Friday Five: Revision: Where To Begin!
I try to keep a balance on the blog of thoughts about life and thoughts on writing. This week's Friday Five fits into the writing arena. I'm working on a manuscript I really love right now. I'm aaaallllllmmost finished with Draft #2. This has been a complete rewrite -- as in I started with a blank document and rewrote it from scratch. Before I started, I worked hard on re-examining plot and structure, which I blogged about here and here. I learned a lot about technique and about myself as a writer. And I feel like my manuscript is stronger for it. Once I finish this draft, which will hopefully be next week, I'll start a whole new round of revision. How do you take a 200+ page manuscript and figure out how to fix it? Here are some places where I'll begin:
1. Voice: The first thing I'll be looking at is the voice of my main character, the girl telling the story. Is it consistent? Does she sound like a teen? Does she sound like a specific person, not a generic teenage girl? Do I know her back story well enough that there is depth to the character?
2. Dialogue: For each character, I'll go through and check to make sure they sound like themselves, that they don't use words that character wouldn't use, that the dialogue doesn't sound hokey or contrived, and that it serves a purpose beyond conversation.
3. Detail: Sometimes when I'm writing the draft itself, I'm too excited about getting the story down on the page to slow down and include details. But details can bring depth to a story. So I'll be going back and finding places to bring in that extra layer.
4. Pacing: When writing a good story, it's the writer's job to keep the interest of the reader all the way through, to not give them an excuse to set the book aside. Humans are addicted to worry, right? So you want to feed the addiction -- without making it overwhelming. So I'll be examining the pace of the story, looking for places where it slows down or where things are going too well, too easy for my poor main character.
5. Romance: I'll also be going through the manuscript to track the development of the romance. Gotta make sure it's believable, that it build appropriately, that it feels real and right.
And that's just the beginning, the first stops on my revision journey. Where do you like to begin?
Happy weekend 
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