Debut Novel: Spreadsheets Used for Plotting and Revising a Novel

Introduced first in 2007, debut children’s authors have formed a cooperative effort to market their books. I featured Revision Stories from the Classes of 2k8 and 2k9 and this feature returns this year with the Class of 2k11.

• Class of 2008
• Class of 2009
• MORE 2k11

Revision

Guest post by Kiki Hamilton

Revision is hard work. There’s no two ways about it. But it is necessary to improve the story – sometimes it’s the way the writer finds the real story. Though there can be times when it feels like the process of revision never ends – it doesn’t have to be overwhelming.

I like to think of it as making a cake. You have to work in layers.

The first layer is the plot structure. There are lots of different ways to draw out the plot or story arc of your novel. I use a color-coded Excel spreadsheet, others use sticky notes – either way is fine – as long as you have some way to see the overall scope of the story.

Divide your story into acts:
• Act 1 is the set-up: identify your characters and the conflict.
• Act 2 begins with a Turning Point which results in rising action.
• Act 3 the conflict increases until it reaches a Point of No Return. This is where we know what the character wants.
• Act 4 begins from the Point of No Return and we rise to the Crisis, which is where we learn what the character needs. From there we move to the Resolution and The End.

The second layer includes: characters, theme, emotions, plot. Once you’ve got your structure in place, take a look at the elements that create your story: Characters, Theme, Emotions, Plot.

Are your characters three dimensional? Is your protagonist well-developed? Do we care about them? Is there a theme present in the story? Here’s a big one for me – is the plot believable? Do the protagonist’s choices make sense?

The third layer contains the supporting elements. This is the time to look at side characters, dialogue, scene transitions, and pacing. Are the side characters necessary? Do they get enough time on stage? Do your characters speak in a believable way? Cliffhangers are great but make sure that when you move from one scene to the next, or one chapter ending to a new chapter, that you do it in a way that your reader can follow the timeline and sequence of events. Also, it’s hard to look at your own work objectively, but try to see where the pace of your story drags and where it might move too quickly.

The final layer is the details. This is my favorite part of the revision process. I like to think of it as putting on the beautiful sparkly frosting.

Make sure you’re showing and not telling. Show us what the main character is thinking and feeling through description and actions. Provide fresh, original details. Use vivid verbs and phrasing so that when the character’s heart races, ours does too. And finally, drop in those last little details that will set your work apart from others.

Revision is hard work but it is this part of crafting a story that will make the reader remember your characters long after they read ‘The End’.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Replace Abstractions with Concrete Detail!

Guest post by Geoff Herbach

Introduced first in 2007, debut children’s authors have formed a cooperative effort to market their books. I featured Revision Stories from the Classes of 2k8 and 2k9 and this feature returns this year with the Class of 2k11.

• Class of 2008
• Class of 2009
• MORE 2k11

What’s wrong with this passage?

Bobby was such a nice boy. He would help people who needed to be helped. But something wasn’t right. Bobby felt sad everyday of his life.

It’s dead. You can’t see, feel, or smell it. It’s all tell, no show. What makes the passage that way? Abstractions!

In writing, abstractions are words that symbolize a notion. For instance, in the passage above, what does nice mean? What does helped mean? What does sad mean? Abstract is good in math (math describes reality using symbols, which are by nature abstract). Abstraction can be really cool in visual art. Check out Mondrian’s work Broadway Boogie Woogie, a series of lines and blocks of color meant to represent Midtown Manhattan. You get a different idea of Manhattan through abstraction. Abstraction does not work in writing, though!

Mondrain: Broadway Boogie Woogie, Low-res used under Fair Use

You might have had an English teacher or writing instructor ask you to “show” not “tell”. Often they’re asking you to replace your abstractions with concrete detail.

Reading should be a visceral experience. You should feel it in your guts. If I say I am nice, do you know what nice really means? No way! You can’t see it, feel it, or smell it. If I say every morning I get up at the cold crack of dawn, roll out of my warm covers so I can trek three miles to my disabled grandma’s house to help her make breakfast, do you know what nice means? Oh yeah. You can see and feel it.

