revising

CAMP NANOWRIMO April 2018 Wrap-Up

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You know what they say about the best laid plans…

When I started NANO on April 1st, I had plans to rewrite my WIP. Then I got into it and realized “Hey all that stress that made you think that this entire draft had to be scrapped isn’t actually that bad”, and I switched my goal from 50,000 words of a rewrite to 50 hours of revisions.

Then that 50 hours turned more into brainstorming and planning for the revisions that need to be made with where the story needs to go. And so, in the end, I “won” NANO but am no closer to a final draft than I was before. I’m not mad about it, but I am determined to knock these hopefully final self-revisions out in May and June.

I have my draft printed out, single-sided but 2 pages to each sheet, and I’ve got my index cards with the necessary revisions and a plan of attack all made up for myself.

For anyone else looking to make a revision plan I definitely recommend Susan Dennard’s  Revision Process. I always read it before and during revisions because I love how in depth she gets and I find that for the most part her revision process works for me.

And as a reminder on how goals and where you think the story is going are always flexible and changing, check out my previous posts on CAMP NANO and my current WIP.

Camp NanoWrimo: Week 1

Salvaging Old Scenes for New Drafts

Dealing with Doubt: Rewriting a Manuscript

Productivity vs. Productive Procrastination

Revising Using the Three-Act Structure

Revising by Hand

To be honest, this WIP has been a real learning process for me over the last two years, and that’s a good thing. It’s the first project I’ve tried to take all the way, with revisions and really attempting to learn the craft that goes with writing. And I am constantly reminding myself that rushing to the querying stage just because I want to be published will do nothing but harm my career and my story in the long-run.

So even though this April’s camp didn’t turnout the way I expected or planned for, doesn’t mean it was a waste or that I’m going to stew over how it was just another added step to the process this MS has gone through. When it comes to writing the best possible story you can, and getting the MS to the stage you want it to be, always take your time, always give every piece of the process the attention and effort it requires.

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Salvaging Old Scenes for New Drafts

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It’s officially April as I’m writing this, which means Camp Nanowrimo is here! I’m doing a big revision/rewrite this month of my WIP, and I’ve spent the last few weeks making a game plan and evaluating the old drafts and what needs to change or be added from scratch.

A lot of the background for one of my POV characters has changed, which leads to about half of her chapters in ACT 1 now being written new. Not all though, and most of the other POV character’s scenes are still mostly the same.

This brings me to today’s topic, which is salvaging old scenes for new drafts. It’s a fine line, knowing when to write a brand new scene and when something is capable of being revised rather than fully rewritten. In previous drafts I made the mistake of taking the “lazy” way out by salvaging as much of old scenes as I could. That’s fine and dandy if those scenes are actually staying mostly the same, but when I’m allowing the revisions to be half-assed in favor of taking the shortcut, it’s a problem.

So I’ve tried to be much harder on myself this go round. For a lot of scenes I asked myself if the basic premise of the scene was changing, and if it was then it had to be rewritten. If the setting is completely changing and that affects a lot of the scene, then it needs to be rewritten. In some cases it could be as simple as the plot, goal and setting are all still the same but the character’s underlying motivation is different or the emotional and physical dominos that led them to that scene are different and therefore the tone of the scene is different.

That’s what it really boils down to, I think, and what you should be looking at when trying to decide whether to salvage or scrap a scene. It’s also a factor I’ve ignored up till now, and have taken a lot of extra time to admit is an issue, and a lot of drafts I could’ve avoided. Tone, the motivation and just general meaning behind a scene is enough to necessitate a rewrite. It seems like such a small thing, but, in my opinion, it’s one of the few things that can’t just be revised. It’s an entire mindset for the scene, it’s in every word choice and tick your characters have.

And it’s so tempting to just have the old scene in front of me and rewrite that way, or go through and edit it to fit the new circumstances, but that isn’t always possible. Because even those who consider ourselves ruthless revisers and editors will still favor the words that are already on the page over the ones that have yet to be written.

It’s been a common theme in my revisions and posts lately, this idea of forcing myself not to take the lazy way out. I’m still working on that mindset, on being willing to put in every bit of leg work a project requires in order to ultimately produce the best story possible, to tell it the way it’s meant to be told no matter how much blood, sweat and tears it took to get there.

So remember, there’s plenty of reasons to chose revising over rewriting or vice versa, but it ultimately matters most what the scene needs, what the issues are and how they can best be approached so that you aren’t cheating yourself or your story.

