the screen. The music in your mind (and it ain’t Mozart, Barry) is different than what hits your ears.
Love the idea of editing chapters out of sequence too—I’m going to try that with a section of the book. I’ve got some beta readers on it now as well—maybe I should have them act it out as a Bollywood film, so at least there’s jaunty music. Thanks!
Heather, these are all great suggestions – in particular, editing chapters out of order and editing with specifics in mind. Amen to this entire post!
Another variation of reading aloud that I use is to play my manuscript back with text-to-speech software. I use Free Natural Reader, but you can also do this with a Kindle. If my writing sounds decent being read by a freaking robot, I figure I’m doing okay. And the parts that don’t work sound even worse this way, which makes me attack them with a vengeance!
Great post, Heather. What I found works well in my countless edit passes is one you mention – editing chapters out of order. Specifically, what I find works well is to focus on chapters to which I feel drawn at the time. Perhaps I feel in the mind of one particular character or find myself contemplating a particular story thread or theme. If so, then I will purposely seek out chapters aligning with my mood. Tackling the ms that way makes it easier to focus, as I find myself eager to make the chapters under review as strong as possible. Eventually I work my way through all the chapters since my focus, as with most writers, tends to shift naturally over time.
Another thing that worked with my first book came late in the process. Despite having read, reread and revised countless times, I ultimately blocked out an entire week simply to read the manuscript from start to finish with one specific goal — that of eliminating redundant thoughts. Not repeated words (though that is important too), but anywhere simple phrases or sentences basically restated a description or mood already expressed. For example, those instances when you’ve “shown an emotion” on the page but then go on to describe it in the narrative as well. Since it was rather late in the editing process, I was surprised how many examples I found. In the end, the exercise greatly improved the overall pacing. While in a few cases, I found the extra emphasis worthwhile, most of the time the words were simply extraneous, little eddies that broke the flow of the narrative.
I think what worked in the exercise was keeping a solid focus on the reason for the dedicated pass through the ms. One can get so attached to the flow of words that it becomes easy to convince yourself every little nuance is necessary. But when the clear objective was “to eliminate redundancy,” it became much easier for me to recognize – and discard – words and phrases that added nothing to the flow. In the end, from that one exercise, I eliminated over 3,000 words from a 90,000+ word manuscript. The result was a tighter narrative, and I never once found myself missing anything or feeling I’d stripped anything of importance from the tale.
Great, usable advice, Heather. But then again, I would expect nothing less from you! Thanks.
I will take printing it out one step further by changing the font. I prefer to proof my stuff on paper, (probably because I grew up working on typewriters) by changing the font I’m less likely to glance over scenes I’ve read a thousand times and have memorized. Changing the font also points out the glaring typos because there’s always one bugger stuck in there to the bitter end.
I’ve never thought of changing the font! Thanks for sharing.
Great editing tips here Heather!
Thanks much for this!
Keeping this post on my reading menu to remind myself of your awesome tips as I hunker down in revision hell with my 2nd novel — One that, if it doesn’t kill me, will make me monumentally proud to have finished.
Thanks for these great tips, I have quoted them to a student in college English in hopes they will help her to know that 99% of us must struggle to improve our drafts.
I am in my last week of finish in my ten year effort to complete my novel manuscript. The entire work is in 10th draft but some chapters are in their hundredth draft. One thing helps in a scene or chapter revision is to revisit my early feelings at writing the scene and my enthusiasm for the character
I am writing a traditional mystery under the series label Dog Leader Mysteries.