Circle Abstractions. When I am revising my work, one of my steps is to go through the manuscript and circle every one of my abstractions. After I do that, I’ll think about each instance and decide if the abstraction serves the story or takes away from the reader’s ability to “see” what I mean. Almost always I’ll replace the abstraction (showing what nice means) with concrete details like getting up at the cold crack of dawn or making breakfast for my grandma.

If I replace every abstraction in that initial passage, I get this:

Every morning Bobby woke up at 5 am so he could cross the wide street in front of his house and serve Old Lady Grisham a breakfast of poached eggs and apple smoked bacon before he left for classes at Golden Prairie High. Still, even though his parents hugged and smiled at each other every time they looked at Bobby – they were so proud, each morning that spring, in first hour English, Bobby’s stomach twisted and his face reddened and he excused himself and went to the bathroom to talk himself out of crying.

Now the passage is alive. Abstractions are replaced with concrete detail that shows who your character is, where your character exists, and how your character is nice, helpful, and also sad. What an easy trick!

So, as one of your revision steps, make sure you locate where you use abstractions, and consider replacing them with concrete details!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Bettina Restrepo Debuts with ILLEGAL

Introduced first in 2007, debut children’s authors have formed a cooperative effort to market their books. I featured Revision Stories from the Classes of 2k8 and 2k9 and this feature returns this year with the Class of 2k11.

• Class of 2008
• Class of 2009

Guest post by Bettina Restrepo

Recently, I performed a paid critique of a teenager’s novel. While I carefully weighed my words to encourage the young writer, I knew he needed a vigorous critique to move forward to revise. No one wants to feel like they have to redo their work. Rewriting a novel reminds me that revision is like growing up. I want to skip childhood and get to the good part.

My novel, ILLEGAL, grew from two picture books. Each time I rewrote the book, I taught myself how to revise. I learned more about the tedious revision process. Then, I discovered the work was learning to live and listen.

Characters Calling. First, by combing through each word and sentence, I hear more parts of the story from the characters inside the book. I keep many novel ideas sitting inside a drawer. But, I only work on the stories where the characters call and beckon me with more details of their life. As I grow in maturity, I add new life experience which gives me deeper understanding of my characters. It takes life to influence great writing.

Patience and Tenacity. Second, I learned patience and tenacity. Long before I had an agent, I had to print out the pages, schlep to the post office, and send off my baby manuscript to live amongst the slush piles. Three months later I would status query. Three months later, I would nudge. But, during those six months, I went on to write other things. Each time when the manuscript came back, I looked at it with new eyes. The returned manuscript contained a generic rejection letter, sometimes with providing a golden nugget of information. I listened to the advice doled out and I heard (sometimes) what was meant. My tenacity came as I realized that these rejections weren’t about me, but rather about a story that wasn’t ready – yet.

Growing as a Writer. Third, I’m continuing to learning patience and it’s getting easier. I am no longer a baby writer, crying for Mama to read every morsel, to feed me the answers. I crawled around the publishing world putting genres and techniques into my mouth to see what worked. I did the rudimentary drills to learn multiplication, faced the schoolyard bullies. I tackled Algebra; even though I was convinced it would never apply to my life (once again, wrong!).

Lifelong Challenge. As I begin my fourth novel, I’m beginning to understand that my learning curve is a tangent – stretching out into places I never imagined. Learning how to revise will continue to be a lifelong challenge that will test my patience. Hindsight is 20/20, and I want to learn from my mistakes. I’m listening and revising as I go along.

Bettina’s debut novel, ILLEGAL (Harper-Collins, a Katherine Tegen Book), will be out on March 11, 2011. She revised this article on revision at least five times.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Guest post from Dori Butler

What advice would you give to your younger self?

I’ve always wanted to be a writer. Always. But wanting to be a writer is probably a lot like wanting to be a baseball player. Or a movie star. A lot of people want it, but most will settle for something else.

One thing that sets me apart from other people is I’m determined. Some might say stubborn. I’m also relatively patient. When I want something, I go after it. And I don’t give up until I get it.