 

Using Character to Outline

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Last week I talked about my plans for a major revision of my work in progress. In that post I mentioned that my main issues were world building and character arcs. As soon as I recognized that was where my focus needed to be, I began researching ways to develop these areas.

This research led me down a rabbit hole of posts on websites like Pub(lishing) Crawl and Writer’s Block Party. Here I discovered ways to interweave my characters with my world building, and ultimately develop a plot that will hopefully resonate in ways it currently doesn’t.

For those who just want the most useful resources, I’ve compiled a template for Character Arc using information from three different blog posts, and included the links for them.

Character Arc Template

Desires and Nailing Act I

Goal, Motivation and Conflict

Essential Story Beats

For anyone interested in my process over the last week and how I applied the above information, keep reading.

I originally put together this plan of filling out these sheets for my two POV characters and adjusting my current revision plans using the new information on goals and story beats. But I quickly realized, though the process of trying to determine the long and short-term desires for my characters, that they didn’t have any at the onset.

Oh, sure, my characters had goals in the story, I’ve revised it and plotted and outlined enough times by now that they had goals. But I realized when reading How to Nail Act I that they should have long-term and short-term desires that are actionable from the beginning.

Previously, Character A just had a desire to reunite her family. There were too many factors out of her control and she didn’t start the story with any sort of capability or plan on how she’d achieve that goal. Character B was along the same lines. His goal involved earning redemption for something in his past, but he had no timeline or concrete way of achieving that.

Realizing my characters needed actionable and larger scope desires from the onset left me with the realization that the why of the story was missing. Why does it have to be these characters? Why is it them called to action in the inciting incident? Essentially, why does it have to be them?

I didn’t have a reason, I had just written these characters in this world with this plot and that was it. No wonder even as the writer I wasn’t invested in the story. My characters needed to be integral to this story and the only ones capable of telling it. Once that major crisis was worked through, I knew I’d have to start from the beginning and establish those desires and the why.

It meant having to disconnect from the current story, which I had some trouble doing. I’ve read enough writerly advice to know that changing something as big as the character desires and the why would more than likely change the entire course of my story.

When the idea on Character A’s desires and why came to me, I knew that was the case. I loved where the what if took me, but it changed her relationships to the rest of the characters, it meant changing her knowledge and would require establishing some major magical world building that (once again) I’d been lazy about thus far.

I went with it anyway, I let the what if continue and while a large part of the premise of the story is still in my outline, I know I’ll have to rewrite every single scene with this in mind. Because a character’s desires and motives will filter into every action and word, changing how they come onto the page. Same for Character B, who’s goals haven’t so much changed as become much more concrete and actionable.

With all this in mind, I went into my Scrivener file, transferred the entire manuscript into a new folder at the bottom of the binder, and made a completely new, blank outline. Don’t get me wrong, I’m keeping a lot of plot points, but I wanted a blank file, one where I’ll be rewriting everything. I’m started from scratch in some ways, a blank page and a deadline to write a new draft, but in many ways this is still just a revision.

It’s a revision because it will be my 9th draft, and regardless of whether or not I have the previous draft in front of me, there’s no way all that trial and error won’t affect how I write this one. I think my words will flow better, and I think I’ll be able to cut to the heart of the scene easier.

I still have a lot to do. The outline and world building needs to be fleshed out and I know changes will have to be made as more becomes clear about the story and world. But for now, I have a much better idea of where the story needs to go, and how my characters are the only ones capable of getting it there.

Dealing with Doubt: Rewriting a Manuscript

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thumb_IMG_0373_1024Not going to lie, I’m dealing with some pretty heavy self-doubt this week. I just finished reading through the latest draft of my WIP, and I’m finally ready to admit it needs heavy world building and character development work.

These are areas that I can realize I’ve been lazy in, and I’m finally at a place where I’m telling myself that rushing this project for the sole reason that I feel “time is running out” is not going to allow me to put forth my best possible work.

Rushing it and having a project that even I know still needs work will do nothing but burn bridges and waste time. Which brings me to the harder part: do I shelve the manuscript in order to write new projects and develop my skills as a writer, or do I start from essentially scratch with the same idea?

Honestly, the WIP I’ve been working on since Spring 2016 is pretty high fantasy, and I mostly read contemporary fantasy. As I sit here staring at my shelves and thinking of books I’ve enjoyed and been drawn to over the years, I’m forced to admit I don’t read very much fantasy set in a world other than our own. No wonder my world building is underdeveloped. I need to fully brainstorm and flesh out my world, and something that intense, that involved, that will have to be interwoven in every other piece of the story from the characters to the plot, can’t be done with a simple revision.

