Revision - It's Like Making a Cake

Revision – at times, the word is enough to strike fear in the heart of most any writer.  You’ve slaved, toiled, labored over your novel. You’ve worked for months infusing the pages with brilliance, developing your characters, actually figuring out a plot and *finally* you’ve finished your book.  Now what?

Start over from the beginning and revise to make the story better.

Say what?

Revision is hard work. There’s no two ways about it. But it is necessary to improve the story – sometimes it’s the way the writer finds the real story. Though there can be times when it feels like the process of revision never ends – it doesn’t have to be overwhelming.

I like to think of it as making a cake. You have to work in layers.

The first layer is the plot structure.  There are lots of different ways to draw out the plot or story arc of your novel.  I use a color-coded Excel spreadsheet, others use sticky notes – either way is fine – as long as you have some way to see the overall scope of the story.

Divide your story into acts: 

Act 1 is the set-up:  identify your characters and the conflict.

Act 2 begins with a Turning Point which results in rising action.

Act 3 the conflict increases until it reaches a Point of No Return.  This is where we know what the character wants.

Act 4 begins from the Point of No Return and we rise to the Crisis, which is where we learn what the character needs. From there we move to the Resolution and The End.

So, in the beginning of your revision – make sure that the story arc has the structure that you want and one that makes sense.

The second layer includes: characters, theme, emotions, plot.  Once you’ve got your structure in place, take a look at the elements that create your story: Characters, Theme, Emotions, Plot.

Are your characters three dimensional? Is your protagonist well-developed? Do we care about them? Do we want to know what happens next?  Is there a theme present in the story? Here’s a big one for me – is the plot believable? Even in fantasy, there needs to be rules of the world that are adhered to which makes the story real for the reader.  Do the protagonist’s choices make sense?

The third layer contains the supporting elements.  This is the time to look at side characters, dialogue, scene transitions, and pacing.  Are the side characters necessary? Do they get enough time on stage?  Some people use the rule of three: if a character doesn’t show up in three different scenes then they are not named. 

Dialogue is a biggie.  Do your characters speak in a believable way? Do they say the things real people in their situation would say?  This can make or break a book, so pay attention to this one.

Scene transitions are also important. Cliffhangers are great but make sure that when you move from one scene to the next, or one chapter ending to a new chapter, that you do it in a way that your reader can follow the timeline and sequence of events.

Pacing is an important device in making the readers keep turning the pages. It’s hard to look at your own work objectively, but try to see where the story drags and where it might move too quickly.  

The final layer is the details. This is my favorite part of the revision process.  I like to think of it as putting on the beautiful sparkly frosting.

Make sure you’re showing and not telling.  Show us what the main character is thinking and feeling through description and actions. Provide fresh, original details. Use vivid verbs and phrasing so that when the character’s heart races, ours does too. And finally, drop in those last little details that will set your work apart from others.

Revision is hard work but it is this part of crafting a story that will make the reader remember your characters long after they read ‘The End’. 

What tricks do you use to make the process of revision easier?

cake photo courtesy of cake.com

Blame it on revisions....

Did I mention I was starting my editorial revisions?

It's a busy busy time right now. I've been working on PULSE, my YA contemporary sort of-paranormal WIP in between receiving chapters from my editor with revision suggestions for THE FAERIE RING. I just received another bunch on Friday so I'm going to shift gears and dive back into London 1871. So far, the editorial revision process has been a great learning experience for me. I'm going to be guest blogging over on Ask Daphne, my sparkly agent's blog (Kate Schafer Testerman) next week about the process, so you'll have to check it out.

PULSE, which is a total re-write of something I wrote last spring, is going great and I hope to have my first draft complete by the end of the month, ready to send out to beta readers.

I also just started a class with the fantastic and enthusiastic and incredibly knowledgeable Sarah Aronson over at Writers.com and already after just a week I love being back in class. There's always so much to learn and we have a really great group of writers in there this time.

Plus, a bit of brainstorming with some other 2011 debut authors about publicity, marketing, covers etc. has kept the email box FULL.

So, those are my excuses - how about you? What are you working on?

Did you say Revision?

As many of you know, I've recently received my first editorial revision letter for THE FAERIE RING. Now, I've heard this can be a very traumatic moment for some authors, receiving a sometimes lengthy letter from your editor that details areas of your book that would potentially be improved by revising. Some authors might mistakenly take this as a criticism of their work but I just have to say I love having the opportunity to work with my fantastic editor, Susan Chang, and have experienced, qualified eyes look at my story and make suggestions. What a fantastic gift! And I guess that's a key word there - Susan's approach was just that - here's a suggestion that seems like it might make the story tighter, what do you think? Giving us both a chance to discuss what we like and don't like about certain scenes (and anybody who knows me knows I always like to get my two cents in) and ultimately steer the story in a direction that will make it stronger.

A writing friend asked me to blog about my editorial revisions so I'll try to give a brief summary of my process. Keep in mind this is my first time in the revision process so I'll let you know how it goes as I move along. I envision that I'll have probably three passes before we're done.

Basically, I worked on re-structuring and simplifying the plot, enhancing the characterization and deepening the setting. What's left, you ask? uhhh... well...good point. In re-structuring the plot, there was some cutting and pasting of chapters. It's amazing how easily these chunks of story can be picked up and plunked somewhere else and it actually works better. My story is told from two different Points Of View (POV) and at Susan's suggestion, I did reduce one POV substantially, which gave the story more forward momentum. Of course, after you cut and paste and eliminate chapters you have to go back through and make sure the thread of the plot moves consistently from start to finish, which can be a bit time-consuming, but ultimately satisfying when you've finally got the spine of the story in place.

From there I worked on characterization - increasing the information the Reader learns about each character, providing backstory and description to make them more real. It's fascinating how these people really do become real in your head - you can see them, hear them and for those reading this that aren't writers, the best part is when your character goes off and does something you had no idea they were going to do, and all the author can do is follow them and keep writing - adding those fun twists and turns in the story when even the author says - you did what? :-)

Last I went back, again, and worked on adding setting details. This story is set in London in 1871 and having just been in London it was so much fun to add sights and sounds, smells etc. that evokes these places, hopefully in that era.

So basically that's it. Kind of like brain salad surgery, which totally dates me, I know. I shipped it off to Susan last night so from here I'm going to dive into the sequel to TFR and tie in the changes I just completed, until I hear from her on round two.

What about you? Have you revised before? What process do you use? Any tips?