That doesn’t mean I don’t have doubts. I’ve had a lot of doubts about my writing through the years. There have been times I wondered if I was wasting my time…times I considered giving up…times I wished I could look into a crystal ball and see whether I was ever going to get anywhere. Would I ever get published? Would I ever publish a book? Would I ever publish a book with my name on it rather than someone else’s? Would I ever publish a series? That’s what I really wanted to do…publish a series of my own.

Now that I’m more than twenty years into my writing career, I know the answers to those questions. If I could actually talk to a younger version of myself at various points my life, and offer some advice, this is what I would say:

Dear 21-year-old Dori,

Dori at 21

So what are you working on? An eight-book picture book series called Plato Goes to Obedience School. Wow. Eight books, huh? All about a cocker spaniel who goes to obedience school. You don’t realize this yet, but you don’t have enough story there to sustain one book, much less eight. You’ve got the start of a character, but no plot. No. I’m sorry, you really don’t.

Let me ask you this: What does Plato want? What is he willing to do to get it? What is he going to DO in each of these eight books to move the story forward? Where’s the conflict? Where’s the adventure? Where are the high stakes? You need to read A LOT more picture books if you think you want to write picture books. You need to learn the elements of a good story. In fact, maybe you should think about writing just one good story at this point. It’s too early to be thinking about a series.

I know you really want to write a series. But trust me, you’re not ready. And Plato Goes to Obedience School is NOT series material. By the way, six-year-olds don’t even know who Plato was, so you might consider changing the name of that dog. Yeah, I know…that’s really your dog’s name, but nobody cares. Please, do me a favor. Don’t send that series proposal out. Just keep reading, keep writing, keep learning. One day you will publish a series of your own. It’ll even be a series about dogs! But it’s not going to be Plato Goes to Obedience School. It’s just not. Put this away and don’t ever show it to ANYONE! You still have so much to learn…

–Middle-Aged Dori

Dear 29-year-old Dori,

I know…you never saw yourself living in Iowa, of all places, and yet here you are. Let me tell you this: you’re going to come to love Iowa and your life there. Really, you are. And your new friend, Carol? She’s going to change your life because she’s going to tell you about book packagers. She’s going to show you how to approach them, she’s going to read your Sweet Valley Twins audition piece, she’s going to be your biggest cheerleader next to your husband, and you’re going to get hired as a writer for the Sweet Valley Twins series. You’ve already published a bunch of magazine stories, but these are going to be your first published books. They may not be “your” books, but you’ll find subtle ways of making each one your own while remaining true to the series. This is going to be a great experience for you. You’ll get a 10-page outline for each book you’re contracted to write and then you’ll have 4-6 weeks to write each one. I know that doesn’t sound like much time, but don’t worry. You’ll make every deadline. You’ll learn how to structure a novel, match a series voice, maintain a character over several books, work with an editor, meet a deadline, revise, and you’ll actually get paid to learn all this.

Caution: you’re going to get so good at this that the assignments are going to come one after the other. And you have two little kids now. You’re going to actually make some money as a writer, but you’re not going to have time to write anything of your own. And one day you’re going to wake up and realize that everything you write sounds like a Sweet Valley Twins book. So here’s a piece of advice: slow down a little. I know it feels good when someone calls you up and offers you a contract, but learn to say no once in a while. It’s perfectly reasonable to say, “I’d like to, but I just can’t do another book this month. Could I do one next month instead?” And then use that month off to recapture your own voice.

–Middle-Aged Dori

Dear 32-year-old Dori,

So you think you’re ready to try again. You think you’re ready to propose your own middle grade series. You’ve learned all you’re going to learn from writing Sweet Valley Twins books. You’ve continued to publish magazine stories. You’ve even published a few picture books with regional publishers. But what you really want is your own middle grade series. You’ve read a bunch of other people’s series. You understand what makes a series. You even have an idea: you want to write about a girls’ baseball league. That’s not a bad idea.

You understand now that series are all about character. You’ve created nine different girls, each with her own story. You’ve got action. You’ve got adventure. You’ve got friendship. You’ve got conflict. You’ve got characters who are doing things. And at the heart of it all, you’ve got baseball.

It would help if you were a little more passionate about baseball. Sure, you know how the game is played. You know a lot about the history of women in baseball. And A League of their Own is your favorite movie. But let’s be honest. You’re not really passionate about baseball. Not really. So why do you want to write about it?