As much as I love so many parts of my manuscript and the work I’ve put in for two years now, I know I’d be once again cheating myself to just call that a revision. And if I’m going to rewrite anyway, shouldn’t I take the time to really learn the genre as I brainstorm? I think I should, that I’ll be left with another underdeveloped draft if I don’t.

These kinds of realizations scare me, make me want to save myself the learning experience and just begin working on a new idea. But those other ideas aren’t developed either. Most of them don’t have characters or any real semblance of plot, they’re still just premises, basic settings, things that I’m not attached to yet in the way I am the characters of my current WIP.

And that’s what I have to remind myself. The plot of my WIP has already changed a dozen times in the last two years, so have the settings and so many other little details. But those two years weren’t wasted. I know my characters in a way, even if I haven’t done them justice by developing their relationships and arcs. It’s the characters that make the story, and their fundamental motivations and characteristics aren’t changing, so I’ll love this new version of their story as much as the dozen that came before.

I’m going to force myself to not take the lazy way out, to not sit here and say “well it’s good enough”. Because if I can read my own work and see so many things I want to change, that can be developed better and leave a deeper impact, than I owe it to myself to put the work in.

So for my final thoughts on this, I’ll just say that regardless of whether or not you decide to shelve or rewrite a manuscript, think of it as a learning experience. As writers, every draft we write or revise teaches us something. Don’t be stuck on keeping something the way it is, and don’t avoid putting in the legwork. I’ve been avoiding world-building and character legwork for two years now. I’ve finally reached a point where I’m 100% excited about the plot, but even as the writer I don’t feel a resonance with it, and I know that’s because the world and characters aren’t interwoven deeply enough.

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Writing is Rewriting.

It’s time to make a new plan of attack, one focused on world building and character arcs. I’ve been researching different ways of doing this, and will be trying to outline and make a revision plan with these things in mind. I’m hoping to have a coherent idea of everything this latest revision needs in the coming week or two, which brings me to April.

April is CampNanoWrimo (my profile here), and as I was already planning to do a revision of my WIP during that, nothing has really changed. The scope has, but at the end of the month I hope I’ll be at least halfway to a new and improved version of my story.

P.S: A lot of the self-doubt has gone away by writing this. I highly suggest venting/working through issues like this, by laying out WHY you feel your story isn’t working, and making a game plan, it’ll hopefully no longer feel like a failure, but rather just another step toward becoming a better storyteller.

Revising Using the Three-Act Structure

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unnamed-2            This past week I’ve gone back into the 4th draft of my manuscript and, using the notecard outline from that draft, plotted it onto the three-act structure.

I did this because I knew the plot was lacking, and going back to the basics of planning a novel was the only way I could see to figure out what still needed fixing. What I learned? My story was stopping before certain major plot points happened. Namely, I was essentially finishing the story at what would only be the end of Act Two.

Last week I mentioned how short I thought the word count for draft four was, and considering it was missing an entire act that makes much more sense now. It also explains why after draft three I realized I’d never written a climax scene into my novel and had to go back and build up to that in draft 4.

I’ve been writing the new scenes I mapped out suing the three-act structure, and I have a few tips that go along with this.

1)    It’s never too late to replot.

Whether you consider yourself a plotter or a pantser during the planning stage, no novel will be at its best until revisions include outlining. More than that, you’ll outline before, during, and after every single round you do. That’s just the way it is. Sound stressful? It can be, unless you consider that replotting gives you permission to never really stick to that plot. In the six scenes I’ve been writing this week, I’ve already deviated during the drafting.

The 2,000 words I wrote today I know involve a voice unlike what I’ve already used for that POV character in the chapters that I’ve already revised. Oh, well. I kind of like this new voice, at least elements of it. And I Know more revisions have to take place in the rest of the novel, as I’m far from done. So, better to realize where the plot holes are and replot than let it turn to trash.

2)    Don’t worry about the length of each act.

If you were using the three-act structure before the first draft, then I’d say make a word-count goal for each scene or chapter. But in the case of a manuscript already mostly drafted, just let it happen. In my first two acts, I have multiple chapters/scenes that belong to the same plot point. I also have scenes that I wrote because I like them in the story. These scenes build character, world build, or move along the plot in some way not directly explained by the plot points in the three-act structure.

