novel revision in progess

am i doing this right??

The only thing I’ve been doing this past month is novel revisions!! Well, the only thing writing-related. I’ve also been searching out sunlight, cuddling with cats, wedding planning, and many other things, but that’s not what this newsletter is about.

So, how does one revise (edit) a novel? How are you supposed to revise a novel?

I have no idea! But this is how I’m doing it.

Draft 1: Sh** draft.

Get it all down on paper! Since I’ve been revising already-created drafts of things for so long, I haven’t had to face a blank page for a while, which is nice because they are terrifying. Draft 1 is for getting everything out on paper and not slowing down. My mantra for first drafts is, first drafts are supposed to be awful! I keep the phrase “write sh**” in a loop on my head when writing first drafts, otherwise I’d never get anything out. It’s also the draft for playing around, switching tenses because I can’t decide which one to write in, and writing a lot of [insert funny joke here; do pun research] type of notes.

Draft 2: Structuring draft.

I will not let anyone but myself read my first drafts, so I’m the one that goes back into my first draft to clean it up and make it flow better. I only use outlines occasionally, so first drafts often serve as my outline. Now it’s time to add a sensible plot, figure out structure, and somewhat figure out character arcs. After this draft, it’s time for readers!

(Confession: I am not sure exactly what the difference between beta readers, alpha readers, critique partners, and all the other editing people buzzwords are but I know whatever mine are called they are great.)

After this draft, I recruit one or two of my trusted writer friends to read my draft and critique it for large issues. Not so much scene or sentence-level issues, but the big, gaping plot holes or nonsensical character moments. I pretty much always send my draft with a sheet of directed questions to my readers, so they know the kind of feedback I’m looking for.

Then I get the feedback back, meditate on the feedback while I go through the five stages of grief before eventually coming back around to acceptance, and finally get to work again.

Draft 3: Another restructuring draft.

Same but different! I take all of my readers’ feedback and will often outline how to apply it. I do not have the most efficient or organized way of doing this. I generally use a collection of a word doc outline, comments in the original document, and handwritten notes in my current notebook.

This draft is one of my favourite stages of revision. I generally know where the story is going and I’m getting really familiar with the characters. I can start recognizing when something a character said seems not right based on what I now know about them, which makes rewriting much easier.

This draft I will usually do a full rewrite, even if some scenes and sentences remain the same. I have my two drafts side by side, and slowly rewrite the entire thing, integrating feedback, switching up dialogue, and moving around scenes and tightening up arcs.

Once this draft is done, back to readers (beta this time?) again. Since I’m asking for volunteer time from friends, I will often strategize how to use my readers. I’ll have one or two read draft 2, and then send draft 3 back to those readers to see if they can notice improvements, and then add in some fresh blood.

I always (try to) send each of my drafts to a new reader. I think having someone look at my draft with fresh eyes every time is important, because they don’t have the history with previous drafts and can read the current draft for what it is. It’s an entirely new perspective, and that feedback is invaluable.

For this draft revision, I send out my feedback questionnaire again, this time asking for more specifics than plot and structure: does this scene work? Would this character say that? Does this sentence flow okay?

Draft 4: Details draft (current draft!)

I haven’t gotten this far in any of my novel revisions very much, so it’s kind of new for me. For my current novel revision of Empty Cities, I took all the notes from my readers (one old, one new) and created a detailed outline. I also felt like I needed to do this because improving setting and timing was the main feedback I received, so I needed to keep track of when things were happening in the novel, especially since this novel takes place over a fairly short time frame (one university semester). Because this draft was about adding detail, I also did a bunch more research to help me flesh that out.

This draft the structure and arcs are pretty much in place, and the moving around/deletion and creation of scenes is pretty much done. Now I’m adding detail to setting, cleaning up a character arc that’s a thorn in my side, and fixing weird sentences and overused words (ironically, apparently I’ve used the word cliche too often). This is also the first draft where I’m not doing a full rewrite, since that usually introduces more typos and such. Instead I’m working in a completed draft and editing that.

So far, I’ve revised nine chapters of around 31 (over 25k words!!), so I still have a ways to go, but my goal is to finish by June and I’m on track! I said I would finish at least 15k by March 29, so by that metric I’m ahead.

After this revision is complete, I could see going through the draft again, maybe with Word’s text-to-speech feature (nothing like hearing your work read out loud to immediately find things to correct), and then to another set of readers (one new, one old). Hopefully at that point they just say, “Yes, this is awesome, everything’s perfect!” (ha).

And then…?

I don’t know! When you Google “how many drafts should I write before I query (submit to publishers) my book” you get a million different answers including, “just send it out when it feels right.” Right now, I feel like I’m getting close to where I want this book to be. And who knows, maybe I’ll just send it out and see what happens.

And do you know what comes after you get an agent or publisher?

More revisions!!!!!!!!!

For more reading on revision, check out gothic horror writer Natalie Kikic’s revision process. She talks more about her revision process from feedback from her agent, and is a bit more detailed on every step. (Honestly I can’t remember what I do when I first get feedback back; I think cry or rage?) But I do use a lot of these strategies as well!

Happy April!

Alyssa