What’s that? You say you’re writing about middle school girls…middle school girls who happen to play baseball. You’re not really writing about baseball.

Yeah, okay…I’ll buy that. Temporarily. Because, after all, you’re going to get really close with this series proposal. You’re going to send Harper Collins your list of characters, a synopsis of book one, ideas for the next three books, and two sample chapters (the only ones you’ve actually written) from book one. And they’re going to get back to you after a couple of months and ask you for the rest of book one.

That single phone call will inspire some passion for baseball. You’ll read a bunch of books about baseball; you’ll even start reading the sports section of the newspaper now and then. You’ll spend the next couple of months frantically writing the rest of book one and then you’ll send it off. And you’ll wait…and you’ll wait…and you’ll wait…

But guess what? HarperCollins will NEVER give you an answer. You’ll call them and ask about the status of your manuscript after six months and again after nine months. You’ll get some encouraging news both times, but they will never offer a contract, nor will they ever tell you they’re not interested. They’re just going to hold that proposal FOREVER.

Eventually you’ll find out that Peachtree is looking for girls’ series ideas. So you’ll send your series proposal to them. This time when somebody asks about the rest of book one, you’ll be able to send it right away because you’ve actually finished it. And guess what? They’re going to tell you it’s got “too much depth” for a paperback series (which is going to blow you away because you are the queen of the “your story lacks depth” rejection letter). But they’re going to offer you a contract for it as a stand-alone hardcover novel “with sequel possibilities,” and in 2003 Sliding Into Home will be one of your first published middle grade novels.

Don’t give up!

Sincerely,
Middle Aged Dori

Dear 43-year-old Dori,

Mouse and Dori

You’ve been working with Albert Whitman & Co. for seven years now. You’ve written Boxcar Children books for them (which is a very different experience from writing Sweet Valley Twins books. You don’t get any outlines for Boxcar; you get to come up with the mysteries yourself. Too bad we can’t tell 7-year-old Dori, who LOVED the Boxcar Children series, that she would one day grow up to write them!). You’ve published five books of your own with Albert Whitman. And your editors there know you well enough to know that you’ve always wanted your own series. You’ve even discussed a series idea with them. All you need to do is write a couple of sample chapters and a synopsis of the first book, some character notes, and ideas for future books.

What’s that? You’re not all that excited about the series idea you’ve already discussed with them? You’ve got a new dog that you’re training to be a therapy dog, and really, you’re all about the dog right now (and the kid who’s moving out in 10 months). In fact, the dog is actually taking precedence over the writing. But…it might be fun to write a beginning chapter book series from the perspective of a dog. Maybe from the perspective of a school therapy dog who solves mysteries. I know, that’s not what you and your editor discussed. And you’re worried this idea is a little too close to Plato Goes to Obedience School, which you understand now was a really BAD idea.

But keep going! You know so much more about writing and constructing a series now than you did when you wrote Plato Goes to Obedience School. And most important, you’ve got PASSION for this project! Don’t worry…Albert Whitman & Co. is going to love it!

–Middle-Aged Dori

P.S. Your dog is going to be an awesome therapy dog!

If I was given an opportunity to look into a crystal ball and see answers to those questions, I don’t think I’d look. I’d rather keep doing what I’m doing and discover the answers to those questions as they happen. After all, it’s the questions that keep life interesting. I wonder if 75-year-old Dori would agree?

I wonder what advice 75-year-old Dori might have for Middle Aged Dori?

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Lauren Bjorkman Debuts with MY INVENTED LIFE

Introduced first in 2007, debut children’s authors have formed a cooperative effort to market their books. Last year, I featured many of the Class of 2k8 on Revision Notes, as they told the stories of how 2k8 Novels Were Revised.

Today, I’m glad to continue the 2k9 Series of revision stories.
Class of 2k9 with Lauren Bjorkman.

Critique: Noose or Lifeline? OR SOMEONE thinks I should change my story. Should I?

by Lauren Bjorkman

The Three Year Novel. My Invented Life is the second novel I both started and finished. At the time, my critique group consisted of four talented writers that I trusted. The first draft took me a year to complete, and the revisions another two.

