Comments on: revising, part 1: first draft

By: Rachael Johns

Rachael Johns — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 13:07:16 +0000

Can’t wait! And yes, it IS beautiful

By: Julie

Julie — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 07:03:49 +0000

Hi Judith, and welcome!

You’re totally right that revision process totally depends on the individual author. It also depends on the individual ms. I’ve had mss that I thought needed very little revision, but my editor and agent disagreed. Similarly, mss that I thought still needed a lot of work, but my editor loved as it was (well, okay, only one of those).

I guess the thing is that as you write more and more, you learn what works for you, and when that stops working so well, you try something else.

By: Julie

Julie — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 06:59:11 +0000

Thanks for asking me to blog about revisions, Rachael! I love talking about craft and process, and hearing about how others do things.

Adding 10K can be surprisingly easy–it’s adding the *right* 10K that’s hard. I think you’re right, too, that having a definite market and audience (and even editor) in mind can help a lot with revising your work.

By: Julie

Julie — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 06:57:30 +0000

Julie, I agree with you that it’s a good idea to finish the first draft, even if it’s too long, before you decide what to cut. And also that you’d tend to know what needs cutting even before you finish. Good luck with it!

By: Judith

Judith — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 06:44:30 +0000

Fascinating reading all the ideas regarding revising. For months I’ve been thinking I’m doing it all wrong to discover that truthfully, there isn’t a “wrong” way, but minor adjustments by the individual writer is the way to go. Yegads I torment myself so much.
I’m a pantser/plotter combined …my first two completed novels were write/revise after putting scenes together, not always created consecutively either, but it worked, just writing scenes as they came into my head and then putting them together…hmmm…who said writing is easy…must be “daft” as you British would say. lol
I don’t have a great sure thing plan to write a novel (sigh) and probably never will. Thanks Julie

By: Rachael Blair

Rachael Blair — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 03:10:44 +0000

Thanks Julie! IT’s so interesting to hear about writing and rewriting process.

After a recent full request I had to add in about 10k to a mss and that meant quite a lot of revising. Still don’t think I quite got it right but I’m hoping revising will be better now that I have more of an idea where to target my writing!

Rach!

By: Julie Day

Julie Day — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 13:22:40 +0000

Sounds a bit like what I do, although I’m not a perfectionist. I tend to write the story in one go, no edits, then once I’ve written the first draft go back and amend anything which I might have made notes on. Unless it’s the current chapter then I might go back and either add or delete words etc. This book I’m working on now I will have to go back and do many may cuts because it’s going to be way too long for the age range and longer than my first book. Oh well, have an idea what I need to cut. Maybe I would change this routine if I was doing it to deadline.

By: Julie

Julie — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 19:34:12 +0000

Carol, maybe it’s worth trying to write without revision, just to get the flow going again. With my first few mss before I was published, I revised as I went; it was mostly after I had deadlines that I developed this way of working and I do think it works better for me.

But different things work for different people.

By: Julie

Julie — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 19:32:24 +0000

Ahhhhh, Phillipa….proposals. *shudder*

I know, I feel panicky when I’m behind, too. Adrenaline is good, but only so far.

By: carolc

carolc — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 16:56:24 +0000

Great post Julie. I’m a panster who’s trying to be more a plotter so I get the basics of the story right and don’t focus on the wrong things. However what seems to have happened is that I’ve slowed right down in output and it worries me. At the rate I’m going I don’t think I’ll complete an ms for years, as I get really hung up trying to make everything perfect as I go.

Perhaps I should stick with the pantsing and focus more on revision at the end like you. It used to work well for me.