Tag: Revision

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Remembering Revision

Posted on by beckylevine

I have just reached (maybe) the halfway point in the second draft of my MG, but since I’m writing it 99.9% from scratch (that first draft was really just an idea dump), there isn’t much of what I’d consider revision going on.

And yet I’ve been thinking about it.

Why? It started with the SCBWI Spring Spirit conference last weekend, where I sat in on an excellent revision workshop by Kirby Larson. As Kirby said, we practiced only some of the smaller, more specific revision tasks–it’s hard to do big, global changes in a workshop setting. But a lot of her talk and the general conversation was about revision–how to approach it and how it feels. And I started remembering that I LOVE how it feels. That I love having a (relatively) full understanding of your story in your head and being able to sort and process changes in the context of that understanding. Of being able to think about moving something from here to there and knowing it will fit better. Of realizing that this piece doesn’t add a single thing and knowing you can let it go. Of figuring out what all the placeholders for that one character are for and giving her the actions she needs, in what used to feel like a lot of big, gaping holes of nothingness.

The second thing that happened, also tied to the conference, was that I got a really lovely critique from an agent on one of my picture books. Lovely in two ways: 1) very nice, with compliments as well as suggestions and 2) with feedback that I could really use. That started the revision ideas churning in my head. I’ve already run the feedback and my ideas through my critique group, getting MORE ideas, of course, and this revision will start very soon. And, again, I’m remembering why revision is one of my favorite writing stages–it’s a (very little) bit like Tetris. Your job is to see the shape that’s coming–from a critique or your own figuring-out–and find the right place to lower that shape into. And then, yes, unlike Tetris, you do some shaving and some padding and…SNIK! It fits. Yes, yes, that’s an understatement and probably not at all the right metaphor, but you know what I’m getting at. You have something to work with as you make the changes, and you can see how the changes are going to make that something more complete.

And the SNIK! part is absolutely the best.

I’m not going to get this right, so consider it a total paraphrase, but Kirby said that she has always believed everything you need is in your first draft. She says this, I think, in the context of the times we all look at our early drafts and decide that there are things missing and that we have to add a lot of new stuff. Instead, she suggests, try working with what is actually there. You may need to move an action, a character trait, a need from one character to another. You may need to shift a plot point to earlier or later in the story. You may need to deepen and layer a moment that you previously spent only one sentence on. But things are there. Don’t start your revision by assuming they aren’t.

And that, my friends, is something I’ll be thinking about a lot when I do head back into revision.

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A Potpourri of Revision Posts

Posted on by beckylevine

Okay, so I have six scenes to go in the first draft. My goal for today was three scenes, which would have gotten me down to five left, and I wrote those six scenes, but one was a surprise with perhaps a little magic in it and a possible focus for one story thread when I start revising. So it’s staying for now, but the math says I now have six scenes to go.

Oh, math.

Anyway, I am getting closer to revision, and I’ve been letting the idea of it simmer in my head this past week. I wish I could say I meant “shimmer” there, but I’m actually a little nervous this time around, so “simmer” it is. I thought I’d do a little reading about revision to perhaps lessen the butterflies, and I thought I’d share some posts with you guys.

Here’s some of the treasure I found while browsing around the web.

From Robin LaFevers, two posts. One I basically intruded into her busy world and asked her for, over on Facebook, when I was hoping for some ideas about how to use software/spreadsheets in plotting timelines. The post she linked to is here. And another one here with some great questions to ask yourself before you start revising.

From Chuck Wendig at Terrible Minds, this post is probably more “colorful,” than you’re used to if you visit my blog very often, but it’s very funny and pretty much spot on. (See, in particular, numbers 19 and 23.)

A very detailed, very good revision checklist from Nathan Bransford.

And another great revision post he links to, from Jennifer R. Hubbard, about revision fatigue.

I’m always looking for structure, so I like the to-dos in this post from Kristin Elise.

And some wonderful opinions/processes collected from other authors and posted at The Enchanted Inkspot.

