Why Revision is a Multi-Step Process

The 2015 “Now What?” Months are here! Throughout January and February, we’ll be bringing you editing, revision, and publishing advice from all corners of the publishing world. Today, Lexie Dunne, author of Superheroes Anonymous, tells us about the freedom that comes with revising alone:

My first NaNoWriMo, I was ancient—all of eighteen and very, very green. So green, in fact, that I didn’t understand the rules and didn’t know I needed to verify my word count. So while I crossed the finish line, I didn’t technically win. Six years and several official wins later, November had become an excuse to never sleep, hang out on the forums, drink far too much caffeine at write-ins, and drive myself to madness. In short, it was my favorite month of the year.

Superheroes Anonymous was my 2008 novel, so my memory of it is a little fuzzy. I do remember that I ignored the recommended rest period and kept writing. By December 10, I had a completed manuscript that was even messier than my apartment after a month of neglect and takeout meals…

I cleaned it up a bit, and then, I’m a little ashamed to say, I stuck it in a drawer. Four years later, Harper Voyager Impulse had an open submission. I figured it couldn’t hurt to submit that manuscript, did a spelling-and-grammar check, and sent it in. Fifteen months after that, when I’d completely forgotten about it, I got an email from my editor. Within two weeks, I had an agent and a book contract on the way.

Here’s the thing about a six-year-old manuscript left untouched while you’ve been consistently writing in the meantime: editing is a study in having a cast-iron stomach. I spent my first pass at revisions peeking at my work through the spaces between my fingers. Luckily, the second round was easier. The third round, I did in my sleep. (I know this because my brother-in-law has gleefully been highlighting every typo.)

This exercise in horror, though, taught me that it’s okay if you don’t get it right the first time. My manuscript changed so much between draft one and draft two that I imagine my editor’s reaction upon opening the document was to wonder if I had sent her the wrong story.

Honestly, sometimes it’s a good thing writing is such a solitary activity. The general public will never read that awful manuscript from six years ago. They won’t know that on November 12, I couldn’t remember the word ‘bicycle’ so I wrote “wheeled thingie.” I made up continents (which confused my editor) and committed atrocities on grammar punishable by death, but nobody needs to know that—unless I explicitly tell them in a blog post, that is.

There’s a lot of you that bit the bullet in November, wrote yourself a book (congratulations!! Seriously, that’s kick-ass!), and now you’ve got this massive, unwieldy thing to edit. I’ve been there many times myself. NaNoWriMo’s for getting the words on the page without stopping. But now? Now is that glorious period where you can take as much time as you need to get those words right. Even if it takes twelve times to do so. The only one that’s going to know that? You. So keep at it.

Also, you should be prepared to laugh at what you wrote, especially the stuff around November 18 or so. Because hey, it’s either laugh or cry.

Good luck!

Lexie Dunne is a woman of many masks, all of them stored neatly in a box under her bed. By day a mild-mannered technical writer and by night an adventuress and novelist, she keeps life interesting by ignoring it and writing instead. She hails from St. Louis, home of the world’s largest croquet game piece, and Superheroes Anonymous is her professional debut into the world of caped crusaders, a journey that started when her father took her and her brother to see The Rocketeer.

Top photo by Flickr user daniel_gafanhoto.