Greetings!
Thanks to the power of the internet, I was able to host last week’s #wipmadness and be on vacation in New York at the same time. (When our tour boat stopped in the Hudson Bay to let off a seasick passenger, I pulled out my phone and approved a few comments.)
- Getting all those plot points to fit together into a functioning whole is intricate work.
But now it’s back to the real world, and with it came the editorial letter for my second book. That got me thinking of the many rounds of revision, and the rounds within each revision, like some intricate clockworks, that we as writers undertake. Since many of us seem to get the most juice from wipmadness when we’re riding through those first few waves that yield a completed (if not finished) manuscript, I thought I’d share mine.
0th draft: Figure out a rough plot line using references such as Save the Cat, an eight-point screen structure, scribbles on napkins, nine-block story grid, whatever helps me get started with the story.
1st draft: Get the story down on paper. No matter what, keep writing. Just get to the end. During the first fifty pages of the draft, I’m concurrently working on the synopsis/outline to figure out the overall plot as I use the first pages to work out the voice and characters. If plot lines, character names, whatever changes along the way, I just keep going. By the time I get to the end of the first draft, I have a huge mess on my hands. But there’s a story there. Somewhere.
2nd draft: Clean up the mess. Make sure the plot progresses logically from beginning to end. (And fix those character names.) As you can imagine, lots of stuff gets written, trashed and rewritten at this stage.
3rd draft: This is where the revision fun really begins. Examine each chapter for pacing, character goals, and opportunities for plants and payoffs. Now that I really know the characters and story, I add telling details and look for ways to evoke emotion.
4th draft: Polish it up enough for human consumption.
At this point I’m ready to show it to critique partners or my agent or editor, depending upon what kind of deadline I’m working under. Using their feedback, I go back in rounds of three: macro changes, line edits, polishing, getting feedback after each polishing stage until it’s done. Whew!
How about you? Is your process similar? Where are you now with your WIP?
All this talk of cleaning stuff up in my drafts has me wanting to clean out my bookshelves as well. So, for this week’s giveaway, the commenter whose name is drawn can choose from one of these fine books (I’ve tried to include a good mix of fiction and craft so hopefully there’s something to appeal to everyone.):
Make a Scene – Crafting a Powerful Story One Scene at a Time by Jordan E. Rosenfeld
Hooked – write fiction that grabs readers at page one and never lets them go by Les Edgerton
Spilling Ink: A young writers handbook by Anne Mazer & Ellen Potter
The Writer’s Idea Book by Jack Heffron
A Writer’s Guide to Fiction by Elizabeth Lyon
101 Things I learned in Film School by Neil Landau with Matthew Frederick
Blood Ninja by Nick Lake
The Mermaid’s Mirror by L.K. Madigan
Morpheus Road: The Light by D.J. MacHale
drizzle by Kathleen Van Cleve
Requiem for the Devil by Jeri Smith-Ready
The Knife that Killed Me (ARC) by Anthony Megowan
And the winner from week one is: L.S. Taylor! Please email your address to me at jamr88 (at) gmail (dot) com, and let me know what craft or inspirational book you’d like me to order.
Happy writing!
Jeanne
My revise process is similar to yours, although at this point with my wip I am considering letting a crit partner see the third revision, possibly the second as I seem to be slowed way down in untangling storylines, characters etc.
Congrats to L.S. Taylor on the giveaway win!
Yeah, if I’m stuck, I’ll share the outline with crit partners to help me brainstorm plot ideas.
Whew! I think I have finally caught up to #wipmadness again. I was checked out all last week thanks to foot surgery, but I am jumping back in the game (I hope). Needless to say, I made no progress on the WIP other than thinking about it a lot. Now it’s time to really get the momentum going again. Thanks for hosting, Jeanne!
Now, time to dive right into the Middle again…
Welcome back, Mary Ann! Hope your foot’s doing well and that you can get the momentum back in gear soon.
Congrats on making it thus far in your second book! I’m still working on my first and I’m still in the second round of noting the massive pile of things to change.
At the same time I’ve started the writing and planning of another novel. It may intersect with a collaborative project and I am meeting with my partner in Philly this week! It’ll be a nice productive vacay.
Just keep trekkin
Sounds like you’ve got things cookin’ on all burners! Enjoy your ‘vacation’!
Wow, first again! I’m not doing much #wipmadness at all right now – it’s an exciting time as I’m about to pick a new agent. That’s right, I said pick. Gah!
Hope you are all being super productive and having a great time with your words.
Jeanne – my process is similar – a rough outline, sloppy copy, self-edit, a beta read by a tried and true or two, more edit, a few more betas. Polish, rub, shine.
Awesome news on the agent offers! Can’t say I’m surprised one bit.
Good luck being productive this week in the midst of all that excitement!
