The art of revision

I just returned from a lovely trip to Cozumel, Mexico to learn that my tween novel, SEASHELL SECRETS, won first place in the 2009 Pikes Peak Writers contest (children's category). What a nice way to lift your spirits after you've been whining about the vacation coming to an end.

I spent much of the past year reworking parts of this manuscript and the win was a great reward. I must thank my wonderful critique group who refused to let me get away with scenes that didn't quite work or actions that didn't quite match my character's personality. It's amazing what others can see in your work that you can't! What's even more amazing is that you can see the exact same problem in someone else's work but not in your own. When I first began writing, I had this ridiculous notion that I could do it on my own...without a critique group. What was I thinking!

It's amazing to look back at a first draft and compare it to draft number 423. Not really that many...but close. The first draft is about getting the story down and putting together interesting and believable characters. From there it's flushing out what works/what doesn't in the plot, which characters need to be strengthened or gotten rid of, and polish...polish...polish. Get rid of passive words, not so much narrative voice, more realistic dialogue, these 20 pages drag, beef up the tension. Revision is tough but so necessary. And as I talk with other writers, I find that there are as many different revision styles as there are writers. Some delve into the big issues first, saving the grammatical changes until the end. Others do the reverse. Some put it on a shelf for awhile, others dig right in. I think one of the most important attributes of someone who has mastered the art of revision is the ability to set their pride aside and evaluate the critiques honestly, even if it means deleting your favorite part of the whole novel. The temptation, of course, is to disagree with the reviewer because then you can hold on to your golden nuggets and reduce the revision time substantially. The one drawback is that your hard work may eternally sit on the shelf. For me, the revision process has been a learning experience--sometimes a painful one. But I believe as with many other talents, practice hones revision skills which improves not only a specific work, but the author's overall writing ability.