Enjoy. And happy revising!

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What’s Your First Step After The First Draft?

Posted on by beckylevine

Seriously, before you ask, yes, I’m way ahead of the game. I’ve fast-drafted Act I, but that still leaves Acts II, III, & IV to go. (Did you notice that higher math there?) And, right, Act I is shorter by far than, at least, Acts II and III. Don’t panic. I’m not worrying (too much) about what I’ll do after that first-round typing of The End. But I am getting curious about techniques for moving, effectively, from drafting to revising.

Here’s what i did last time I fast-drafted a novel. I took probably a week or so away from it, and then I sat down with the manuscript and started reading. I will tell you right here that I never finished reading that manuscript (at least not just reading). Instead, one big, huge problem jumped out at me: I had made the sidekick character way more active than the hero; the hero was (unconsciously, I think) doing a Nick Carraway and telling the story as he observed it happening, rather than as he made it happen. So I put the first draft down and started revising, pushing my hero as far to the front of every scene as I could. These were the scenes I sent to my critique group, as I wrote them. And from that point on, I was revising from my critique group feedback, as well as from my own ideas–a pretty happy state.

At this point, I feel like I’ll probably try this technique when I finish the first draft of this new MG (I have got to come up with a sharable working title). This whole fast-drafting thing is a return for me to something that actually worked once upon a time, and–since it seems to be working a second time–I’m feeling a bit tremulous about reaching out into experimentation. I know it’s a good thing in general, but last time it left me in a pretty big pit, so maybe I need to get my process base a little more solid before I slide out onto the ice again. (My apologies for the majorly mixed metaphors. And the alliteration.)

Anyway, I am curious about how other people handle this stage. I’m going to share a few links to a few other processes. Some of them I’ve played with, some look effective, some are intriguing. And then I’d love if we got this conversation going in the comments-what do YOU do?

Just the other day, David Lubar linked to a WriteOnCon post he wrote about how he deconstructs his novels. I thought his process looked really interesting and valuable; I like how he really sticks to the basics.

Martha Alderson’s Plot Planner is another wonderful tool. Martha is brilliant at nailing the holes and flaws in a plot, and her planner is a good tool for laying everything out and seeing what you have and what you don’t. I’ve used this tool with Martha and with my critique partners. What usually happens for me is I get excited about what I’m seeing (and perhaps a bit lazy), and I run back to writing. While it is good to be writing, I’m not sure I’m using the tool to its fullest strength.

The other thing I’ve heard people talk about doing is writing a synopsis. I know people hate synopses, and maybe the only reason I don’t is that I’ve only done them at the extreme ends of the writing process–as a conference assignment when I’d barely started a story and as a required submission piece when I had a completed manuscript. (When I have written them, I’ve used Hélène Boudreau’s very doable synopsis steps.) I’m assuming people use them at other stages to identify holes and weak spots, but I’m not sure how exactly that works.

So those are my thoughts and my pointings to other thoughts. What about you? What do you do with that first draft manuscript once it’s done, and what processes have helped you bridge from that stage into second draft revision? Thanks in advance for your ideas and tips!

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Doing the Hard Work

Posted on by beckylevine

I’ve been working on three picture books for a while now. Okay, quite a while. And I’m close. Sooooo close. But you know what it’s like? It’s like when you fold a piece of paper in half, then in half again, and again, and again…Apart from the physical difficulty, you could–theoretically–be forever able to fold the paper in half and never get to the end of the process. I’m at the stage where it feels like I could revise, then revise again, then revise again, and again, and again…

And then there’s this first draft of a middle-grade novel calling. Pages and pages and pages of first drafting. Hours of writing time when you don’t have to (yet) figure it all out, find the perfect word, get the theme and the plot and the character development totally nailed. That feeling of knowing you can put off all the “fixes,” because you’re still wandering through and exploring the problems.

