I'd Rather Be Revising

Writing is like driving in a convertible, with the top down on a gorgeously sunny day, singing along to the tunes blasting from the radio. 

Revising is creeping along in a snowstorm without snow tires, with visibility close to zero, knowing there's a thick layer of black ice that will send you spinning off into the ditch if you're not extra careful.

Writing is slapping paint on the wall with a roller.

Revising is using a detail brush to paint around antique window fixtures when you ran out of masking tape for coverup.

Writing is grabbing whatever's in the fridge and throwing it into the soup pot.

Revising is making delicate frosting roses for a four-tier wedding cake.

Writing is emotional.

Revising is analytical.

Writing is pantsing.

Revising is plotting.

Writing is freedom.

Revising is discipline.

When I think about revising, I get nervous.  I worry I'm going to rub the magic glow off my story when I think I'm polishing it to a high shine.

I do my best to avoid jumping into the revisions right away.  I prefer circling around it, gathering my courage while I create a plan of attack.  I start by analyzing each chapter to see if I accomplished what I wanted – and to see if things can be further developed or expanded.  I almost always discover clues my pantser self left behind—something that blew out the window during the initial wild ride of drafting.  It's like a treasure hunt, finding great little nuggets that make the story so much more than I'd hoped.

But I have to admit, revising has its terrifying moments, when it seems like the more you fix, the less you accomplish.  There's always that moment, like when you're packing to move an entire apartment, when you declare with supreme confidence, "There's not that much to do!"  A couple hours later, you're on the floor, whimpering, wondering how you could have been so delusional.  There's actually fourteen times more to do than you initially estimated, because all the "clues" left behind during the writing phase have multiplied AND plot threads have tangled up into a big messy ball of confusion. 

Yes, at this point, it seems like your manuscript is sending you death threats, because the revising is trying to kill you.

So how do you get through those moments?  The easiest thing, of course, is to give up, followed by whining, crying, and calling sympathetic friends to tell them you're looking online to find a circus to join so you never have to hear the word "revision" again.

Since I know I'm not circus material, the best way to get through revisions is to make a workable plan.  I prefer to think of it as a funnel, starting with the big stuff and working down to the smaller stuff.  Kinda like going from "super-size" to "bite-size".

So if there's a scene that needs to be added, I do that first.  It feels more like the glorious, freeform writing stage, which tricks my brain into thinking everything is going to be fun and games.  It's like urging the family pet into the car to go to the vet, completely unaware it's coming back without its reproductive abilities.  What it doesn't know ahead of time won't hurt anyone.

Once the big chunks are written and polished and inserted into their place in the manuscript, then I can go through and take care of specific trouble areas.  These can be the "WTF?" questions asked by a beta reader or agent/editor, or they may be ones you notice yourself since you haven't read this masterpiece for a while.

It feels really good to check these off the To Do list, and it boosts your confidence to an incredible level.  This is usually the stage when you think, "This revision is going so well, I'll have it done BEFORE my deadline".  Remember this moment, because it's the last bit of happiness you will experience until you reach the very end of your journey. 

This is where the nitpicky detail work begins, and you'll feel like you are carving Mt. Rushmore with a dull butter knife.  You'll be tired, and exhausted, and your brain will throw itself on the ground and have the most epic of temper tantrums, and you try to convince yourself the merciful thing to do is just gloss over this part so you can stumble to the finish line.

But don't do that.  Grit your teeth and keep putting one foot in the front of the other.  Go through your manuscript and rip out all those words you love so much that you play favorites with them, excluding other, stronger words.  Try not to create NEW favorite repeater words in the process.  See if you can replace a multitude of adverbs with more descriptive, concrete words.  Polish those opening and closing sentences in each chapter so that the book is unputdownable.  Use spellcheck one more time, and let the "Find" feature dredge up spacing mishaps.

Revising is delicate, detailed work.  It requires patience, a steady hand, and tons of stamina.  Once I realize it hasn't killed me, I take an amazed look at what I've accomplished.  I'm thrilled at what a high-shine my manuscript has, holding my hand up to protect my corneas.  Even better, I've learned so many new skills, the next revision process is a little more streamlined, a little less menacing. 

Whew!  After all that dedicated work, it's time for a reward.  I'm thinking a ride in the writing convertible, chasing down a new story, is just what I need right now.

Comments

[Maureen Betita]

How can you make me feel optimistically energized about it and totally bewildered and ready to run off a cliff at the same time?

Oh. That's right, because that is the reality of this stage!

I'm working on agent revision notes at the moment and finding it a much more meticulous task than I thought it would be. Better, I guess to hear "fix this pronoun" than "fix the conflict" ...

Sigh. So tired of pronouns, already.

Maureen

[Terri Osburn]

It's like you ripped this blog out of my head. Except there are evidently no metaphors in my head so you revised it and made it better. *sigh*

I meant to attack my MS in the way you describe, then lost my way and tried to do it all at once. No idea how I ventured so far off the path. Since life has turned a bit crazy (right when I had planned for NO crazy) I'm stepping back for now. Due to circumstances, there was no distance between me and this first MS before revisions.

It's time we take a break and see other stories. Just for a while.

[Donna Cummings]

Terri, I love that "It's time we take a break and see other stories". That's one of the best ways to get your mind back in the revision game. Nothing like a little sibling rivalry!

I've tried to do the revisions all at once before, and that was when I REALLY wanted to run off to the circus. I've also tried going from small to big, but then ended up having to re-do some of the small items after drafting a new scene.

