Getting editorial feedback

I get a lot of process questions, and I'm always hesitant to answer them because what works for one writer won't necessarily work for another. But since I'm procrastinating in the middle of revising PURITY, I thought this would be as good a time as any to explain how I approach getting editorial feedback.

Again though– this is just what works for me!

Step One:

I read through the revision letter from my agent/critique partner/editor. Then I walk away for a little bit. A day or two, a week maybe, but I don't make any changes right away.

Step Two:

I print out the revision letter. Then I go through and black out anything that isn't directly related to the revision. I usually kill the intro paragraph, the "we know you can do this!" paragraph, the "here are some brainstormed ideas!" section, that kind of thing. I leave the "we loved this part" stuff and anything suggesting a change. And when I say "I black out stuff" I mean I actually physically black it out. See?

This way, I can clearly look at what the editor/critique partner/agent is asking me to do, without all the other stuff cluttering it up.

Step Three:

I then summarize the non-blacked out sections into one sentence, bite-sized instructions. To do this, I usually create three categories: Add, Explore, and Remove. Under the appropriate category I write stuff the reader wants me to add– things like more scenes. Then the stuff the reader wants me to explore/expand– concepts that need more clarification, but not necessarily more scenes. And finally, things that the reader wants removed.



Now that my multi-page scary editorial letter is summed up into 10-12 sentences, I move on to…



Step Four:

I take one of those sentences and skim the entire book, flagging each part where I think I could add/expand/remove as requested. I won't necessarily add/expand/remove at ALL of those flags, the flags just give me an idea of where it could happen. I usually use a different colored flag/Post-it for each major change (for example, in this case the green flags are scenes where I can expand the father character, and the pink flags are scenes where I can expand the mother character).





Step Five:

Sometimes I go through a hard copy of the book and make notes, other times I move straight to the computer to make the changes! How long does it take to finish? There is no average. SISTERS RED was quick to revise. SWEETLY took a zillion years. PURITY is going rather quickly and the damn historical novel is going to take two zillion years. In the immortal words of roadtripping-fathers everywhere: You'll get there when you get there.

Mirrored from JacksonPearce.com.