Sure, yes, I know it isn’t really like that. First drafting has plenty of agony. Yes, I know it’s just a siren song right now, tempting me to procrastinate out of the picture books revision, avoid the fear, skip the frustration.

So this week I’m saying, No way, siren. I’m plugging my ears. Tying myself to the mast. Rowing with all my might through the rapids. And sticking with the hard stuff. Because all the work I’ve done so far? It deserves recognition and support. So it’s more picture-book revision at my place.

To infinity and beyond!

 

 

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Revision Progress

Posted on by beckylevine

In January, I wrote a review of Jeannine Atkins’ Views from a Window Seat and talked about how motivated I was to turn back toward my picture book revisions. I was so inspired from reading about Jeannine’s focus on sitting with a story, with its characters and its words, all at different stages but always with the same sense of giving the story time and room to reveal itself.

As I get back into my revisions, I’ve been working (hard) to stay with that inspiration, to remember how I want to do this. I’ve pushed away self-criticisms of how long I’ve been working on each of these stories. I’ve stuck in metaphorical earplugs to shut out the noisy thoughts of how much longer I might still be working on them. I’ve (tried to) put a lid on all the fantasies about what will happen when I do get them done. And I’ve spent a lot of time in non-story files, typing in thoughts as they occurred to me, listing questions for which I didn’t yet have answers, and then just thinking about those thoughts and questions.

Yesterday, while I was working on one of the revisions, actually at the point where I was changing words and sentences around, pulling the threads of the action and dialogue a little closer around the theme/purpose/point whatever, I heard a small, but solid thump. And I looked at what I had left to do in that revision, at least before I sent it off to my critique group for the nth time, and it was a lot less than I’d thought. Things had, without my realizing it, become more connected and cohesive. The pieces of the story had moved themselves into the right spots, and the characters had picked some good things to do and say. I had, with so much less agony and stress (not with less time or work!), come to the next “ready” place. Off went the critique.

And this morning, I picked up my folder for one of other picture books in the revision pile. It has been several weeks, at least, since I’ve looked at this one, and the first thing I did was read through the latest comments from my critique group. I didn’t open my laptop, not at first. I just read the comments. And suggestions I remember shaking my head at and feeling skeptical about suddenly made SO MUCH SENSE. I had been approaching the story, yet again, with some fear, but because I let myself start slowly and just get reacquainted with the critique comments, laptop unopened, no pen in hand, something else went thump. In a nice way.

This time, it was almost easy not to immediately open the story file. I started a new file called  something like “What to Do With…” and I put in the two most important words that came through to me from the critique. I typed in a couple of questions, then a couple of ideas. Not really even possibilities yet. Just ideas. Thoughts. More to sit with.

Oh, of course, the other voices are still there, talking at me about mythical life deadlines, goals, self-esteem, productivity. But they’re clamoring a little less loudly, their vehemence softened, I think, by my going with Jeannine’s reminder–the reminder that we’re here because we choose to be. We are touching down with a story because at least that little bit in love with a character or a plot twist and because we want to see what we can do with it. Why run away from it? Or rush through it?

Yes, the tortoise eventually won the race. But I think he also enjoyed the feel of the ground under his feet, the sunshine on his shell, and all the sounds and smells of his journey.

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Revision: More from Mary Kole…and Me

Posted on by beckylevine

I will get some time into my picture book this week. Mary Kole posted an archive blog this week on Facebook about trying things out, and that’s going to be my mantra for this revision.

  • Is this what that character wants? I don’t know…try it out!
  • Will this new ending work? I don’t know…try it out!
  • Can I simplify and specify to a stronger character want? I don’t know…try it out!

You get the point. There are two things going on here for me. One: I do believe anything can work. Tense changes, pov switches, you name it. If it’s done right. (And, no, I am NOT implying that’s easy!) Two: As much as we talk things out, play with ideas across the table or on scratch pads, the only way to really know if it makes your story better, is to actually write it. Put it down, in scene, with characters and action and dialogue.

