Which types of revision do you do first?

[sincerely_anna]

Hi, writers. Around mid-October I finished my first draft of my first novel. I let it sit for the requisite month and now it's time to start revising! I'd like to know what kinds of problems I should tackle first. Should I read the whole thing and take notes on plot/structure/etc? Should I go Holly Lisle-style and do as much as I can in one go? Or should I start with line-by-line edits, polishing my prose so when I read it cover to cover like a novel, I won't get distracted by the little things?

I've combed the forums and I've seen people touch on this subject, but any further advice you all have would be much appreciated. Thanks!

[Putputt]

Congrats on finishing your first draft!

Originally Posted by sincerely_anna

Should I read the whole thing and take notes on plot/structure/etc?

That is what I would do first, personally. I found that I ended up making so many changes to the plot and structure after the first draft that any line-by-line changes before the structure was sound would have been a waste of time. Would be interested to see what other more experienced writers have to say about this though...

[bearilou]

Anne Lyle uses a variation on Holly's revision technique.

Nathan Bransford's Revision Checklist

AW's Perks has this to say about non-linear editing.

Also, what I find personally useful is to change the font. Something about reading it in a different font than what I wrote in helps me to spot errors.

[dawinsor]

I do the big stuff first. No sense polishing sentences I might decide not to use.

[WillSauger]

I'm for the story itself. Balance that out, try to find how to sneak things in. For all of my first drafts, the story drastically changed as I write it, no matter what.

Then I sift through and find spots that I had problems with, fixing those.

Then I do a total rewrite. And another, sometimes.

Then I edit through.

[Kallithrix]

I'm a polish as I go sorta gal, so line edits don't really avail me in the second pass. If I do that I just tend to get so deep into sentence structure that I can't dig myself back out again.

What really helped me figure out the overall shape of the novel was to write out a short description of every scene, chapter by chapter. Then I bolded character names and colour coded the plot threads - blue for main plot, red for subplot 1, etc. This helped me see how much face time/story weighting I was giving individual characters and plot threads. If the blue doesn't virtually equal all the others put together, it's sub-plot culling time

[DeleyanLee]

Congrats on finishing your first book! It's a big accomplishment.

When I sit down to do a revision, the first thing I do is to figure out what story it was I thought I was telling. I get that firm in my mind and then I read what I wrote.

As I read, I made notes where what's on the page fails to be the story I wanted to tell. Whether it's a big thing or a little thing, I note it. I don't try to figure out how to fix it at that moment, mind you. I just make a note.

Then I put that error out of my mind and continue reading until the next place I failed.

Once I finished reading, then I go through and then try to figure out how to fix what didn't work for the entire story to make sure it all hangs together as one story. Once that's done, I go through and start the rewriting.

With that done, I hand it to betas, who read for story, continuity, and such. I make any adjustments after hearing their commentary.

Then I read it aloud. The entire book. Aloud. This allows me to catch nearly all the typos, bad grammar, dialogue problems, etc, to polish it up.

Originally Posted by sincerely_anna

Should I go Holly Lisle-style and do as much as I can in one go?

Remember that Holly's revision method presumes a lot of things. 1) That you know what story you're telling. 2) That you know what the various parts of the book are, how to construct them, and what writing techniques work best to do what you wanted to do. 3) That you know how to recognize it when something doesn't work. 4) That you know how to figure out what is exactly not working. 5) That you know how to fix what's not working. 6) That your first draft isn't so grammatically challenged that you can see what is what to start with.

As multi-published professional, Holly knows all that stuff. She already has the support group around her to help her with anything she, herself, can't do.

As a first-time novelist, the odds are that you don't have all these skills. I've met several first novelists that have none, and have to learn it all from scratch.

Since this is your first book, you're still discovering what you know and what you need to work on. Take your time and figure it out. Find out where your natural strengths are, what you need to work on, what kinds of stories you like to tell, how you want to tell them, etc. Give yourself some time. If you keep at it, you'll need fewer steps (like Holly, perhaps like myself), but until you're comfortable in your knowledge and skills, take revision in smaller steps and build your confidence.

