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How To Revise Your Novel and Really Mean It
Writers seem to fall into two categories: those who hate the first draft and love the slow, detailed pleasure of revision, and those who love the rush and excitement of the first draft and hate revision.
Many of us baulk at revision. I’ve heard writers vow that their work comes out so well the first time, they never need more than one draft. Almost none of those writers are traditionally published, by the way, and if they self-publish, they don’t do well. If nothing else, revision improves readability, and hey — we all want keen readers!
If you’re serious about getting your work noticed by editors, the revision stage is where your work will truly reach its full potential. The problem is — how can you approach rewriting so that it becomes constructive, enhancing and problem-solving? It’s part of your craft, so it needs a coherent strategy.
You have to read critically — that means read other published work. Books and stories in your genre or form, books outside your genre, any book that might give you a great or bad example of writing. Any book that does a good job of something you struggle with (at the moment, I’m working on deepening character — how to do this with a character who has a very hard outer shell).
Read to see how accomplished writers work with words, with character, with plot…