Here are three examples of how my critique partners helped me in the early stages:

• Strengthen Shakespearean ties. One critique partner commented that my main plot about concealed identities and deception mirrored a Shakespeare comedy. After re-reading several Shakespeare plays, and contemplating this parallel, I changed my main character, Roz, into a theater geek, and set much of the action during rehearsals for As You Like It.
• Include action scenes. Another critique partner, a screenwriter, noticed that I used too many dinner table scenes to show family interactions. Low energy settings are the death knell of movie scripts. She gave me a few ideas on how to change this. In the end, I used one of her suggestions, a miniature golf course, for my opening scene. What an enormous improvement.
• Exaggerated character toned down, but not all the way. But sometimes critique must be considered and then rejected. One of my critique partners thought Roz was too shrill. I stewed for a few days before asking him to clarify. He gave me examples. From them, I figured out that he didn’t like the way Roz exaggerated her feelings. After much consideration, I left in many of these moments because they fit with Roz’s character. But I took some out, and toned some down.
• Give character a redeeming quality. Something an editor recommended at conference helped me with this. She advised us to study our main character’s first ten actions in the story. Was she whiny and self-absorbed, or otherwise annoying at the beginning? The reader could forgive some flaws if the character had a redeeming quality—say, bravery or thoughtfulness.
• Character becomes slightly more introspective. A later critique partner felt that Roz was not introspective enough. That had been my intention, so I chose not to make a big change in my novel. But I did allow myself to loosen up a little, and let Roz reflect more. I believe this made the story more compelling.

None of this magic is possible in the wrong critique group. One writer I know mentioned that every time his critique group met, he felt like hanging himself afterwards. Fortunately, he left the group before anything bad happened. And even with an awesome group, it’s important to sift through all the comments, and decide which are valid for you, and which don’t work for you.

After several revisions of My Invented Life, I showed it to a trusted friend. She loved it, but felt the story lacked gravitas. She believed that I had held back. This was true to some extent. Because of her feedback, I changed a more light-hearted storyline into a suicide attempt.

Critique by Agent

Then, I started submitting my novel to agents. It soon caught one’s attention. He liked my hook and loved the first three chapters. But when I sent him the full manuscript, he decided to pass. After I recovered my balance, I asked him why. He gave me specific feedback, and offered to look at my story again if I rewrote it. His comments resonated with me, so I decided to follow them:

• Skip the tragedy. GLBT teens need upbeat books to read.
  This had been my original idea! It was freeing to go back to it. I took it as a green light to up the level of humor.
• Streamline the subplots and characters.
  I enjoy complicated and twisted subplots. It’s a weakness of mine. So I followed this advice to some extent, but not fully.
• Focus the story on the main characters, and include more rehearsal scenes.
  This made perfect sense to me.

Revisions are NEVER Wasted

The revision took almost a year to complete. When I finished, I sent it to the agent. He chose not to represent me. Still, the time spent revising was not wasted. I wrote a better novel because of his comments. By returning to my first vision for the story, I recaptured the spark and the passion.

With the help of yet another critique partner, I completed one last revision. She made sure that Roz acted herself in every scene. A few months later, I found an amazing agent, who found me an equally amazing editor. The rest is history. My Invented Life will be in bookstores and libraries this today!

Lauren Bjorkman: http://www.laurenbjorkman.com/

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

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GIVE UP THE GHOST by Megan Crewe

Introduced first in 2007, debut children’s authors have formed a cooperative effort to market their books. Last year, I featured many of the Class of 2k8 on Revision Notes, as they told the stories of how 2k8 Novels Were Revised.

Today, I’m glad to continue the 2k9 Series of novel revision stories.
Class of 2k9

The Joy of Revision

Believe it or not, revision is actually my favorite part of writing. I rarely enjoy first drafts. The whole time I’m working on them I’m looking forward to that point in the future when the whole story will be down on the page and I can start fixing everything that’s wrong with it.

Maybe it’s because I don’t feel totally comfortable with a story until I’ve written the whole thing out at least once. Maybe it’s because it can be such a thrill to find a way of handling a plot point or character development that’s ten times better than what’s already there. Whatever the case, I’m always happiest during the second and third drafts.