Good luck with it. I've found revision to be very interesting and revealing about myself as a storyteller. Hope you find similar cool things about yourself.

[Mr Flibble]

In the interests of just getting the story down (and because my memory is rubbish) I make a lot of in text notes during the first draft - anything from XXthis pub could do with a nameXX to XX you need an extra scene here showing Y XX or XXHow does that work? Plot hole!XX or XXmove this scene to before he goes to the Bad DudeXX I'll also by then have a notion of theme.

When I go to revise, I read through and each time I hit one of these I fix it there and then (I usually have a good idea how to by that point, as the story is finished). In between, I polish prose, foreshadow stuff I didn't know was coming when I wrote that part, strengthen theme etc. So I pretty much do it all in one go, leaving just a final read through to make sure my changes haven't pulled up any extra problems, checking for flow, rhythm etc.

[jeffo20]

Congratulations, Anna!

For me, I prefer to give the manuscript a full read-through just to make sure it's as coherent a story as possible. I make notes as I go about things I think I need to change/cut, but I try not to do rewrites while reading it. That first read-through allows me to see if the thing makes as much sense as I thought when I was drafting it. Once I've done the read through, I start the re-writing, etc.

[Goldbirch]

Originally Posted by dawinsor

I do the big stuff first. No sense polishing sentences I might decide not to use.

That's what I mainly do, too. (Though if I'm doing big stuff and an obvious line-edit jumps out at me, I go ahead and fix it.)

Whenever I'm tackling revisions, backups are my security blanket. I start by backing up a copy of the first draft. Then whenever I'm preparing to make significant changes, I make another backup file. That way, I can easily restore to an earlier point in the process if I decide I'm on the wrong track. I don't actually restore from them much, so maybe someday I'll decide I've outgrown 'em. Not yet, though!

[rwm4768]

Usually, when I finish my first draft, I'm already confident in the structure. I feel like I have a natural feeling for the big picture aspects of writing. So when I edit, I deal with a lot of the details. Then I'll have someone read it in case I do have problems with the structure.

Of course, I probably do it wrong.

[katci13]

I start off by just reading through it with an editing hat on and start hacking. I look for things that don't need to be there, tense changes, consistency in plot and characters, and also expanding and shrinking scenes, whatever they need. Then I make notes based on my overall opinion of what I've read, and also feedback if I can get any, and I go through it again making specific changes.

[rainbowsandunicorns]

I did the whole all in one go thing on my first novel for the first rewrite, then the second, then the third, etc. Lol. I'd gone in thinking I was doing it all but there was always something more and since it was my first novel I had no idea what I was getting into. It was a learning process.
The first rewrite I went through and read it without making any changes, only making notes with the comment thing in Word. I made extensive changes, cut like 10,000 words then added like 20,000. After this I made changes during the read through but made sure to keep track of the changes.
You just have to do what works for you!

[blacbird]

I revise a fair amount as i go along, because if I think of stuff that needs fixed or improved, and don't do it at the time, I forget and lose track of what i was thinking. But once a project is completed, as a first draft, the first thing I do is go through with fine focus to spot and fix all the little nitpicky stuff, incorrect grammar, confusing phrasing, superfluous words, etc. I find that in doing that, I also catch larger issues of story flow and structure, etc. Then I go after those.

But that's just the way my brain works, so I'm not proposing that as a prescription for everybody.

caw

[Ellielle]

I edit for structure and plot first. Usually, I'll end up re-writing 50-75% of the first draft, so there's no reason for me to edit for style when most of that isn't even going to make it to the final draft anyway.

[Sunflowerrei]

Just as everyone's writing process is different, everyone's revision process is different, too.

