Thread: Revision woes

I feel entirely in over my head.

Recently, I finished my first novel-length piece. I was very excited. As most advise, I put it away for a few months before I sat down to edit/revise. Well, after going through it with a red pen, re-reading, and then writing an synopsis of what happened in the novel (a useful way to spot holes and get ideas during the revision process, I think), I noticed a lot of things that I think I need to change, to broaden the story.

That's all well and good. I don't mind rewriting things to make the story better; my woes aren't about laziness, or having no love for the process. What's troubling me is figuring how to structure all said changes. When I wrote the book it was fairly free; there was no outlining, I just let the characters aim me. Now, I feel the need to move things around--this chapter goes here, that one here, I should move that paragraph to that chapter, should I put a chapter above the introduction chapter?--and all this re-planning is giving me a headache.

My gut reaction is to say, "Eff this outlining stuff! I'll just re-write it from scratch!" But I'm afraid of that decision. There's also that voice in my head that wants to put it aside and start a new project, but that scares me too.

Like I said, this is my first go at this. Has anyone had similar experiences, or maybe some words of advice?

If what you wrote didn't turn out the way you thought it would while you were writing it, you're in good company. That happens to everyone in all sorts of writing.

Having served as an editor and writer for a number of years I can tell you that you will always be your own worst enemy in one of two ways. Either you will will look back at what you have written and see only its weaknesses, or you will read it over when you've finished writing and refuse to believe that any single word in in should be changed. One reaction is as bad as the other. Both can be destructive.

Before you start major revisions get a second opinion from someone you trust. You may need to let it rest a bit longer, as well, then go over it again.

Plenty of people write new drafts from scratch. Sometimes you just have to. Starting a new project and coming back to this later is also an option, but if you've already let this one marinate for a few months, it probably won't help much.

Originally Posted by Ilasir Maroa

Plenty of people write new drafts from scratch.

Actually, I think we all do.

A new draft and a first draft are not the same.

Epic,

Consider (or keep in mind that) going at it with the notion that your first revision (or second draft) won't be the final one. Fix and iron out as much as you can. Then go at it a third time. It will be in much better shape, and the third pass will be easier.

One thing to also consider is that every day you spend time at it, you become a more experienced writer. But, if you feel that the current project is hopeless, there is nothing wrong with moving on to a new one, taking what you've learned to that new effort.

Good luck!

Terry

I don't recall ever writing a new draft of anything from scratch, certainly nothing of book length. I have read, or tried to read, books that should have been rewritten from scratch, preferably by a different writer.

So much of my writing has been for periodicals with fixed deadlines that I developed an 'edit on the fly' mentality early on, so most of my rewriting has been reworking sentences written in the past five minutes. Setting longer works aside for a few weeks, then going through for a final edit has always fixed everything to make the publisher's editor happy.

Ghost books can be a pain in the rumpus because the subject and the subject's lawyer and wife and girlfriend and dog all have to approve. But the money's good, so it's worth it.

If a work, on review, appears to need a new start from scratch, then the suggestion that the writer should move on to another project is a good suggestion.

I've written my first novel no fewer than three times. I started the very first version in 1999 and finished it a year later. Then, halfway through my second one, I decided I wanted to rewrite the first part of the first one. That took about five months (my first novel was separated into two "books"; the first took place two years before the second). Then, a couple of years after I'd finished the second and third ones, I decided to rewrite the entire first part. That took another year. Last year, having felt that the rewrite was not up to par, I rewrote it again. This is, and will be, the final version.

I didn't do this because the task of editing seemed horrible to me, or because I was lazy. I figured that it would be easier to rewrite a novel from scratch, bringing in new ideas and a new mindset, rather than spending God knows how long editing and tweaking the other one. So I don't think you're alone there. My first novels were woeful in terms of writing. My advice to you would be, if your novel is good, get out the red pen. If you feel editing will be a waste of time, write it again. It's more practice for you.

Does fiction really take so long to write? I would think it would go rather quickly since you are creating the 'facts' of the story yourself and do not need to spend time chasing down people to interview or digging through archives.