I don’t just revise, I rewrite. Open up the previous draft on one side of my computer screen for reference and a blank document on the other, and start the new draft from scratch. When I tell people this they often respond as if I’ve announced that I prefer Brussels sprouts to chocolate. But it’s actually not that much work. All the parts I want to keep the same, I just retype from the previous draft. And for all the parts that need revising, I find it much easier to make sure the changes fit the flow of the story when I’m writing the whole thing out rather than dipping in and shifting bits here and there.

Eight revisions. But even a revision-lover like me can get tired of tweaking a story after the seventh or eighth run-through. And when you reach the publishing stage, you can expect a lot of revising! GIVE UP THE GHOST went through three revisions (two rewrites and one line edit) before I submitted to agents, another revision for my agent before submitting to editors, a pre-offer revision, and then three revisions after the book sold. That’s eight revisions!

So how did I keep the love through all that time?

1. Choices strengthened story. I made sure that the things I changed strengthened the story. It’s a lot easier to feel enthusiastic about revising when you can see for yourself the voice getting clearer, the characters more relatable, the plot more intriguing.
2. Choose battles wisely. If my editor wanted a change that I wouldn’t necessarily have made on my own, but I didn’t have any reason *not* to make it, I trusted her judgment. It was only the few cases where I felt something would actually hurt the story that I mulled it over and discussed possible compromises. That helped keep stress levels down–for me, and probably for her, too!
3. Let go. I allowed myself to let go. If I’d read a certain scene ten times already, and not found anything that needed changing the last three times, and my editor didn’t think it needed any more tweaking, then I’d move on to the next scene that did still need work. There’s a point when you have to accept that while nothing’s perfect, you’ve done the best you can, and that’s enough.

For more, see Megan Crewe’s website at www.megancrewe.com

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Introduced first in 2007, authors debuting children’s books have formed a cooperative effort to market their novels. Last year, I featured many of the stories of how the 2k8 Novels Were Revised. This is part of the ongoing stories from the Class of 2k9 authors and how they went about revising their novels.

From Creative Writing Class to Publication

Guest Post by
Donna St. Cyr
www.donnastcyr.com

The Secrets of the Cheese Syndicate

Inspiration. I began writing this story as an assignment for my writing class. My children had given me the idea by their daily antics (that’s how many of my stories are born). The final assignment for this class was to submit something that was around ten chapters in length. The instructor loved what I sent and encouraged me to finish and pursue publication with it.

Outline provides initial vision. Before I started the actual writing, I brainstormed how I might want the story to look, creating a pathfinder to give me some plot possibilities. It’s an action/adventure fantasy, so it really is a pretty plot-driven story. After I sketched the story out, I began writing. It didn’t take long for me to pitch the original outline and begin writing from the hip, so to speak. I was glad, however, that I’d started with the outline because it gave me a vision for the story, even though that vision changed as I wrote.

One and a half-years to a full draft. I have a nasty habit of revising as I go, so every time I wrote a chapter or two, I’d edit it right away. After that, I’d send it out to my critique group. These actions took care of many of my line edits and helped me with plot inconsistencies and pointing out spots where my narrative was too much “tell” and not enough “show”. To write the entire manuscript and revise it through my critique group took about a year to a year and a half.

Six months revising. When I felt like I’d finished the story, I sent it back through my critique group, looking specifically for “big picture” items. Some of the things we concentrated on during the second round of edits included character action and language that was consistent through the story, consistency through the plotline, holes in the story that needed to be filled in, places where the action sagged, and depth of characters. This took another six months or so and I felt pretty good about the manuscript by that point, so I started subbing it out to publishers.

Acceptance! I’d sent the story out five times – with five rejections – before I saw a call for manuscripts of Verla Kay’s Children’s Writers and Illustrators Message Board. I thought my story fit Blooming Tree’s expectations, so I sent it in. About four months later I received a call – acceptance – YAY! I thought I was done ——— NOT!

