Revisions, Revisions, Revisions...HEEEEELP!

Your number of revisions depends greatly upon how clean your first draft is, and on how exactly you revise. Writers who tap out a clean draft and only need to do a single pass for grammar/spelling flaws take one revision pass there. Some writers will then send it along to a beta (or three). More revisions when you get their notes. Some folks to all revisions on the computer screen, others use a printed hard copy and then type everything in.

Revisions are something you'll figure out the more you write--you'll see what method works best for you.

Hi half.jaded,

The only stupid question is the one you don't ask.

The short answer is that there is no short answer. Each book requires a different method. My revisions process goes something like this:

1. Conceptual revisions - identify the single main plotline, decide what elements of your novel are most unique and compelling, write short hooks and query letters focusing on these elements.
2. Substantive revisions - axeing or inserting whole chapters, characters, storylines etc on a big-picture level.
3. Line edits - reading through on a sentence level to ensure correct grammar, tightness and clarity, weed out word repetition, etc.

I find it's helpful to do revisions in this order. There's no point line-editing a chapter you're just going to axe.

Other important stages which are less easy to put in order:

• Critique on the opening pages - these are the first pages the reader will see, and if the pages don't hold up, the reader won't get any further. I like to put my opening through a range of critique groups and other venues: I'm up to 3 so far.
• Beta reading - having the whole novel read by a saint who's willing to help you.

Unfortunately, as I'm discovering, revisions take as long as they take. Which in my case is a long freaking time. (Tip: Write cleaner first drafts. )

Hope this helped!
Parametric

Keep polishing until it's as sparkly as you like. Some people need tons of bleach, some people just need a cloth. It varies.

But if you, the writer, is not happy with the final MS, then you need to go polish some more.

Ah, I'm in editing hell as well - please join me!

I’m no expert but can talk you through my own journey so far.

1: First Draft - just getting it all on paper
2: Second Draft - printed a copy, read start to finish with no pen (put the pen down) and at the end made notes on the big things: plot, continuity, characters etc. Then re-read with the pen to change some things. Typed this up, editing as I went along as well.
3: Took a break. Read ‘How not to write a novel’ – made a ton of notes. Read as many threads on AW as I could. Put some work on Share Your Work on AW. This lead to some wonderful people pointing out some classic amateur issues – passive, adverbs, adjectives etc.
4: Third Draft – printed out MS and read aloud. Edited and typed up. Sent this copy to first Beta.
5: Took a break. Read ‘Self Editing for fiction writers’ and more AW.
6: Four Draft – taking Beta’s feedback and what I learnt in the book and AW, edited and sent to Second beta.
7: Just back from second beta. I am hoping this will be the last edit. I have taken a month off and will start next week – probably!

The things I found the most helpful in all of this was SYW, both books, reading aloud and all the AW threads of course!

Good luck

The number of revisions depends on how you revise. After my first draft, I go through and look for the overused words. I use the search function, and go through the MS several times (once for each word). Then I look at sentence length. I break up the extra long sentences. Then I look at repeated words. This is one of the few times I refer to the thesaurus. After that, I let the MS sit for a while. My next revisions will be for content and style. It takes at least two complete runs to make sure the novel reads the way I want it to read.
After that, it's ready for beta readers. Following their comments, there may be one or more revisions to incorporate their findings.
At this point, the novel is ready for the agents. Unfortunately, every time I open it, I find that I can change something in it to make it read better.
ETA: I cross posted with Gem, I also do an edit from a printed copy, and one while reading aloud.

It really varies per book. The Shifter had three or four revision passes before it "turned pro" and then it had tons more with my editor and copy editors. Book two of the series has already had four drafts and I know it'll need another whole rewrite before I'm ready to START the revisions and polishing. Some books are easy, some are nightmares.

I talk about revisions a lot on my blog, and even do a weekly revision post with tips and tricks. You might take a peek. There are too many links or I'd just post them here. I do try to label everything so it should be easy to click the "revision" label and see all of them.

One thing I've found that helps a lot in revisions is to work in layers. Don't try to do everything at once, because it's too easy to miss stuff. Pick something to focus on, like pacing, passive verbs, adverbs, character motivations, whatever, and edit specifically for that. It takes a little longer, but the results are better in the end.

