The Revision Process: How to turn your disjointed rough draft into a work of fine prose
Now that the first draft is finished, what's next? According to the standard writing process, the next step is revision. But what exactly is that and more importantly, where do I start? I've been mulling over these questions for the last couple of weeks and recently, I stumbled on some answers that I'll share with you here.
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In my quest for knowledge on how to revise my draft Obsession, to make it the best it can be, I came across a craft book called Revising Fiction:Making Sense of the Madness by Kirt Hickman.
Kirt is also the author of a science fiction novel called Worlds Asunder and the information in Revising Fiction is based on the lessons he learned while turning his draft into a published novel.
I've skimmed through and even read many craft books but each and every time, I am overwhelmed by all the information the authors are trying to impart. And, all too often, the best nuggets are buried in pages of the author's own philosophies regarding what is good writing.
Revising Fiction is different. The information presented is clear and concise. Each point is illustrated with an example. And perhaps, even more importantly for the new author, the steps are presented in order. Kirt has also posted practical and effective articles on additional topics on his website.
How do I know the information is sound? Besides the fact that the many before and after examples Kirk presents prove that his techniques work, I decided to test out some of his advice on the first scene in my own manuscript, Obsession.
The first thing I did was pull up a few of the articles on his website. The ones I found particularly applicable to my writing were:
- Filter Words and the Damage They Do
- "To be" or not "to be"
- 13 Ways to Show Character Emotions (Parts 1, II and III)
In "To be" or not "to be", Kirt points out common uses of the verb "to be" and through before and after examples, shows how passages can be rewritten to eliminate passive voice, past progressive tense and statements of being. His examples show very clearly how such constructs can hurt your writing since they convey neither emotion nor action to the reader. The images they produce are static and purely descriptive where we want compelling emotional writing that the reader will not be able to put down. I have to admit that I was very surprised to see how often I used variations of "to be", passive voice and past progressive tense in my writing.
In 13 Ways to Show Character Emotions, Kirt provides 13 very clear ways to show the reader the character's emotions without telling them. How often have you read stories in which the author tells you how a character feels instead of showing you through their actions or thoughts? Readers are smart and will draw their own conclusions. Just in the first scene of Obsession, I was able to replace the telling of emotion and show it with at least three of the methods Kirt offers in this article.
Am I done revising this scene now that I've used the techniques described in Kirt's three articles to improve my writing? No. But I've taken a significant step forward and the scene is much tighter and stronger now.
What about overall issues regarding plot, character development, etc.? In Revising Fiction, Kirt covers all of these topics and more. His advice targets your writing at the scene level, the character level and the plot level. Regardless of the level or topic, he always provides clear explanations and examples that make it easy to understand both the problem and the solution(s).
As I continue to read through Revising Fiction (I'm on chapter 6 now), I'll apply Kirt's techniques to my writing, characters and plot. It will take some time but, in the end, I know that my writing will be stronger, my characters and their motivations more compelling, and my plot will be more exciting and suspenseful.
Oh God! It's time to sharpen my pencil and get to work. I have about 60-70 scenes to revise in the next 8 weeks!
How much do you revise your work? Are your drafts almost final versions or do you throw away and rewrite most of your manuscripts? Do you follow some method or use a particular craft book to help you?
I love to hear from you so please send me your comments on this blog or anything you'd like to talk about in a future blog.
Happy writing,
Kristine
Posted by Kristine Cayne at 1/6/2010 9:51 AM 
Categories: Writing,Writing Process
Tags: writing beginner author process
Categories: Writing,Writing Process
Tags: writing beginner author process
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