Nancy Christie's Blog - Posts Tagged "revising"

An edited excerpt of my post originally published on Focus on Fiction.

Revising a piece of writing is like renovating a home. First you figure out what isn’t working: what needs fixed, replaced, or removed entirely. Next comes the actual labor: a series of hard, backbreaking (or confidence-destroying) tasks to make it ready for the improvements. Finally, comes the “making it better” part: you add new stuff that is better than the old, you move stuff to make the space better than it was, and if you’re lucky, you end up with a “better than” home—or manuscript.

So here is my take on the good, the bad and the ugly of that process—at least as it pertains to my current WIP.

THE GOOD

Strange as it sounds, I actually found working with developmental editor Dawn Reno Langley a good thing. This, despite the number of times that she flagged every mistake I made. While I do have to admit that there were times when my self-confidence level slid into negative digits, the fact that she took the time to explain why certain parts needed to be revised or eliminated proved very instructive. Having Dawn point them out was like taking a crash course in novel composition. Now onto the bad and ugly, which pretty much are the same thing. I pulled up the version of the manuscript that Dawn returned to me, and will (with much shame and chagrin) share her comments.

THE BAD AND UGLY

Dialogue tag issues. I tend to make two errors when it comes to these little guys. I either put them too early in the dialogue or I add adverbs or explanations when the emotion should have been perfectly clear by what the character said.

Tension deflation tendency. I am guilty of sidetracking the reader by including flashbacks or segues that short-circuit the tension. For example, in an early scene, Rita is baking muffins when she gets a call from her son. Right in the middle of the conversation, I bring in those darned baked goods repeatedly. While they are relevant to the story, they didn’t need to be part of that specific scene.

Lack of character description. I have a habit of not giving the reader good visual images for my characters, especially when I first introduce them. It's not that I don’t know what the characters looked like. I just don’t bother to share it with the readers!

Want to know more about what I learned through this editing process? Read my whole post
on Focus on Fiction!