My present personal project is a political history of Belize in the 1950's and while I'm paying a UB student to research the paper trail, it's taking a long time to get everything together. All the people I needed to interview are either dead, moved out of the country, or so old they tend to wanter off answering questions. If I could just make it up the job would be a lot easier.

But never having written any long fiction, I suppose I'm in for a shock if I ever try.

In my (exceptionally limited) experience when it comes to writing long pieces of fiction you'd be surprised just how much research and prodding 'n' poking one may need to do. For example: in a current project I've just started brainstorming I'm having to research the effects/treatment/prognosis etc. of pancreatic cancer. Of course, Googling this is a doddle when searching for hard facts but when it comes to emotional experience I feel some deeper snooping is required. There are also a number of other things I will be writing about that I have no experience of whatsoever and this will involve chasing people down to ask questions.

Not to mention that if you have a full-time job, as I do, and you are mild-mannered Blue Collar worker by day and Novelist Extraordinaire by night then time constraints can make writing fiction (or anything) a slower process. But that's just how I've seen it...so far

Originally Posted by garza

Does fiction really take so long to write? I would think it would go rather quickly since you are creating the 'facts' of the story yourself and do not need to spend time chasing down people to interview or digging through archives.

My present personal project is a political history of Belize in the 1950's and while I'm paying a UB student to research the paper trail, it's taking a long time to get everything together. All the people I needed to interview are either dead, moved out of the country, or so old they tend to wanter off answering questions. If I could just make it up the job would be a lot easier.

But never having written any long fiction, I suppose I'm in for a shock if I ever try.

Often you're not creating the facts but creating the body of the narrative from previously-existing facts. This is especially true of topical fictions and of science fiction. In the second case, research (at least for me) is a much more protracted affair than actually writing the piece. Putting the pieces of the research together to make the story is also often a longterm romance.

I'm sure that there is an easier way to do this but I separated each chapter into it's own file. It made it easier to re-arrange things later. I have cut and changed so much of my novel that it is not even remotely the same. I'm on my fourth draft I think. I am ready to just re-write the whole thing too. Sorry I don't have much practical advice but I'll suffer with you.

From my experience with my own novel, I can completely relate to your issues, Epic. I noticed that, on my second time through with the editing, my story would flow better if I moved certain events to a previous chapter and certain scenes to another. I scuttled things around, chopped and scuttled some more.

Then I decided to do something really wierd that worked for me, but may not in your instance, as I'm not sure that this advice is "writing formula". I began looking at each chapter as a smaller story of the greater whole. I did what movie directors do. I "shot it in scenes" so to speak, taking the more problematic chapters and reworking them, and then fitting the easier chapters around those. Then I re-typed the entire novel. It was easier than starting all over, because each chapter was finished, I just had to sew them all together. I hope that makes some kind of weird, convoluted sense to you? At any rate, it worked for me. And it wasn't as overwhelming as starting in chpater one and re-writing the entire novel just because some sections of my plot didn't broaden or explain as much of the story as I wanted.

For what it's worth...

Originally Posted by garza

Does fiction really take so long to write? I would think it would go rather quickly since you are creating the 'facts' of the story yourself and do not need to spend time chasing down people to interview or digging through archives.

Yes. In my opinion, fiction is harder to write than non-fiction. I've done a college dissertation on Napoleon which came to fifteen thousand words. Once I had the main body worked out, my research done, and knew my conclusion, writing it took little over a day. Fiction novels, however, are a different beast. Even the most-outlined novel will hit a snag midway through, a plot hole, or will just peter out. You also need to remember that fiction-writing is a lot different than non-fiction. Non-fiction novels are predominantly telling and invariably use passive voice. Good fiction relies on a mixture of telling/showing and passive/active. It relies on stronger verbs, tighter sentences, use of proper pacing, tension, characterisation, plot-lines, points of view, conflict, resolution, and a plethora of other things that combine to make a really good story.

With non-fiction, barring research, everything has already been done for you.

Originally Posted by Sam W

Even the most-outlined novel will hit a snag midway through, a plot hole, or will just peter out.

Not if you're doing it right.