Welcome back to my deep dive into novel revision. In Part I, I explored the nature of revision itself. Part 2 was all about “why” we revise our work and what we hope to accomplish when we do it.
Now, let’s talk about how you actually land this plane. How do you revise a novel? The answer to this question is big enough that I’m going to break it up into at least two, and maybe three, different posts.
Let’s start big picture with your first two rounds of revision.
Round One—The Casual Read Through
Yay! You did it. You finished your novel. Take a bow. Take a break. No really, take a break. If you finished your novel this morning and you’re starting revision on it this afternoon, or even planning to tomorrow, I’d like to encourage you to let your story breathe for a few days. A week or longer if possible. A month would be great, if you can manage it.
Here’s why:
Creating a little distance from your story before you start scrutinizing it will help you see it more clearly. Right now, you’ve got your nose pressed right up against your story’s chest. Your eyes are crossed and your vision is blurry. In fact, you may be close to suffocating. You’ll thank yourself later if you take a few steps back and let your mind and body settle.
It also helps simply to stop thinking about your story for a few days. You’ve been obsessing about it for months now, and because of that, your relationship to it has bent all out of proportion. And lest we forget, absence makes the heart grow fonder.
For me, revision starts with a casual read through of the entire book. This may be contrary to what you’d expect. Revision is supposed to be serious business, so why start casual? And, given that this is revision, shouldn’t it start with, you know, revising things? Nope. Cause here’s the thing. A just-finished book is like a new baby, and critiquing it too intensely on its first days in the world is a good way to make it cry and traumatize it for life. And you’re a way better parent than that.
I’ll confess here that I developed this strategy after many years of making the mistake of jumping into small changes too quickly. And after almost twenty years of revising my novels, I’ve found that a casual read through—reading my book as if I’m a casual reader who just picked it up—helps me stay focused on big picture evaluation so I can resist the temptation to start going to town on that description on P. 16 that just isn’t quite working. Getting too granular too fast is revision death and a good way to get trapped in a Tweak-ville, an endless cul-de-sac where mediocre novels go to die.
It’s also very important that this first read through NOT happen on your computer. I can’t stress this enough.
I used to always print out my books for my first read through, but with the cost of printer ink being what it is, I now send my document to my Kindle, which I highly recommend as I now prefer it for round one. As much as possible for this first read through, I want to forget that I’m reading a rough draft of my novel and try to imagine that I’m simply reading any other book and responding on a gut level. This is a challenging but worthy delusion. Reading on a Kindle is great because the neutral platform makes all content look exactly the same; the effect being that your own work will look the same on your Kindle screen as Tolstoy.
Emailing documents to your Kindle is easy. This article quickly explains how to do it.
The other advantage to reading on a Kindle is that you simply can’t make changes as you read. If you read on your computer, it will be far more difficult to resist playing with that description on p. 16 or getting lost in Tweak-ville, which, as we’ve already established, is revision death. Reading my book on a Kindle puts me not just into the mindset of the average reader, but into the physical experience of one.
As I read, I keep a notebook next to me and jot down notes. I like soft cover Moleskins. I try to keep these notes practical and observational, rather than too heavy or overly judgmental. Yes, it’s annoying to find typos or small, silly mistakes. Try to ignore them. You can fix them later. Remember, this is a physical, not brain surgery. You’re trying to get a sense of your book’s overall health. How’s its blood pressure? Could it stand to lose a few pounds?
Here’s some examples from my round one notes of revision on my sequel to my debut YA book, Blowin’ My Mind Like a Summer Breeze. They may not make a ton of sense, but you can at least get a feel for the kinds of things I’m noticing:
Will need more “notes to self”
Need to have at least one more hospital bracelet moment in side one
May need to find ways to turn up the tension with Cassie—externalize more of the dynamic
Need to clarify how Evan feels about Rainey
Need to mention gummy bears again at some point
In the “cheer up” scene, need more about Mia’s predicament
Where did the Spin cover go?
Round Two—Q&A + First Real Revisions
After I finish my casual read through, I read through my notes a few times, and will often add to them or write a to-do list. I also allow myself a trip to my computer to fix some small things that will improve my reading experience for round two.
For instance:
Did I, for some strange reason, start calling a character named Evan “Ethan” about halfway through the book?
Are there some distracting formatting errors?
Did I mis-number my chapters?
I still force myself to avoid making too many small tweaks here, or getting into the weeds of word-level revision, but fixing a few gaffes will lead to an even cleaner reading experience for round two. This takes a day or two, or up to a week.
Then, with those changes made, I re-send the document to my Kindle and read my book again. Except I’m not a casual reader anymore; I’m a writer again. This second time, I read more slowly, and with a more critical eye. I’m tougher on my book, as if I know I’m going to have to critique it for book club. I start to consider some important questions about my book.
Is the novel’s opening effective?
Is the story structure clear?
Are the conflicts in proper proportion to one another?
Is the tone consistent throughout?
When do I feel pulled out by dialogue or action that feels off?
How clear is my main character’s motivation and overall character arc?
How big a mess have I made?
Notice that none of these questions has anything to do with that description on p. 16. That’s because I’m still resisting the urge to tweak language-based problems, which are usually easier to address than story-based problems*. Story-based problems are your house’s frame. Language-based problems are the paint colors and the brands of appliances. In terms of day to day living, these choices matter a lot. But if your house’s frame isn’t rock solid, it will blow over in the first strong storm that comes along and it won’t matter what color your walls are.
*The one caveat to this is if language is your book’s problem. This could be the case if you’re struggling with your book’s POV—especially trying to dial in a 1st person voice.
During this second read is when I start to gauge the scale of revision that’s ahead of me. I don’t have an official system, but it’s something like a 1-5 scale in my mind, where 5 means I have big structural or character issues that will need a massive overhaul, and 1 means my story is sound, the book is working, and I’m ready to begin fine tuning.
This second round ends with more notes and another trip back to my computer where I start some consequential revision. During my second reading, I’m usually noticing a lot of scenes that don’t quite work, or character moments that don’t fire properly or feel inconsistent. I treat my notes like a to-do list, and go through my book and fix things one at a time. Sometimes only minor tweaks will get a scene into shape, but other times this can take a while. But I’m still not doing a lot of micro, word-level tweaking yet. I’m still focused on story continuity, character arcs, and clarity of conflict. It’s still too early to get too hung up on perfecting language and really dialing in your metaphors. Including that description on p. 16.
That’s coming, I promise, but you and your book will both be better off in the end if you impose some discipline and stay focused on the bigger picture for now.
It’s hard. But you can do it. I believe in you.
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Fantastic ideas to add to my own revision checklist. It’s easy to bundle revising and proofreading into one task. I like the way you break the revision process down into manageable pieces! Thanks for the tips.