Hi friends! Long time no posts – sorry about that. But I’m saluting my cup of mocha to you from the depths of my gloomy writing cave somewhere in Revision Land. Yep, I finished the first draft of my WIP, and since I’m moving into my first round of revisions I thought I’d share my revision process.
Now. I am always revising. . .my revision process. (Ha. Oh, the irony). So what I say I do now might not be what I do next month. . .but that’s good, because your entire process should always be changing as you grow as a writer and discover what works for you.
And. . .what works for me might not work for you. Everybody’s different. Some actually just draft the first half of their book, edit their first half, draft the second half, and then edit the second half. That’s definitely not how I revise. I’m a person who needs at least a shred of certainty when I’m writing (because, ha, almost nothing is certain when you’re writing a book). And for me, that shred of certainty is my first draft. It’s my starting point, it’s my cornerstone, and it reassures me that I do have words on the page (yay!) and I can edit those words as much as I want to.
Okay. So. The first thing I do when I finish my first draft is close the computer (duh) and at least try to let it sit for a little bit, so I can come back with fresh eyes, a mental break, and hopefully some new ideas. This time I tried to give it a week.
I lasted twelve hours. (Ha!)
As you’ve probably guessed, I’m a very impatient person. And I was starting to feel excited to begin my second draft, so that’s when I knew that it was time for me to start. And the first thing I wrote was my edit letter.
What is an edit letter, you ask? Well, I say, it is, obviously, a letter. That you basically write to yourself after you’ve read/skimmed over your book and now your head is filled with things to fix and add and cut and AGGGHHHH.
Writing is rewriting, friends.
So for this WIP (and this will most likely change for my next book), I divided my edit letter into five categories: characters, Parts One and Two, Part Three, Part Four, and Part Five.
As you’ve probably guessed, my book is written with five “parts”, and since each part chronicles a new jump in my MC’s journey, it was just easier for me to organize my (loooong) list of edits that way. As for my “characters” section, this is where I jotted down things like the following: Mary Sue seems flat in Chapter Seven. Billy Joe’s arc doesn’t peak where it’s supposed to. Lily Mae’s introduction doesn’t correspond with her character. (Sorry about the names – my brain is too tired to be creative right now, okay??).
So, after I have my edit letter all written out, and I have my pen and notebook ready to jot down further thoughts, I immediately copy and paste my entire book into a new document, which I title Draft Two. That way, if I delete a scene that I later come back to and think: why the heck did I DO THAT?? – I can easily tap into my Draft One doc and copy and paste the scene back into my Draft Two doc. Plus, it’s cool to save each step of the way so you can come back to it later and see how much of a journey and how much hard work it took for your book to make it from beginning to end.
After I’ve pasted everything, I immediately sift through my document and retitle every chapter “Chapter 000”. This might seem weird (why no numbers??) but things are usually shifting around a lot in revisions – I delete a chapter, I combine chapters, I mess with the chapters – so that way with every change I don’t have to go back through the document and edit the numbers accordingly – because when my chapter numbers are out of order I immediately am like NOOOO I CAN’T WORK LIKE THIS.
Okay, maybe not that dramatic. But still.
So. I’ve just written myself an edit letter. I’ve copied and pasted a bunch of stuff. I’ve prepared myself as much as I can (correction – I’ve procrastinated enough) – so I roll up my sleeves, take a gigantic breath, and plunge into my draft.
Of course, I immediately cringe at how bad it is, and think many things, such as the following: Why did I write this scene? and, Darn this is soooo cheesy and, MARY SUE WHY ARE YOU ACTING LIKE LILY MAE THAT IS WRONG AND NOW I HAVE TO REWRITE THIS WHOLE CHAPTER. . .
Ahem. Sorry.
But! I’m fixing it, I’m fixing it, I’m fixing it. . .Chant that to yourself whenever you feel discouraged, or you can’t stop the mental slew of, This. Is. So. Bad. And most of all. . .DON’T FALL INTO THE COMPARISON TRAP. It’s the evil snare waiting to catch all authors who keep peering onto other desks, worrying when their colleagues are so far ahead. Remember – no book is finished without a first draft. Or a second draft. Or a third draft. Every. Single. Published. Book would have gotten nowhere if not for all of the revising and stressing and obsessing that the authors did.
Here’s a wonderful quote on this:
“Comparison is a difficult snare to dodge. But you’re on your own wild, luminous journey. No two people’s paths are the same, and that’s what makes the adventure beautiful.”
– Rebecca Ross
I love this – and it’s so true. Wherever you are in your writing journey, whether you’re in the middle of revisions like I am, whether you’re still drafting or you’re finally gathering the courage to send your first query, don’t fall into the comparison trap, because your journey is completely, totally, and only yours.
Just keep writing.
*What about you guys? What’s your revision process?*
I really like your process! For me one of the most helpful things to do is actually read through the whole book once without making any corrections at all. It’s super hard (at least for me) to do that, and I have the tendency to want to make corrections immediately, but I have found it very helpful. You have been focusing on writing a small part of your book lately, and you come back to edit and you realize that you don’t remember putting this small detail in there, or maybe you forgot a subtle hint you dropped early in the book. Refreshing your memory on the whole book is very helpful before editing and can actually be enjoyable–it’s like taking a step back at the piece of art you’ve finally finished. Then I go through and edit and change things.