Marissa Meyer: Slowing Down to Let Lightning Strike Twice

Marissa Meyer is one of our favorite folks ever: not only is she a NYT bestselling author, who’s published three of her NaNo-novels, she’s also an all-around excellent person. And we’re thrilled that today, as she releases her new novel,  Scarlet , she’s taken the time to send some pep to all you writers deep in revision during the “Now What?” Months.

Stars above, Fellow Novelist, you did it!

Whether you tackled the 50K challenge last November or have spent the past five years plugging away at your first draft, you now stand among the few, the proud, the somewhat mad. You wrote a novel.

Now you’re ready to tackle whatever comes next. Which is, naturally, the process of revision. There is a lot that can be said about revision. Countless magazine articles and blog posts and even entire books* have been written on this very topic.

Some writers loathe revisions, while others love them. Some writers find them tedious and agonizing, while others think they hold more magic than the first draft. (I fall into the latter group, myself.) Whichever camp you belong to, the fact is that revisions are necessary. Revisions eradicate inconsistencies and fill plot holes. They increase tension and deepen characters. They bring worlds to life and make your writing sing.

So here’s my advice as you embark on this exciting second leg of your noveling quest:

Take your time.

I mean it. Don’t rush the revision process. Yes, I know it can be painful to pace yourself now, when you seem so very close to a finished product. Maybe you’ve already bookmarked the websites of your preferred literary agents, drafted your query letter, and made a list of famous authors you think might be interested in writing a blurb for your jacket. Maybe you’re ready to jump in—right now!

But rushing through the revision process can not only result in a manuscript that may not be as finished as you think it is, it can also cheat you out of some of the most euphoric discoveries about your own novel. Remember when you were writing that first draft and you got an out-of-nowhere idea for such a brilliant plot twist you actually squealed out loud—prompting everyone on the bus to slooowly shift away from you?

Well, guess what. Those lightning-strike moments happen during revision, too! And they have the potential to take your novel to an entirely new place. To raise it above all those other manuscripts that cross an agent’s or editor’s desk every day.

So take this time to re-explore your story from the beginning. Experience every plot twist anew and ask if you can make it even more exciting, even more surprising, even more intense. Delve into the backstories and motivations of every character and question if they can be more intriguing and more insightful. Consider foreshadowing, sensory details, underlying themes, character quirks, building suspense, and subplots that tie up nice and neat at just the right time. I don’t know about you, but I certainly can’t keep all these things in my brain at once, which is why I work them into the story gradually, one draft at a time. Layer upon layer upon layer.

Take your time. Be patient. Experience the thrill of falling in love with your book all over again. Eventually you’ll reach a point where there’s nothing else you can do for your novel. You’ll have written the best book you’re capable of, and it will finally be ready to be sent out into the world.

Trust me, it will be worth the wait. Happy Revising, Novelists!

Marissa

* For more focused advice on the revision process, I highly recommend Revision and Self-Editing by James Scott Bell. 

 

Marissa Meyer’s 2008 NaNo novel, Cinder, debuted on the New York Times bestseller list. Scarlet: Book Two of the Lunar Chronicles (in which Little Red Riding Hood is re-envisioned as a feisty spaceship pilot) will be released on February 5. Marissa lives in Tacoma, WA, with her husband and three cats and is currently planning her cosplay for this year’s San Diego Comic-Con.

Keep up with Marissa:

At marissameyer.com
On Twitter
On Facebook
On Goodreads

Top photo by Flickr user pixelfreund.