You do have a lot going on right now, so I think it's good to step back and give yourself a chance to focus on the "crazy" that's appeared in your life. :) Just make sure you keep notes so you can put it in a new story!

[Donna Cummings]

Maureen, somehow my comment to your post disappeared. Aaugh! So now I have to revise my original thoughts -- LOL

I didn't mean to cause duelling reactions in you about revising! But it can be both maddening and exhilarating sometimes. I'm glad you got your agent's revision notes. It's good to have that level of edits, since it increases your chances of intriguing an editor. :) It also means your story is in good shape, and you're essentially doing "tweaks".

[Maureen Betita]

Donna - Don't encourage Terri to read other books. She views then through a lense of "I can't do that...I'm not good enough..."

Let's tackle her, take her good author books away and make her read crap for a while.

And thanks, you have an encouraging viewpoint of the revising. And it's going fine. So far!

[Donna Cummings]

Oh, my bad, Maureen. LOL I misinterpreted Terri's seeing "other stories" to mean other stories of HERS!

And I'm really glad to hear your revising is going well. It's such a different process than we're used to, but it's a great way to learn how to improve our stories. :)

[Terri Osburn]

I did mean other stories of my own. LOL! But the good news is, I've done a bit of revising tonight and I like my story. So I don't have a metaphor in every paragraph. Or even one per page. LOL! My voice just does not use metaphors, I'm going to have to live with that.

Or course, editors likely won't want to live with that but I'll cross that bridge when it comes. Not promising the ARGH! won't happen again, but for now, I'm doing better.

[Donna Cummings]

I'm glad you did some revising, Terri, and even better that you liked it! I'm looking forward to reading your story, I know that. :)

Is there a rule about metaphors? I think most of mine end up on my blog posts. LOL

And I try to suggest what works for me rather than insisting it's a rule, or the only way things can be done. Heck, what works for me today may be completely different tomorrow, or with the next book. LOL

[Terri Osburn]

I don't think there's a rule about metaphors, but they are such a great tool. Perfect way to show instead of tell while revealing hidden tidbits about your characters both to the reader and to the POV character. And when the metaphors are original? All the better.

Metaphors are my achille's heel right now. But I've settled on the idea that I can use them as dress up in the final polishing pass, if necessary. For now, that's working.

[Donna Cummings]

Ah, that's a good point about metaphors, and the showing, not telling. There's always a lot of things that can be done in the final polishing pass. After revising and re-reading it, you can see certain areas more clearly because you don't get as caught up in the story! (That's what happens to me. LOL)

And definitely keep doing whatever works for you! That's really the only "rule" I enforce! LOL

[Melissa]

Good luck on the revisions! I commented earlier, but lost my post. :(

Great points here! I think I'd make my writing life easier if I could separate the two (writing and revision) more as separate stages. I feel compelled to polish some sections to a shine while leaving others with [insert research on so and so here] -- meaning, well...to be written. LOL

[Donna Cummings]

Melissa, sorry your post got lost -- that happened to me yesterday -- on my own blog! LOL

I used to think writing and revising had to be done at the same time, and it made me freeze up and I couldn't do anything. So I'm glad to have them as separate distinct entities. But you have to do what works for you. I like the [insert research here] -- that's a great idea!

I also find that I need to "shake up" the process, so today I took a hard copy of the manuscript and went through it with a red pen, rather than doing it on my laptop. I saw some things quite a bit differently this way!

[Maureen]

I'm nearly finished with the copy-editing stuff and then plan on printing out and doing the read aloud stuff... It will be the first time I try this and am curious to see how it will work.

[Donna Cummings]

Yay for you! I've been doing the red-pen edits for a long while today, so I think I'm going to switch to inputting them on the computer -- keep my brain on its toes, so to speak! LOL

[Terri Osburn]

Printing the MS out for a good run through, making notes along the way, was part of the revision class Maureen and I just finished. And if you don't want to waste the paper, you can also change the font and spacing in the document, anything that will make it look totally different from what you've been reading for months.

It's interesting how we have to trick out minds to see what we miss.

[Maureen Betita]

Yeah, but I want to stroll about the room indulging my inner thespian, so I need it in paper... Plus the nice dramatic pencil scritching that will go into the whole thing...

I may print it double sided...

[Donna Cummings]

Terri, on these revisions, I'm doing the red pen on the hard copy, and then inputting them, so it feels like I'm going over it a couple times. I've also increased the font size to 120% -- LOL -- which does give you a totally different view of things.

So between BOTH of these things, I feel like I'm seeing things in this manuscript that I'm not even sure *I* put in there! LOL

[Donna Cummings]

Maureen, I've never read my own manuscript out loud, although I've heard it suggested before. I think it makes me feel a little too self-conscious. LOL Maybe I should find someone else to read it for me!

[Terri Osburn]

Donna, it took me days to convince Maureen to read this out loud. Don't ruin it! LOL! Seriously, I highly recommend it. You'll catch things you would never catch just by reading in your head. Especially in the dialogue.

Maybe it was my years on the radio talking to myself in a little room, but I never get self-conscious about it. And I'm a very self-conscious person.

[Donna Cummings]

Oops! Sorry, Terri! She did say she wanted to indulge her "inner thespian", so I think I'm safe. :)

I may give this a try. If you can do it, I can too (as long as no one else is listening!)

[Terri Osburn]

My cat knows my entire book. LOL!

[Donna Cummings]

Maybe I could get the squirrels and the chipmunks outside to sit still for a minute and listen to me read!