On the opposite hand, the scenes I’ve plotted now that I realized they were missing? One scene per plot point, and often less than 2,000 words (I’m aiming for between 2000-3000 words per chapter). I think for the second half of the second and the third act this is okay because the action should be speeding up anyway.

3)    Understand that you will have to make major changes

If you feel the need to plot your already revised manuscript (or not revised if this is between the first and second drafts) then odds are you’re already aware it’s missing something. This means when you’re done plotting it out, you’re going to have to write scenes from scratch all over again, which for me is proving the hardest part.

After almost a year on this project, (and a failed Nano project in November) it’s been a while since I’ve gotten into writing from scratch. I’ve been revising several drafts and can get pretty creative doing that. But staring at a blank page? It’s like I’ve forgotten how to write altogether. I’ve been combatting this with writing sprints on MyWriteClub.

If you, like me, wish you could just be done with revisions and letting someone else read it, take a deep breath and remember why it matters to you that this story be amazing. It’s tempting to send your MS off to a critique partner, beta reader or even start querying, in the hope your revisions will become easier and clearer with someone else’s feedback.

But like I said, if you’re reading this post or you’ve already been thinking about replotting your project in any capacity, then you know something’s missing. Don’t shoot yourself in the foot by sending something off that you already know isn’t complete. Sit down, breath, and make the changes. It’ll be worth it when the next time you look at it you can see how much better that draft is.

            This is technically the fourth tip, but important enough that I want to wrap up with it rather than include it in that chunky text above.

Don’t get discouraged. I’m facing this issue myself, where all the revisions and feeling of incompleteness that surrounds my MS makes me just want to move on to the next project. It’s extra tempting because starting March 1st I’ll be beginning to research and outline a different book for camp nanowrimo in April. But even if this MS never sees the light of day, going through every step of revisions until I’m absolutely positive it’s the best it will ever be, is a learning experience I can’t pass up.

When you’re looking at your MS and only seeing it’s problems, consider the passion and idea that originally sparked you to write that first draft. Don’t give up on the experience that seeing this project through will give you, even if when you finally reach that summit you just put the project in a drawer and move on.

Revising by Hand

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unnamedFor the last several weeks I’ve been revising the fourth draft of my manuscript by hand. It’s a method I’m familiar with in theory, but one I’ve never done this extensively.

After obsessively reading through author blogs and advice I realized I needed to try something new. I’d already done roughly two and a half rounds of revision and still felt I wasn’t diving deep enough.

So, I read through Susan Dennard’s revision process and decided to print out the entire manuscript for the second time (the first being the rough draft). A few things came from this, 1) I was reminded how immensely proud I am of myself for writing that many words, even if they’re bad ones. And 2) my usual routine of becoming distracted by the internet was taken out of play.

I worked by hand with my laptop far away and my phone on do not disturb. Then in the last week I typed in all those changes. My third draft word count was close to 75,000 and by the end of deleting, adding and more deleting, the finished fourth draft came out to barely 66,000. That’s a lot shorter than what I want it to be, but those are 66k words that (hopefully) all add something to the story.

It was easier to cut the fluff and realize what wasn’t working when I couldn’t see the word count shrinking. Doing it by hand made it a million times easier to cut through those words without trying to maintain a specific word count. With this in mind, I hid the word count feature as I typed in the changes.

Now I’ve got the first 12 chapters in someone else’s hands for the first time. I only handed off the first 12 instead of all 38 because of another Susan Dennard tip. Why give someone more of the same problems? When I have feedback from the first 12, I’ll use it to adjust the next 13, and so on, before getting feedback on it. This’ll make sure each part is tighter than the last, ideally forcing the person reading it to go deeper.

I’ll be spending the time now that it’s out of my hands focused on doing some general brainstorming and outlining for what I want to happen in the rest of the series. I won’t be writing any sequels for a long time, (more writerly advice, this time an overlap from both Susan Dennard and Ava Jae). But when I make the next round of revisions, I want to be working not just with feedback from my reader but also a better understanding of the story’s long term goals.

Overall, I’m glad I revised by hand, and I feel so much more connected to my story, especially since over the last few drafts it’s drastically changed from what I initially planned and wrote almost a year ago. I suggest, whether it’s the first or thousandth round of revisions, that you try hand revising at least once for your manuscript. You’d be surprised the things you notice.

For comparison, here’s the visual of tracked changes after I typed in all the revisions I’d marked by hand. It’s a lot of red, and to be honest, it’s pretty fun to see.

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