Four Questions to Ask About Each Draft

The “Now What?” Months are here! In 2014, we’ll be bringing you advice from authors who published their NaNo-novels, editors, agents, and more to help you polish November’s first draft until it gleams. Author Liz Coley guides you through four questions she asks about each of her manuscripts:

Come each November 30, I’ve usually got a 50,017-word manuscript with an inspired and page-turning start, a middle featuring holes or inconsistencies, and an end that feels like a mad dash to the last scene (because it was).

This document is what I call my “white room” draft. It lacks furniture and paint, or more specifically, well-interspersed action beats to break up the dialogue and well-integrated physical details of characters and setting. And frequently, though the foundation is good, it lacks a wall or two and a decent roof to cap it all off.

Since I started NaNoWriMo in 2006, I’ve developed a four-step revision cycle—beginning with Step Zero: take December to finish the story. With the new year, revising begins in earnest. Simply stated, four questions must be answered and satisfied:

Step Four: Is this interesting? (Story)
Step Three: Did I use enough words? (Color)
Step Two: Did I choose the best words? (Texture)
Step One: Did I get my spelling, punctuation, and grammar right? (Mechanics)

Step Four (Is this interesting?) is the hardest one to assess for yourself. This is where a trusted first reader or a critique group is invaluable. Ask them:

Did the story arc work?
Was the pacing good?
Were there lulls or inconsistencies or confusing bits?
Was there tension and release?
Did I take you on an emotional journey?

Step Three (Did I use enough words?) requires decorating the white room, and self-assessment should be sufficient. Reread dialogue passages aloud and replace generic bobble-head actions (he looked up, she glanced down, I turned) with meaningful action beats.

Notice when the setting vanishes, and drop telling details into place. The object you randomly set on a table, the photo you place on a nightstand, the flower you stick in a vase may become thematically important or physically useful later. Fill in the blanks.

Step Two (Were there lulls or inconsistencies?) relies heavily on the FIND/REPLACE function. Seek and destroy “waffle words” such as: almost, nearly, seemed, tried, began, started, somehow. Seek and hold at gunpoint “ly” adverbs—make them beg for their lives or shoot them and replace with a strong verb. Always engage rich, intense verbs to replace ordinary ones.

Keep a Post-It on your computer to remind you to search for words or phrases you habitually overuse.

Step One (Did I get my spelling, punctuation, and grammar right?) should be straightforward; if not, pick up a grammar book and refresh. Bear/bare in mind, spell check misses homonyms. Keep a list of your blind spots (peek/peak; flee/flea; mantel/mantle; allowed/aloud).

Gird your loins. This is going to be a long and iterative process. Do steps one, two and three to clean up your manuscript before entering step four to solicit external feedback; your first readers will thank you. Breathe and rest.

Now get back to work as you incorporate initial critiques. Repeat steps one, two, and three. Submit to your middle readers.

After you tweak (far less at this point), repeat steps one, two, and three. Submit to trusted final reader(s).

Now you are on your own! Make final substantive changes with a last silent read through. Done? Nope. Get comfortable and read the whole darn thing aloud for rhythm and flow. Allow at least two days.

It’s October 31! It’s perfect. Hooray! You are ready to query and submit. And start NaNoWriMo tomorrow.

Liz Coley has been a member of the NaNoWriMo community since 2006. She decks her halls with framed NaNoWriMo posters.  In 2013, her 2009 NaNo-novel, Pretty Girl-13 , was published by HarperCollins.  Liz lives in Ohio, where she is surrounded by a fantastic community of writers, supported by her husband, teased by her teenaged daughter, cheered from afar by her two older sons, and adorned with hair by her cats Tiger, Pippin, and Merry.  Liz invites you to follow her @LizColeyBooks on Twitter, and like Liz Coley Books on Facebook.

Top photo by Flickr user alexanderdrachmann.