My suggestion would be to revise it until you think you are done revising it.

Then send it out to some beta readers and make revisions based on their comments.

I haven't attempted a novel yet, but with my short stories I will revise many times.

The first draft is usually not so great. I'm basically just getting out the story without looking back. Afterwards I will edit and revise for both spelling, grammar, style, etc and plot screwiness until I'm happy. My last story had five revisions.

Basically, revise until you feel the story is as polished as you can possibly make it.

I'll let you know when it's done. I'm at four now.

Saul Bellow made the statement that he rewrote and revised up to 35 times per ms.

Although it's far from a stupid question, I think the answer is as individual as each of us. And what's good for one may have little value to another. In time, with experience, you'll develop your own system, work habits, standards, requirements, and more.

I'm a many rewrite person. I believe part of that is due to the fact that I write nonfiction. I find that as much research as I do, as carefully as I vet facts, and as satisfied as I may be with what winds up on a page, I am "always" finding something new or different that I want to incorporate, leading to a rewrite rather than a simple insertion. And since I do a lot of writing for kids, I'm always looking for the most effective way to introduce them to a difficult subject, or whatever, in the simplest manner. So, for me, I guess I average about 25 rewrites a book.

My definition of "clean first draft" might not be the same as others, but here we go. A clean draft means--

All of my plot points are in place and make logical sense. The pacing of the story is smooth. There is not a proliferation of grammar mistakes and spelling errors. The major sign that it's a clean draft is that all it really needs is a basic polish before it goes to my betas.

I've had very messy first drafts, in which I had to rearrange chapters, cut scenes, cut characters, and fix huge plot holes. But as I posted above, with a little more experience, I'm able to produce cleaner drafts that require less work at the end.

And re-writing doesn't mean you have to completely retype the entire manuscript (this is why computer files are awesomely superior to typewriters, IMHO). Unless the manuscript is so jumbled and flawed that you'd feel better giving it a complete rewrite, just edit from the existing file. Nothing wrong with that.

Betas - they are a godsend when you find betas you mesh with, so don't abuse them. Always try to send *everyone* your cleanest work. Betas help us see the flaws we can't see ourselves, so don't send them a file with flaws you know exist. Polish it to the best of your abilities before sending it out.

ChaosTitan said:

Betas - they are a godsend when you find betas you mesh with, so don't abuse them. Always try to send *everyone* your cleanest work. Betas help us see the flaws we can't see ourselves, so don't send them a file with flaws you know exist. Polish it to the best of your abilities before sending it out.

Click to expand...

I agree 100% and can't say it any better than Chaos did.

Re: Revisions

Dear Half.jaded:

This is a great question.

Revisions are important, but finishing is more important. I normally write my entire manuscript, whether it's an article or book and then I do revisions. With my rough draft, I definitely make revisions. Then I probably put it down for a few days or weeks depending on how long it is. Then I pick it back up, read it to someone and get their input. From that, I'll make more revisions. I may read it one more time and make revisions.

However, I will eventually let a professional read it because sometimes I get attached to my writing and miss some things.

I hope this helps.

All these answers are excellent, I can't add anything. I've sent stories through my crit groups 3, 4 even 5 times - and there's always something. Then your editor is going to find more. No matter how long it takes: polish it until it shines. I've read where some authors won't read their finished/printed stories because they see things they wished they had done differently.

Not a stupid question at all...

Great question. I've struggled with this a lot and whilst I've recently been fine pumping out first drafts of things, it's revising that I struggle with and it can be because it's very time consuming.

And I certainly agree with everyone who said that this will vary from person to person, and often, from story to story.

For me, the first draft is mostly messy and varies according to how much I outline and plan before hand. I can go through a few rewrites whilst I try to hone the plot and characters and the overall story element in a cycle of outline, rewrite, outline, rewrite.

It's once I've gotten the story in the right order, that it makes logical sense and explains everything, that I can begin a line revision, where I change the wording and technical stuff of the writing: overused words, add description, remove internal monologues, fix pacing etc.

Not a stupid question, but there is no hard and fast answer. It's going to depend on each individual writer and each separate manuscript. No combination of the two will be the same.