Where am I with my WIP? That’s a good question. I’m recovering from my VACATION, both physically and mentally. The energy required to prepare for this move has left my creative well empty, yet I’m at a point in this revision where the creativity needs to be flowing freely if I’m going to make this novel better. So I’m on another reading binge. Going out for a hike this morning. Need to unclutter my mind. Hope all you Wipsters are doing better than me. ^_^
Hope the hiking and the reading do the trick!
My revision process seems never ending! Right now I’m tackling a revision. This time around I’m changing the former dystopian part and turning it more into a Sci-Fi/fantasy. Also the tense is off. I tried first person present and it’s just not working.
Alyson Noel and others recommended SAVE THE CAT. It’s on my Nook. Need to go over it.
My biggest problem is being nit picky on everything. Usually after I’ve done at least one round of revisions I print up a hard copy and then read it all the way through and put comments/suggestions throughout in regards to pacing, voice, structure.
This week I hope to attack at least one chapter a day while waiting for copy edits on NO GODDESSES ALLOWED(That’s another book that seems to have taken forever to get out there!) If I have to, I’ll sign up to use the library quiet room to just write for a couple hours. I did that two weeks ago and it was wonderful!
I agree with printing out hardcopies for some of the revision rounds. Somehow it makes me feel closer to the manuscript. Congrats on being almost to the copy edit stage on NO GODDESSES ALLOWED. The end of the tunnel is in sight!
I just realized I missed last week’s check-in–whoops! I was a little swept up last week preparing my sub for writeoncon, but I spent some time drafting and am determined to draft more this week!
My writing/revision process looks scarily like yours, Jeanne, except for one thing: I crave feedback early on, so I definitely run my outline and first chappies by crit partners before throwing myself into the whole thing.
Love the book choices on your shelves this week–you’re going to make someone very happy. Have a great week, all!
Glad you’re here this week, Kip!
Your comment makes me realize I should have said “beta readers” rather than “critique partners” above, because if I’m working on a proposal, I’ll show them early chaps and an outline as I work on the rest.
I’ve missed about a bazillion check-ins, and I can’t promise I won’t miss more. I love all of you so much and I’m sorry I haven’t been contributing as much as I’d like to our community.
My process is similar. Right now I’m working on draft, er… 6? Yeah. 6. And it’s kicking my rear. But it’s soooo improved. This week, I want to revise 1.5 chapters. Not as scrawny a goal as it might sound when a MS is kick, kick, kicking you as much as this one is me. Hugs!
–Lora
I miss tons of check-ins myself, so I can relate. Good luck with the fiesty 1.5 chapters! (Show ‘em who’s boss!)
I don’t think I have enough fingers and toes to count the number of revisions I go through! My process is similar to yours, but after the umpteenth draft and perhaps a beta reading or two, more things to change keep cropping up. Endless tweaking keeps me at it until I eventually hate the whole story! It’s not because I’m a perfectionist so much as I just don’t seem to get it on paper the way it feels in my head. ::sigh::
Congrats to Laura for winning last week’s draw. I haven’t reached either of my August goals yet, but will be going offline again for a bit. Maybe with less internet distractions I’ll get more done. I’ll tell you when I check in on the 27th. In the meantime, I hope everyone has a profitable couple of weeks!
When I reach the point where I’m so, so sick of the story I can’t read another word, I know it’s time to send it off to someone else. Best of luck with your Internet diet for the next two weeks! See you when you return!
I keep thinking I have “A Process of My Own That Works.” But it’s not true, and unfortunately, I have to re-learn that with each book. It’s always changing for me, it seems.
I dove into an old WIP that I haven’t looked at since 2010. I’m quite enjoying working on this one again, so hopefully I can get it in shape for some beta readers by the end of the month.
Well, even if your process keeps shifting, it’s working!
What fun getting to reunite with a WIP! There’s one that I’m looking forward to revisiting someday between deadlines.
Oh, cool! Thanks!
Hope you had a fabulous time in New York. Back during March wipMadness, I wound up making a last-minute out-of-town trip. But the wonders of the Internet meant I could still post.
This past week didn’t go as well as planned. Saturday was a complete write-off, and the days leading up to it, I didn’t get nearly as much done as I’d wanted to. Then I spent half of yesterday filming a commercial for a contest. But I’m feeling good about the bit that I did get done.
I’ve decided to push and finish the polishing read-through. But now that I have, the new shiny is poking at me again to be worked on. Still, back to finishing this polishing pass, because I am *so* ready to be done with it. I want to send it out, kthx.
Filming a commercial sounds like loads of fun. I’m envious.
How tantalizing those new shinies are! At least you’re super close to getting the current wip off your desk. Good luck!
YAY, JRo! What a great place to be! And hugs to Angelina for all the upheaval. Lots of cool stuff happening, though people! Let’s keep that momentum, Wipsters. We can do it!