As part of my Novel Revision retreat, I ask writers to shrink their manuscripts. Several people asked if I would post clear instructions on how to do the Shrunken Manuscript. This uncommon revision technique — and so many other revision techniques — are included in my book, Novel Metamorphosis: Uncommon Ways to Revise.
So, here are the simple instructions:
Read more: More Shrunken Manuscripts.
Instructions for the Shrunken Manuscript Strategy
- Take out the chapter breaks, so there is no white space between chapters.
- Single space the entire mss.
- Reduce the font of the mss until the mss takes up about 30 pages. This is arbitrary, of course, but I find that I can see about 30 pages at a time. It doesn’t matter if the font is readable; you’re trying to shrink the mss so you can mark certain things and you won’t be reading it but evaluating how these things fit into the big picture. If your mss runs over 40,000 words, you can try putting it into two columns in order for it to fit into 30 pages. If your mss is over 50,000 pages, you may need to divide it into two sections and evaluate 30-shrunken pages at a time.
- Use a bright, wide marker and put an X over the strongest chapters.
Note: Actually, you can use the Shrunken Manuscript to evaluate anything that you want to visualize across the novel: places where two characters interact, the percentage of dialogue, places where you repeat a certain setting, places where the theme is made obvious, etc.
- Lay out the mss pages on the floor in about three rows of ten. (Adjust layout to your page count, of course.)
- Stand back and evaluate.
Of course, everything is arbitrary and I’ve just made up rules to fit my mss. Change anything you need to fit your mss. But these guidelines generally work well for most mss.
Questions to consider:
- Are there large gaps between chapters marked on the Shrunken Mss?
- Are the strongest chapters spread out or do you have the dreaded Sagging Middle?
- How long are the strongest chapters? Do they include the Obligatory Scene?
- Are there several weak chapters in a row?
- What does this visualization tell you about the revisions needed?
Read more: More Shrunken Manuscripts.
25 responses to “Shrunken Manuscript”
[…] form. If it’s a children’s picture book, make a dummy. If it’s a novel, do a shrunken manuscript. Change the physical form in some way – make it big or little or change font or print on […]
[…] on revising novels – they were an intense, dedicated, hard-working bunch. We marked shrunken manuscripts six different ways and the full-size manuscript another couple ways. They stumped me on the emotional/character arc […]
[…] called “The Shrunken Manuscript”. Darcy Pattinson offered it as a solution for writers trying to work out the flow of their novel. From her website […]
[…] really does give you a new perspective on writing. Good on Darcy Pattinson for thinking this one up. I’m very happy she […]
[…] my directions for shrinking, marking and evaluating a novel, here are some recent […]
[…] started playing with the concept of Shrunken Manuscripts as a revision technique as laid out by Darcy Pattison but had to mod the process. You know me, I love modding. It’s my creative way of taking […]
Thanks for posting about the Shrunken MSS. I found it a very useful technique. Interesting and fun!
I don’t have a printer, so I used the highlighter in the Formatting Palette and saved my document as a PDF. I was then able to evaluate my MSS using the thumbnail drawer of the PDF. The thumbnails really shrink the MSS. Like a mini-me of the Shrunken MSS!
But it works great! And it’s Green! I posted about it on my blog with links back to your site as well as Kate’s
http://jeremytrylch.com/blog/shrunken-manuscript-green-variation/
Thanks for the help!
Wow, doing anything like this has never occurred to me. I am such a visual person that being able to see where the strongest chapters land would be hugely helpful. Thanks for this post.
[…] then using a marker highlighting the strongest chapters. For full instructions please select this link. This more visual form of revision helps you to locate areas that drag in the manuscript. I think […]
[…] Retreat. One question about pacing made me think about how to use Darcy Pattison’s shrunken manuscript technique as a way to make sure that red herrings and clues are being distributed throughout the […]
[…] way works for that first draft. I believe that in the revision phase, you DO have to take a look at the big picture to make sure everything fits into […]
[…] Walker has some great photos of a shrunken manuscript. Click on the photos to see it […]
[…] Novel Revision Retreats rely heavily upon the Shrunken Manuscript technique. Basically, you use the magic of word processors to shrink the font of the mss until you can see […]
[…] the revisions, the structure has become top-heavy. Skimming those chapters or laying them out in a shrunken manuscript revealed that several scenes repeated; there was escalation with each repetition, so it wasn’t […]
[…] of my work in progress, a young adult novel. I found out about the shrunken manuscript technique here and can’t wait to dig into that. Also using the spreadsheet technique (from the same […]
[…] I usually write a chapter or two when I get a new idea, then outline the rest to make sure I have a big enough idea to fill a novel. Then I might rewrite those first few chapters and get the beginning of the story right before finishing the first draft. When I’m ready to revise, I print a shrunken version of my manuscript out and edit with blue ink. (Shrunken manuscripts come from Darcy Pattison’s book, NOVEL METAMORPHOSIS!) […]
[…] in writing retreats of addressing a whole novel, not just a chapter or a scene. I became known for the shrunken manuscript technique, which enables writers to “see” their entire novel at once. The success of the retreat […]
[…] find great information about the “shrunken manuscript” on Darcy’s Fiction Notes website. Basically, you shrink your font size way down so that you can’t see the words but you […]
[…] Shrink your manuscript. Darcy Pattison recommends doing an revision technique called “The Shrunken Manuscript.” In 15 minutes you can’t revise your whole novel. But, you can reformat your manuscript into a […]
[…] or 150,000 words, how do you step back and see the structure? You can monitor this yourself with a Shrunken Manuscript. Or you can find a critiquer who can see this story of […]
[…] Revision: Shrunken Manuscript Technique by Darcy Pattison […]
[…] with author Darcy Pattison’s idea of a shrunken manuscript, editor Cheryl Klein’s idea of a book map, and my verse novel as quilt metaphor, I created […]
[…] of stories. Attending Darcy Patison’s Revision Retreat in 2009 introduced me to the idea of a shrunken manuscript — a condensed printing of an entire book that is then laid out so you might see the story […]
[…] am known for the Shrunken Manuscript, a revision technique that shrinks pages so small that you can’t read it. After shrinking, I ask […]
[…] outlining your plot to see what you ended up with, to using Darcy Pattison’s shrunken manuscript (instructions are here, on Darcy’s blog) to help picture it as a whole. Or dive into the details by highlighting all adjectives in one […]