Recently, many lovely friends have inquired about my book’s status. Are any agents reading it, am I working on a new book, and when will it be published? To which I reply: none, sort of, and Idonknow followed by a shoulder shrug. I usually add the vague and mysterious, I’m still revising.
While my husband believes this is code for watching old episodes of True Blood and taking long naps, it really does mean something. Over the next few blogs, I’ll attempt to explain what revising includes and why it’s more than fixing comma mistakes.
Writers and editors may have differing opinions, but to me revision encompasses all changes happening after the first draft. I’ll break it down into five parts: major overhaul, minor overhaul, beautification, first level clean up, and second level clean up. In theory, I would complete these steps in that order. In reality, I’ve been through them about twice and not in the same order. The process has me swimming in doubt, guilt, and madness. I’m quite certain, dear reader, that manuscript revision is one of Dante’s circles, somewhere between Gluttony and Fraud. Come be Virgil to my Dante (go here to brush up on your Inferno – I did).
Major Overhaul – If a first draft is the “everything and the kitchen sink” version, consider the first round of revisions the “fire sale” draft. Everything must go. This is when you realize a character killed in chapter 9 appears in chapter 19, or you’ve spent fifty pages describing a flashback from your main character’s history explaining the origins of a meaningless scar over their right ear. Or perhaps you’ve created so many intertwined sub-plots, untangling fishing line would take less time. As the author, you need to determine what matters and why. You may have crafted the perfect sentence, but if it doesn’t advance the story, it must go. This is also when new scenes get added to explain story gaps, like why the George Clooney saves the world in the last chapter. Chapters get moved around, characters get added, names get changed, anything can happen.
Minor Overhaul – This is when I fix everything that got broken during the major overhaul. Maybe some scenes aren’t needed, or a character will play a larger role in the plot. This is where I work on pacing, filling in minor plot gaps (like where did the murder weapon go), clarifying character motivations, maintaining name consistency, and making the timeline realistic.
Beautification – Once the plot flows smoothly and characters are doing what they should when they should, it’s time to massage the language. Think of a first draft as the framing of a house. The major and minor overhauls put in the plumbing, electrical, and finish up the walls and the roof. At this stage, the house would function like a house. You could live in it without getting wet while enjoying indoor plumbing and cable, but it wouldn’t be special or unique. Beautification is the finishing; painting the walls, adding the trim, putting in mahogany floors and Italian marble. I look for places where I can use imagery and metaphors to enhance the plot. For example, I use a lot of food and weather descriptions in The Cake Effect to add layers of meaning to the story. This is also when I look for more efficient and poetic ways to phrase sentences, more descriptive word choices, and places I can use symbolism and images to play with the themes.
First Level Clean Up is just that; fixing spelling, grammatical, and continuity errors, removing weasel words like that and just, and eradicating passive voice wherever possible. Many people refer to this as line editing. Each sentence is analyzed for correctness. It isn’t glamorous, but it is imperative if you want a readable final manuscript.
Second Level Clean Up is finding anything missed in the First Level Clean Up. While repetitive and mind-numbing, it is no less important than the major overhaul. How many times have you read best selling novels only to find typos? This drives me bonkers. If my book ever makes it into this world, I want it error free.
Next week, dear reader, I’ll discuss the sisyphean challenges.
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