Revise for Editor. My editor told me the story was not yet finished. It needed more action, more depth of character and more EVERYTHING! This was probably the most difficult point in the revision process for me. I really wanted to be finished, but I took a good hard look at the manuscript and realized she was right. The story wasn’t finished. I found some new characters (some of my favorites) and some more adventures my main characters needed to experience. After this revision was finished, my editor asked for one more small revision. This was mostly more of the same types of things my critique buddies had helped me with. After that came the copy edits. What amazed me was how many typos are still in a manuscript after it’s been edited six times. I think we still had 30 or so things to fix. After the copy edits were completed, I really was DONE ——— with the writing, that is. The marketing and promotion has just begun.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Introduced first in 2007, authors debuting children’s books have formed a cooperative effort to market their novels. Last year, I featured many of the stories of how the 2k8 Novels Were Revised. This is part of the ongoing stories from the Class of 2k9 authors and how they went about revising their novels.

After yesterday’s posting about when to stop revising and send in a story, J.T. Dutton’s story seemed especially appropriate. Darcy

Freaked: A Revision Story

Guest Post
by J.T. Dutton

My first book, Freaked, lept into the world three months ago. Since then, I’ve been trying to form ideas for a short blog on revision. I’ve seized on some good thoughts for the discussion, stuff I teach in my Composition classes, ways to revise to improve sentences or arguments through better examples. I am an intense devotee of the school of write and rewrite. “Nothing is so smooth it can’t be smoother” is one of my mantras.

But when I have to talk about the revising I did on Freaked, I feel shy. I read a lot and I can think of fifty or hundred novels that I see as perfect—every sentence, word, and scene. I’d like to be a “perfect” writer too, but the fact is, I’m not. I get muddled. I have reread Freaked at least three times since it came into print, each time cringing at the number of things I would change now that I’m older and wiser. This is after revising it hundreds of times over twelve years, with the last pass conducted by some of the smartest people in the writing business—the editors and copy editors at HarperCollins.

Surgeons Don’t Get “Do Overs”

My Dad reminded me recently, when I was expressing angst about my second book, Stranded, of a quote from Albert Einstein, “perfection is the enemy of good.” My Dad is a retired surgeon. In his field, he didn’t get do-overs. He had to believe in his skills, be courageous about them. He is always stopping to offer assistance at road-side accidents. He volunteers for an ambulance service and a local fire department despite the fact that he faces liability issues as the most prepared person on the scene if something goes wrong. (This is why some doctor’s don’t stop for emergencies.)

Dad has made it a lifetime practice to do what he can, when he can. He even “vacations” every couple of years at hospital in Haiti.

Revision is a great thing, but for people like me, it can lead to obsession and excuses not to share my work. At a certain point, I have to take my dad’s advice and admit that I can’t tuck every thread, that I’m flawed, that I make mistakes, but it’s better to offer the world what skills I have than to offer it nothing at all. In this way, I guess, the writing can be interesting, individual, and courageous, rather than perfect.

A pretty worthy goal.

Thanks Dad. You are my hero.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Introduced first in 2007, authors debuting children’s books have formed a cooperative effort to market their novels. Last year, I featured many of the stories of how the 2k8 Novels Were Revised. This is part of the ongoing stories from the Class of 2k9 authors and how they went about revising their novels.

Learning to Love Novel Revisions Takes Time

by Sydney Salter

My Big Nose And Other Natural Disasters (HM Harcourt/Graphia, April 6, 2009).

Nasty chore. I used to think of novel revision as a nasty chore, kind of like laundry or washing dishes. I vividly remember taking my first manuscript to my writing group. I knew they would love it. This was my first novel, and it was going to be snapped up by a publisher, win many glorious awards for novels, and I’d become rich and famous—in mere months (okay, you can stop laughing now).

Imagine my shock when I returned the next week—and learned that they had suggestions. For improvement! They thought my novel started out kind of slow. They thought one thread of the novel was amore interesting than the other. Heart pounding, cheeks flushed, I defended myself mightily, explaining why I didn’t really need to take their suggestions, didn’t need to revise. They just didn’t get my novel. And maybe they weren’t quite as intelligent as I’d thought they were?

I submitted the novel. I collected rejections—mostly form letters. On the fifth form letter an editor scrawled, “Promising, but Kat’s voice could be stronger.” I focused on the promising part, not knowing how to revise to make the voice stronger. I simply didn’t have the writing skills to do that yet.

