Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Neve Maslakovic on January 8, 2012 at 10:47am

...cutting, pasting, and reworking of scenes

This. Plus a lot of trimming, especially in the early parts of the book. And fact checking. And tweaking the plot here and there with a well-placed sentence or two... I find it helps to read the MS on paper when editing, though it does seem wasteful when you're going through many drafts.

Permalink Reply by Petrea Burchard on January 8, 2012 at 10:52am

I'm with Neve--all those things she mentioned--and I especially agree that reading it on paper helps a great deal (I recycle it as scratch paper).

Also reading out loud. An amazing tool.

More than anything else, though: time. The more time I can leave the manuscript between drafts, the fresher read I can give it, and that gives me the ability to see the places where it needs fixing.

Permalink Reply by Neve Maslakovic on January 8, 2012 at 11:23am

More than anything else, though: time. The more time I can leave the manuscript between drafts, the fresher read I can give it, and that gives me the ability to see the places where it needs fixing.

Ah, so true, Petrea! Even taking just a week off seems to do wonders for getting a fresh perspective on things.

Permalink Reply by Regina Y. Swint on January 8, 2012 at 12:02pm

I so agree with you ladies.  And with reading out loud.  I prefer reading the words on the paper to on the screen.  Something about that just seems easier to me.  Maybe I'm just old-fashioned.

@Petrea...How much time between drafts do you think is a good amount of time?  If I leave it alone for too long, I'd be afraid that I'd stop caring about it completely, I think.

Permalink Reply by Petrea Burchard on January 8, 2012 at 1:01pm

The time thing depends. I've been forced to leave a book alone as long as a year, which I don't recommend. But a month is good, if you can swing it. (Work on something else, maybe?)

Permalink Reply by Regina Y. Swint on January 8, 2012 at 2:02pm

Thanks, Petrea.  That's great advice.  Work on something else.  I should work more and rest less.  It's not as if I wouldn't have other things to work on while another manuscript cools off for a month or so.  :)

Permalink Reply by Dana Alexander on January 8, 2012 at 4:37pm

I agree with you Petrea on all points, but especially time.  It is indeed useful to give the novel some time away.  For me it creates opportunities for fresh, sometimes more exciting scenes and dialogue that can't come when I am knee deep in editing multiple times over. Sometimes it's a couple of days or a week before something useful hits me that I can use.

Permalink Reply by Autumn on January 26, 2012 at 10:14am

I definitely agree about time ~ I recently started going through some older pieces and - aside from surprising myself with what I found (even to the point of: I don't remember writing this! lol!) - I find I have a better perspective and clearer focus especially on areas that I thought worked well! 

Permalink Reply by Regina Y. Swint on January 8, 2012 at 11:01am

Hey, Katie!

I'm not an expert on the best way to go about revisions, but sounds like I'm the one who does the cutting, pasting and reworking kind of revisions.  I guess they work fine.  I've only done one book, so far, and I'm working on revisions now.  I'll have to see what the editor thinks when I'm done.  I've learned that I MUST listen to my editor.

~Regina.  rys

Permalink Reply by Laura McHugh on January 8, 2012 at 12:05pm

I got some revision tips from Jessica Morrell's book Thanks, But This Isn't For Us. I don't adhere strictly to her model, but it provides some structure for the seemingly undending editing process. She recommends at least three revisions, with checklists for each one. The first revision addresses plot, timeline, and scenes--are scenes necessary, in the right order, does the plot work, etc. Revision two focuses on pacing, conflict, consistency, dialogue, settings, and several other things. The third revision tackles more detailed copyediting--choosing the right words and images, varying sentence length, removing cliches, etc.  Sort of a big to little approach, so the manuscript becomes more polished with each iteration.

Permalink Reply by Regina Y. Swint on January 8, 2012 at 12:20pm

Thanks, Laura!  That's great info.  And a good model to start with.  That big to little approach sounds like a keeper.

Permalink Reply by Stephanie Renée dos Santos on January 8, 2012 at 12:32pm

I agree I think by the third revision one should print out the whole manuscript, read it aloud to yourself, making notes and corrections on paper first.  It's true when you read it out loud and on paper you hear and see things that don't work or need reworking.  After doing this, I go back and read aloud again from the computer copy making changes and referencing the printed copy with edits.   And like others have already said, "time away from the manuscript".   After a month or two, it's fresh again, errors stick out, the creative brain rests from that project; work on story stories, another novel idea, read, experiment with flash fiction pieces in the interim.  I am finding the more you go over the manuscript the better it gets with each revision, novels can be a marathon, you got to train and keep going, mile after mile...

Also, after reading a recent article in Poets & Writers, I am using a new unit form of writing, where I write for 45 minutes, then take a 15 minute break, writing in three block hours in the morning and late afternoon.  Meditating before hand and doing yoga stretches during some of the 15 minute breaks.  This way of writing is allowing me to cover double the amount of pages I am able to edit/rewrite in a day, try it out.  The article is in the Nov/Dec. 2011 issue, "A Writer's Daily Habit" by Ellen Sussman.  Best to you!

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