When I finished my first draft, I knew what I wanted to change, so I pretty much plunged right into the second draft. I was revising for story and clarity. When I finished the second draft, I printed it out and made notes, crossed stuff out, corrected typos.

[Putputt]

Originally Posted by DeleyanLee

Then I read it aloud. The entire book. Aloud. This allows me to catch nearly all the typos, bad grammar, dialogue problems, etc, to polish it up.

This is fantastic advice. For some reason, reading my book aloud helps me catch awkward sentences I wouldn't otherwise notice.

[kkbe]

I edit constantly. My writing process is write, reread, edit.

Or sometimes, reread, edit, rewrite.

Or sometimes, edit, reread.

Once in a while, reread, then edit.

[gothicangel]

My method is:

1. By a second draft, I normally know what changes I want to make [note: I'm a panster], and rewrite.

2. With a third draft, I use the Holly Lisle method. BUT, I do it non-linearly so the chapter has to stand by itself. I find revising linearly, makes me blind to certain elements.

3. Edits.

[sincerely_anna]

Thanks for all the responses, everybody! You've given me a lot to think about... and a lot to work on

[FCameron]

1. Make a backup copy.
2. Revise the 2nd copy, leaving the 1st alone.
3. Adjust the margins IN to shorten the width so that your lines break at a different place. Makes it easier to "see" things you can't see in the 1" margin format. I move left and right to 1.5".
4. Read, read, read. Make revisions in story as you go
5. After plot, characters, etc. are good, time for line edits.
6. Make use of the "find" and look for words and punctuation used too much (really, just, adverbs, elipses, emdash, exclamation, etc.)
7. Return your margins to 1".
8. Repeat all steps until happy.

Congratulations on your work. Best wishes!

[Linda Adams]

Major revision first, then line edits. Line edits are for a later stage of the revision, rather than in the beginning. You want to do the big stuff first, rather than line edit sentences and paragraphs that might come out later. Imagine spending a lot of time tweaking your beginning only to realize later that you started in the wrong place!

[Linda Adams]

Originally Posted by DeleyanLee

Remember that Holly's revision method presumes a lot of things. 1) That you know what story you're telling. 2) That you know what the various parts of the book are, how to construct them, and what writing techniques work best to do what you wanted to do. 3) That you know how to recognize it when something doesn't work. 4) That you know how to figure out what is exactly not working. 5) That you know how to fix what's not working. 6) That your first draft isn't so grammatically challenged that you can see what is what to start with.

That's the impression that comes from the basic version of her one-pass editing. Her How to Review Your Novel class is much more extensive and goes into trouble shooting problems -- all the things she does. It's helpful as long as you don't have weird problems (I had weird problems).

[ladyleeona]

My first revision pass involves reading and note-taking, with the second pass being reasoning and then serious cutting. Not much sense in getting down to sentence-level editing when whole chunks of the manuscript probably need to get the ax anyway. I transfer to my ereader (because I somehow manage to take the manuscript more seriously there--don't ask why) and start reading, taking notes any time--and I mean any time, even if it's just for a paragraph--I like a scene, hate a scene. Find a plot hole. When I get bored. When I realize a character arc looks more like a flat line. When characters disappear. I go in looking for major problems, trying to sniff out as many as I can, and my book of notes may very well end up being novella-sized by the time I'm done.

What I make sure and not do, however, is slow down, or try and reflect on the whys of anything I do or don't like. I just make notes and keep going until I'm done. Then I set it aside for another while, maybe a week, before I go back in to try and decide all the whys. Is this scene trying to advance the plot but is just poorly written? Is this scene less worthy than toilet paper? From there I cut and rewrite until I've got something coherent and somewhat story-like, then I get into the nitty gritty (but deathly important) stuff like grammar.

But, to effectively direct your editing style, you really need to first look at your weaknesses. If you write a tight, clean first draft (firstly, damn you ), then you can probably jump to sentence-level editing.

My first drafts meander like a whiskey drunk burro, so I've got to chop first, refine later. What works for you might be different.