My critique partners may get a bit of a mess next time. Or they might get a story that has moved that much further along the path to “done.” Heck, they might get something that covers both of those descriptions!

But they’re going to get something.

How goes your current writing or revision?

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Revision: I’ve Been Here Before

Posted on by beckylevine

I did something the other day. I shared my first picture book, the one I thought was “close,” to a set of new readers. A few things happened:

  • They said many of the things my other critiquers have been saying.
  • Because they were fresh readers, and this was their first sight of the picture book, their comments gave me a bit of a kick in the backside, a wake-up call.
  • I realized that I still have some deep revision work to do.

Last week, Mary Kole posted a wonderful blog about big revision. In it, she talks about the difference between tinkering and really digging deep, taking apart your story, getting back down to the bones of it and making drastic changes. Here’s a great passage from the post:

…look at the word revision…it means “to see again.” To see your story in a whole new light. To make massive plot, character, and language changes. And having so much on the page already often lures us into a false complacency.

I think I’ve been doing something kind of in between tinkering and the deep stuff. I have made significant changes to the story, at least to the way I tell the story. I’ve been trying to revision the way I see the characters and how I draw them on the page. I’ve been playing a lot with what I write into words, and what I leave for an illustrator.

But–as these new critiquers brought home to me–I haven’t gone deep enough. I still need to answer questions about the purpose of each character (thank goodness there are only three!) in the story. I need to think about who’s story this really is, and why. And I need to seriously take a look at that ending and see if it needs to be tossed out–if it’s simply leftover from that initial idea, rather than being the true way that everything comes together.

Back to the bones. Not just picking up the ones I’ve scattered around, but figuring out–for real this time–which bones I need and what they do. Maybe the wrist bone isn’t connected to the arm bone. Or maybe it is, but I’ve stuck a leg bone in by mistake. I have, possibly, been spending too much time laying the muscles and skin over a not-yet-sturdy assemblage of parts.

I absolutely believe everything Mary Kole says in her post. I’ve told people the same thing a hundred times. I’ve told it to myself. I know it all to be true.

This doesn’t mean I’m not nervous about whether or not I can do it. Or how.

But…this is what it’s all about. It’s as Mary says: “…it’s those writers who have the guts to start over in a piece that usually reap the biggest rewards.”

And it’s one of those writers who probably said best, how I’m feeling as I head into this next revision:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikynTH9oJg8

Posted in Revision

Unkilling Those Backstory Darlings

Posted on by beckylevine

Yes, “unkilling.” WordPress wouldn’t let me write Killing in my post header, so I had to get creative. Shoot me, already.

On with it…

Yes, we have to be careful about how much backstory we drop into our manuscripts. It sure feels like, unless I’m reading an epic fantasy or a long family drama, that less and less backstory is being used today. And, honestly, as a reader, I’m fine with that. I like spare prose, I like tight storytelling, I like characterization that the author has managed to draw fully in a very few words.

As a writer, I’m more than fine with it…as a goal. That doesn’t mean I don’t struggle with it. Especially in a historical novel in which the MC’s freedom is being seriously limited by her mother’s past. Especially in a picture book in which I seem to need to know lots about the two characters’ past together, none of which am I giving six actual words to explain on the page.

So, yes, as a writer, I want to encourage you to kill your backstory darlings. In revision, train yourself to throw up a mental penalty flag (Wow! A sports metaphor from me!) every time you start talking about the past, or describing a character, or discussing a relationship, etc., etc…for more than a few paragraphs. Maybe for more than two paragraphs. Honestly, maybe for more than two sentences. Cut and…kill.

But here’s the thing. I’m not sure those deaths have to be final.

(Sorry, but that’s the scariest zombie you’ll see at my blog.)

This backstory is development. When you’re writing a first draft, you’re supposed to let things flow. You’re still learning. Heck, I’m on the second draft, and I’m still learning. Oh, wait…picture book….thirteen drafts…sigh. You get the point.

At some point, though, you’re going to get rid of a humongous chunk of backstory.

