I struggle with revisions. Every time I start revising a novel, I spend time looking for a magic method, a checklist of things to do, and I keep looking until I think I’ve found the perfect plan.
Then I print out my manuscript and start marking stuff up with my pen and the plan goes out the window. I have a hard time keeping things in my head. All the things I planned to fix remain on a sheet of paper next to me and I say, “I’ll fix those in the next revision.”
I’ve tried Holly Lisle’s One Pass Revision method, and I get bogged down and overwhelmed before I get to the third chapter. I’ve done Darcy Pattison’s Novel Metamorphosis workbook for two different novels. One is still in the Trunk-o-writing junk, awaiting its chance to see the light of day again. The second one is Faceoff of the Heart.
Working my way through the Novel Metamorphosis workbook was helpful to realize what areas I needed to work on, but I still have a huge list (okay, not really huge, but still a full page) of things I want to fix. When I look at the list, my eyes gloss over and I start to freak out that I have these things to check for and fix all the way through the 200 pages of manuscript.
The list sits on top of the manuscript in its expandable folder. I look at it every time I pull the new pages out to be revised. And I sigh, because I haven’t really been paying attention to those things. Ugh. 100 pages in and I didn’t fix any of the things I’d specifically written on my “Plan of Action.”
So tonight, when I pulled out the list I didn’t just set it aside. I sat down and read it, and thought about each item on the list.
Plotting. Make sure each scene ends a little worse than the previous scene. Yeah, I’ve actually been doing that. That makes me feel better.
Characters. Better description. Well, hmm. I’ve never been good at describing the physical appearance of things (not even real items), but I’ve been adding more about the characters as I get to know them, so they’re becoming more real. Knowing someone rocks back and forth on their feet when they’re nervous, or their hands hurt because of early onset arthritis HAS to be nearly as good as knowing they have blue eyes and light blonde hair. Right? I mean, we don’t choose our friends based on their eye color in real life.
Sensory details. Include more details in each scene. Oh. I’m doing that without really thinking of it. Maybe I’m not doing as horribly as I’d thought.
Settings. More description again. fail
Okay. I guess fixing 75% of what I’d aimed to fix isn’t awful. I can always go back through and add a bit more description of the settings as I type in all these changes I’ve made. Right?
What’s your method for revising a novel?