Rachael Herron: Revision & Slipping Back Into Your World

We’re launching the very first pep talk of our “Now What?” months, focusing on editing, revision, and publishing, with Rachael Herron, a long-time Wrimo, and six-time published author. For more about the authors, agents, and editors participating, check out our Introducing the “Now What?” Months page.

Dear Novelist,

I just wrote a whole post about revision. It was good. It had bullet points! It was designed to get you excited and geared up for revising your novel!

Then after working on it for a while, I realized it wasn’t what I wanted. So I threw it out. Ah, revision.

There’s this fear, isn’t there? Around revision? I don’t know where it comes from (oh, maybe it’s from the person who sees you holding your hundreds of pages, hands you a hammer, and says, “Hey, real quick, build a house from this scrap heap, okay?”) but it’s insidious and prevalent in the writing community.

It’s also wrong. Revision is, hands down, the best, most fun, most creative part of writing. (And this is from a person who was just like you—I dreaded the very thought of it. I knew I couldn’t do it. I also knew people who liked revising were sick and deluded, and I would never be one of them.)

How time throws your own words back in your face, huh? First drafts are now agony for me. Every day! Having to figure out what happens next. So exhausting! Revision, on the other hand, means slipping into your world—the place you built, the place only you know—and looking around. Hey, I need that couch over there. Oh, I think this whole room could be painted. Or, heck, I don’t need this room at all. I’m going to convert it into a helipad. Yeah!

If you want more of my (specific) ideas on revision, go here. But for now, just rest in this: everyone (everyone!) hates the idea of revision until they figure out how it works for them. You’ll figure it out. And then I bet you an ice cream cone that you’ll agree with me.

It’s better over here in revision land. Come visit. It’s the most fun you can have in writing. Promise.

Rachael Herron

Rachael Herron completed her first novel during NaNoWriMo 2006. She has gone on to sell it (and five more books) to HarperCollins, Chronicle Books, and Random House Australia, and she is still stunned she can add the words “award-winning” and “international bestseller” to her bio. She lives in Oakland with her wife, seven embarrassing animals, and a lot of yarn. You can find her at her website and on Twitter.

Author photo by Khalil Robinson.

Top image by Flickr user Jeni Rodger.