Revising > Drafting
Tried-and-true revision tactics.
✨ SET WRITING GOALS FOR THE NEW YEAR
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I’ll light the way through energizing prompts that will help you figure out what you want to achieve on the page in the new year, and we’ll share our goals with one another.
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I recently started a new novel project. In other words, I am suffering through my first draft: emphasis on the suffering.
I hate drafting. Drafts are bad. And they’re supposed to be bad. But! I want my writing to sparkle. The whole time I’m drafting, I want to, as they say on TikTok, skip to the good part.
And that’s exactly why I love revising.
This week, I facilitated a class at the Jacksonville Public Library on novel revision tactics. (If you subscribed to my newsletter after coming to the class: welcome! I’m so glad you’re here.) Talking about revision with a group of 30 very smart writers got me excited about finishing this new draft so I can eventually buff and polish my words.
Here are three of my tried-and-true revision tactics that I’m very much looking forward to.
OUTLINING AFTER DRAFTING
I do not outline my writing. Outlines scare me. They make me feel like I have to have the whole story figured out before I start writing. I’m much better at figuring things out on the fly. That’s a more exciting approach to me. And anything that keeps me from beating my head against the wall feels worth doing.
That said, I get a lot of clarity when I outline an existing draft, taking tens of thousands of words and squishing them into a bird’s-eye view.
Sometimes, outlining means isolating each scene in the draft and asking myself what the protagonist wants in that scene and what’s at stake for them. If I can’t answer those two questions, chances are there’s probably not a whole lot of story going on.
I’m also a big fan of outlining based on John Truby’s Seven Key Steps of Story Structure, which he writes about in his book The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller. (I found out about this book via
, whose newsletter you should absolutely subscribe to.) Truby’s steps are a step above the standard three-act structure and focus much more heavily on the character’s sense of change.REVISION = REWRITING
I’ve written at length about the benefits of printing out our work. But what do we do after we scribble all over our print-out?
We rewrite.
As in, we type the whole thing all over again.
This suggestion always makes people groan very loudly.
Corny as it may sound, I think the most important part of revision is taking time with every paragraph, sentence, and word. You’ll be able to see your manuscript from new angles when you take the time to rewrite it.
Actually, I don’t know if this character would talk to that character that way.
Maybe this great line on page 65 would make a strong opening line for the whole novel.
Retyping this paragraph is making me sleepy. Perhaps I ought to cut it.
FIND A READER
Specifically, someone who’ll read your writing knowing you’re going to change it. A reader can help you get unstuck in your process and give you new ideas for revision.
Who might be willing to read your work for you and offer feedback? You might ask your uncle/grandparent/sibling, the one who’s always checking books out from the library. Maybe you could check with your coworker who always seems to have a new book with her on her lunch break.
“I wrote a novel/memoir/short story/essay,” you might tell them. “Would you mind reading it and telling me what you think of it?” Offer to print it out for them.
After they read your work, ask them, “What was most interesting/most confusing/most boring/least developed?” Ask for honesty. I hope they’ll tell you the truth: we all need it.
BOOK CLUB FOR WRITERS MEETS AGAIN IN JANUARY
My Book Club for Writers is discussing Haruki Murakami’s book Novelist as a Vocation on January 28 at 1PM EST.
The book is an excellent dive into the life of a successful novelist. The paperback just came out last week, and for a limited time, it’s available on Bookshop for 10% off! Use code MURAKAMI for the discount.
Haven’t joined the book club yet? Become a paid subscriber of this newsletter to be part of our discussions on Zoom. You’ll also get 10% off all writing workshops! You can join for just $5/month, or save 27% and subscribe for the whole year.
THREE RECOMMENDATIONS
A few things I endorse wholeheartedly.
Travis Kelce’s 2011 Twitter archive. Typically, when we explore a celebrity’s past, we’re met with a sea of horrors: Halloween costumes involving black face, etc. But in Travis Kelce’s case: seems like he was kind of just a normal, sweet, sort-of-dumb dude?
Writing From Memory class with
, who writes the amazing newsletter mom blog. The Zoom class is on Tuesday, December 12, 6-9PM EST. Costs $35. I signed up! You should, too. Here’s what the class entails:“Around the holidays we can feel overloaded with emotion. Whether or not you have specific memories you want to work with, or just hope to carve out a moment for yourself in this hectic time of year, this generative, supportive workshop will offer creativity-boosting exercises craft strategies to shape your ideas into thoughtful writing you could share, pass down, or keep for yourself.”
Dog Show Bingo. I cook up a masterpiece of a bingo card every Thanksgiving for the National Dog Show, which is my favorite turkey day tradition. Why watch the Macy’s Parade when you could instead witness shiny dogs on their best behavior in a real-life version of the best Christopher Guest movie of all time?!
Download and print your own bingo cards for the dog show:
This Thanksgiving and always, I am so very grateful for the lovely folks who subscribe to my scrappy little corner of the internet. Thank you for reading and supporting what I love to do!
God loves a terrier,
Hurley
Team Truby
Wow wow wow. I JUST finished my first draft this week, and I cry every time I watch Best In Show (which is often), so I’m pretty sure you personally wrote this newsletter for me. Thank you.