Last week Maggie asked, Do you have any tips on self-editing? Like where to begin? Or a process I should follow?<\/p>\n
Self-editing sounds a little punitive to me, like correcting mistakes, so I\u2019m going to call it revision, which seems broader, although correcting mistakes is part of revision. But often I\u2019m expanding or condensing or deepening what I have.<\/p>\n
I know of only two absolute rules for revision. One: Always save your earlier versions in case you need to go back. Two: Fix the basics – spelling, usage, and grammar – before sending your work into the world of publishing. If spelling and such aren\u2019t your thing, get help – but try to make them your thing. Neglecting them is like neglecting your teeth, in my opinion.<\/p>\n
This post will be about revising after you\u2019ve finished a first draft, but even while you\u2019re writing that draft you can pave the way. Be conscious as you go along of the aspects of your story that are giving you trouble, not in a beating-on-yourself way, but as an aloof scientist who\u2019s collecting data. You can make notes of these aspects to help you later. I put such notes above the first page of my story. When you go back you may discover that what you thought was a problem wasn\u2019t one at all. It\u2019s nice when that happens. But it doesn\u2019t always, and then your notes can be the beginnings of a guide.<\/p>\n
When you finish a story, put it aside for a few days at the very least. Oddly enough, the shorter your story, the longer you should let it sit. The idea is to forget it a little so you can come back to it fresh. By the time I finish a novel, I have only a vague memory of the beginning, so a few days\u2019 break is plenty.<\/p>\n
Some writers read their first draft through without touching it, just making notes. You can try this and see if you like the method. I jump in and start making changes, and I make little and big alterations as I go.<\/p>\n
Much of revising is grunt work, like yesterday for me: I realized that I had crammed too much action into too few hours, and I had to shift time around. Mechanical, but necessary, and it took a whole day in real time.<\/p>\n
I go through my story in order, mostly, but I bounce around, too. Something I change may call for corresponding adjustments earlier or later in the narrative, so I make them before I forget.<\/p>\n
Revision covers every part of fiction: plot, character, setting, voice, detail. Just thinking about it is daunting. Best not to think, just do. You\u2019re unlikely to catch everything in one run through. I revise my books even when they\u2019re in second-pass galleys. After my editor has edited a manuscript a dozen or more times and the copy editor has had at it half a dozen times, I\u2019m still making changes. If all my books were turned back into manuscripts, I\u2019d definitely do some fixing. The thing is, perfection is unachievable. We do the best we can. This is worth embroidering on a pillow or taping over our desks. Perfect impossible, just the best we can.<\/p>\n
Here are some questions you can ask yourself as you move through your work.<\/p>\n
Have I caught up all the threads? You may not want to tie up everything, but you want the loose ends to be deliberate. You can leave the reader to wonder if your hero ever reconnects with Sam, his best friend three years ago, but you don\u2019t want to drop Sam because you\u2019ve forgotten all about him. Some threads may be quite minor. For example, in the mystery I\u2019m revising now I came up with an ejaculation for my main character. She says, lambs and calves! – and reveals her farm roots. I need her to use the expression once in a while, not so often that the reader gets irritated, and not so rarely that the reader forgets it.<\/p>\n
Are my characters behaving as I\u2019ve set them up to? If there\u2019s a change in behavior, have I explained why? If your main character\u2019s best friend angers easily, and we\u2019ve seen her explode when she thinks a store clerk has an attitude, then we need an explanation if she lets a direct insult slide.<\/p>\n
Can I see what\u2019s going on? In a scene I worked on recently, my main character was on the castle battlements and needed to see down to the drawbridge, but I\u2019d put her at the back of the castle, so I had to move her to the right spot.<\/p>\n
Am I leading the reader along properly so that what happens is neither predictable nor too farfetched to believe? In my mystery, I want the reader to accept that my villain could have done the heinous deeds but not to see him\/her coming.<\/p>\n
Are my characters, especially my main character, reacting? If something sad or great or frightening happens, she should show she feels it, through thoughts and physical responses and whatever else is available. In an early draft of Ella Enchanted I neglected to show Ella\u2019s grief when her mother dies. I figured the reader would know, as in, Duh! Of course she\u2019s sad.<\/p>\n
Is my main character likeable? (If you want him to be.) I\u2019ve mentioned before that I\u2019ve been having trouble with this. I\u2019ve noticed that I have a tendency, if a disaster befalls another character, to have my main think of the consequences for herself before she reacts with empathy, if she ever gets to the empathy stage at all. I think I do this because the consequences for her are what will move the story forward, but, alas, she comes off as a selfish pig!<\/p>\n
Is anyone getting lost in a scene? Suppose your main character\u2019s family is having a meal together, breakfast, dinner, late-night snack, whatever. Say you have Dad, an aunt, an older brother, and baby sister in her high chair. Say the reader knows Dad is quiet because he\u2019s preoccupied with something and the baby doesn\u2019t have many words yet. Older brother, main character, and aunt are having a heated discussion about, say, the best way to apologize. Two pages go by without a peep out of Dad and the baby. The reader will forget they\u2019re there and will get a little jolt if they pipe in. If you need them in the scene, make the reader aware of them occasionally. Have the baby drop her spoon. Have Dad get up for a tea refill.<\/p>\n
In brief, a few more questions:<\/p>\n
Am I overusing words, repeating sentence structures, starting five paragraphs in a row with I?<\/p>\n
Is this scene going on too long?<\/p>\n
Have I omitted something important?<\/p>\n
Can I give a few characters speech mannerisms that will make them recognizable whenever they open their mouths?<\/p>\n
This is not an exhaustive list. Think of your own questions as you take up revision.<\/p>\n
I love to revise. It\u2019s my favorite part of writing, because getting the story down is over, and now I\u2019m just polishing. So don\u2019t be hard on yourself. Congratulate yourself for the achievement of finishing and have fun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Last week Maggie asked, Do you have any tips on self-editing? Like where to begin? Or a process I should follow? Self-editing sounds a little punitive to me, like correcting mistakes, so I\u2019m going to call it revision, which seems broader, although correcting mistakes is part of revision. But often I\u2019m expanding or condensing or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,26],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":530,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252\/revisions\/530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}