I wrote new novels. I attended conferences and workshops; I learned that nothing in book publishing takes mere months. And I learned to take criticism on my novels. Sure my heart still pounded, my cheeks still flushed, but I took extensive notes and asked clarifying questions. I stopped defending myself and my book. I really listened to critiques.

I actually looked forward to using the advice to improve my novels. Was this [whispers] revision?

I wrote my fourth book during National Novel Writing Month, but before revising it, I decided to return to that first story. I finally understood voice. I even took another look at those initial revision comments made by my writing group. How I loved returning to those familiar characters! I finally knew how to make the book better.

My fourth novel, My Big Nose And Other Natural Disasters, caught an agent’s attention. But he had a few notes for revision. No problem—my patient (and did I mention intelligent?) writing group had taught me how to take criticism! I worked hard on the revisions.

Sale #1. And the book sold quickly.

Sale #2! A few months—and revisions—later, my agent also sold that very first novel, Jungle Crossing, but only because I had learned to appreciate, okay, maybe even love, revising. Now if only I could learn to love laundry and dishwashing . . .

Jungle Crossing (HM Harcourt, September 28, 2009)

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Introduced first in 2007, authors debuting children’s books have formed a cooperative effort to market their novels. Last year, I featured many of the stories of how the 2k8 Novels Were Revised. This is part of the ongoing stories from the Class of 2k9 authors and how they went about revising their novels.

by

Deborah Lytton

Final Edit on Novel the Hardest

My revision process was actually fairly smooth–no major structural
changes, really good communication with my editor at Dutton, Julie
Strauss-Gabel, and I was able to meet every deadline without a
hiccup. Until I got to the final line edit, that is. Last April, I
learned that the final line edit is where your editor makes notes on
the manuscript for suggested stylistic changes. I also learned that
the final line edit can be hard for some writers because the editor is
making specific suggestions rather than the more general thematic
suggestions made in edit letters. And sometimes the writer doesn’t
agree with the stylistic changes.

So when I received my line edit from Julie, and saw that the changes were all ones I agreed with, I was so relieved. There were some
suggestions that were substantive, such as considering whether a
passage made sense in the context of a new section and if not, how to make it work, or to cut out a section that was perhaps too long, but all of these made sense to me, and I was in agreement with Julie about the need to revise them. The remainder of the changes were simple, or so it seemed. Italicizing a thought, using initial capitals for Happy Birthday, things like that. I agreed to a two week deadline, because I was sure I could get it done without a problem.

How wrong I was. The substantive changes were not a problem at all. It was the smaller revisions, like changing a lower case “a.m.” to a capital “A.M.”; putting an apostrophe next to “A’s” and “B’s”, or
switching out a word like “silver” because it was duplicated in the
paragraph that took forever to complete. Mostly, I think this was
because there was at least one change like this on each page of the
manuscript. Scrolling through every page, every line and making these small changes was technical, but there were hundreds of them—and I had totally underestimated the amount of time it would take.

I worked every day of the two weeks and still had to pull an all-
nighter to finish the revision by my deadline. In the end, I got it
done, by 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time. I was so proud of myself—I emailed it to Julie right away, and copied my agent (Stacey Glick of Dystel &
Goderich Literary Management) on it as well.

The next morning, Julie sent me an email asking when she would receive the manuscript. Yes, that’s right. She never received it. It seems that Dutton bounced my email. It turned out to be a company-wide problem, and I was not the only one who had this experience. But that didn’t make me, a first-time-author-trying-to-impress-her-editor, feel any better. So, Stacey had to send the manuscript to Julie, and although she knew I had delivered timely, it was a really good lesson for me. I want to share what I learned.

• Number One: Line edits may look easy, but they aren’t easy at all. Those little changes are very time consuming. Don’t underestimate the power of initial caps.
• Number Two: When submitting revisions to your editor via email, send a follow up asking for confirmation of receipt.
• Number Three: Remember to copy your agent or yourself on the email just to be sure it delivers properly.
• And Number Four: When agreeing to writer’s deadlines, give yourself more time than you think you need. And always expect the unexpected.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win