Here’s the question.

Do you hit the Delete key, or do you pick Cut-and-Paste?

Your choice, obviously, and it’s going to depend a lot on your process and your memory. Me, if I think I’m going to want to use something in the future, I don’t get rid of it. I don’t trust myself to remember what it was, or the absolute brilliance with which I wrote it. (Yes, you’re right. 98.7323% of the time, I look back at it and either don’t need it or the brilliance has completely faded.) But I don’t see a problem with keeping a file of backstory that you’ve taken out of your manuscript.

Your readers do need some information about the characters and the world they’re moving in. It’s a rare novelist, and I can’t name one off the top of my head, who can give the reader everything through dialogue and pure action. As you cut and cut, you’re also going to be trickling.

A line here. A few words there.

Odds are you’re not going to pull the exact wording from that backstory file. But tons of writers use character worksheets, or make collages to represent the settings they want to create. What do you think? Would a backstory file be a good refresher for you, a reminder of all the things you once knew and wrote down about this story? Would this file point you in the right direction to the few words you need now?

Thoughts? Comments? Do you delete, or do you copy?

Posted in Picture Books, SCBWI

Picture Book Revision: Note to Myself (and Anyone Else Who Wants to Listen)

Posted on by beckylevine

Today’s Friday Five is a set of reminders to myself about revising this #$@($*@ a picture book.

1. Don’t push too far into the story until you’ve gotten deep into character. Okay, go ahead, push into that story, but you’re still going to have to go back & figure out those people.

2. Your hero has to be active. As active as a five-year-old (or maybe a baby panda) can be.

3. Your hero has to fail. Somehow, even as he repeats his attempts to succeed, he has to fail. You know, probably without a lot of blood or pain.

4. Words come last. I know, you have to put something on the page, or–yeah–you’re not writing a picture book. But do not become too attached to those words. Be prepared to bring out the sharpest, most super-charged chainsaw you’ve got and to use it tearing them up.

5. It’ll be worth it.

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What Writing Process? Or…When Your Second Draft Feels More Like a First

Posted on by beckylevine

I’m working on the second draft of my historical YA. Last week, I passed the 50-page mark and did a little dance of joy. Partially because of the page count, but in a big way, because the writing of that week’s scenes had gone so well. As in fast. With the words pouring out.

Yeah, like a first draft.

It’s the second draft, so maybe you’re thinking you should be asking me this: But aren’t you revising? Well, yes. And, no.

Back here, when I finished Draft 1, I talked about the big discovery of that draft-that I had two stories going, not one. With, very possibly, two different heroes. In other words, two books.

So, yes, in a way, I’m revising–I am working with a seriously different plot. My hero’s goal has become much more sharply defined. (Um, maybe because she’s not as confused as I was during the whole last draft?!) So, story? Yes, that’s in the revision stage.

Scenes? Not so much. Yes, my plot has my hero going to some of the same places, meeting the same people, having similar arguments as she did before. But the focus/angle/slant/WHATEVER of these scenes-the why she’s there and the where she needs to go after–that’s all different. So different that I’m not opening up a single original scene to make changes in. I’m writing new.

Could I beat myself up about this? Oh, yeah, I so could. I could tell myself that I should have written that first-first draft ten times as fast. I could tell myself that I still haven’t done reasearch to the point I thought I needed to, to make myself happy writing this draft. I could tell myself that I didn’t learn a thing about who my hero was the first time through; I only learned about who she wasn’t. I could look at the calendar and beat myself up for how soon this draft isn’t going to be done. I could do all that, if I let myself get sucked into the idea that there is one way to write a book, even just one way for a particular writer to write a book.

Which, of course, there isn’t.

So, I’m diving back into scenes this week, and I’m going to write my somewhere-in-the-middle-of-a-first-and-second-draft version of story. And you know what else I’m going to do? I’m going to enjoy the ride.

Here’s to you and whatever your writing process may be…this week! 🙂