Some of you have already met Rebecca Petruck (either on-line or in person), my writing coach who is helping me shape, hone, and revise Half-Truths. In this blog and the next, Rebecca shares her own revision journey. I am currently following Rebecca's advice on letting my manuscript rest while she reads my entire manuscript.
When I posted a photo of my revision map on Facebook, Carol invited me to write a post for her blog. STEERING
TOWARD NORMAL will be released by Abrams/Amulet Spring 2014. I received my
editor’s letter and marked-up pages March 2013, with the final due by June. But
let me back up a little.
I’m a big believer in the benefits of letting a manuscript “rest." I can’t say enough how important it is to take a real break from a story—the kind of break in which you write something else. Even if your deadline means you can only let the MS rest a few days, take those days to write a short story, fan fiction, even type chapters from a favored author’s book—anything truly separate from your novel. Your brain needs to be entirely turned to the off position re: your story in order to be able to see it new again. Critique partners are hugely helpful in this, too. Anyone who gives you fresh insight into your work is a keeper.
I’m a big believer in the benefits of letting a manuscript “rest." I can’t say enough how important it is to take a real break from a story—the kind of break in which you write something else. Even if your deadline means you can only let the MS rest a few days, take those days to write a short story, fan fiction, even type chapters from a favored author’s book—anything truly separate from your novel. Your brain needs to be entirely turned to the off position re: your story in order to be able to see it new again. Critique partners are hugely helpful in this, too. Anyone who gives you fresh insight into your work is a keeper.
I didn’t let myself read STN
again until I received Howard’s notes. I wanted to see it through his eyes.
Afterwards, I didn’t let myself do any work on the actual manuscript until I
had thought everything through and had a plan. (This is harder than it
sounds—jumping in is easy.)
I’m not an outliner, but I am
organized. I had a three-month window and broke it down into, you know,
three’s. :) One month for planning, one month for writing, one month to tweak
per notes from my critique partners. One month for planning may seem like a lot
of time with a deadline fast approaching, but that time to think through what I
wanted to do was ESSENTIAL. It saved me from being slowed down by a bunch of
false starts and misdirections.
I had a list of sixteen
questions from WIRED FOR STORY by Lisa Cron that I used as starting points. I
journaled about the four major characters, and brainstormed a B-story that
ended up being so exactly what the book needed I couldn’t believe it took me eleven
drafts to figure it out. (Thank you, Howard, for asking about Diggy’s friends!)
The questions that resonated most with me ended up being: “When and why was his
worldview knocked out of alignment?” “What does he HOPE will happen (vs. what
does)?” “What is his ‘aha’ moment?”
I tend to think of early
drafts as heart-and-gut writing. If we’re lucky, and if we can stand it, this
is the time we write something about the world we believe deeply, even
(especially?) if we’re not aware of it. Later drafts are the terrain of the
analytical brain. What IS the theme? What can I do to make it pop more? Do
these scenes speak to it? Do these characters learn it, get hurt by it, care?
WHY?
Theme is one of those things
you can’t think about while you write, but you must think about between drafts.
It’s that thing so important to you, you wrote a NOVEL. Yet is a classic
Catch-22—if you think about theme too overtly while writing, your story is
likely to be didactic or simply bad. But you can’t ignore it either. Every story
has to have a POINT. Even so-called “light reading” or humor books—the ones
that rise to the top anyway—have a clear theme, sometimes as simple as “Life is
ridiculous and then we die.”
Next week, Rebecca will return with advice on what to do once the thinking is done.
Meanwhile, she is once again generously offering one of two giveaways. You can win either a 10-page critique from her, or a copy of WIRED FOR STORY. Here are the rules:
- Post this blog on your social media site of choice OR become a new follower of this blog and I'll enter your name once.
- Post this blog on two different social media sites OR become a new follower of this blog AND post it on a social media site and I'll enter your name twice.
- Either way, leave a comment with your email address (if you are new to my blog) with what you did.
- Winner will be drawn on Monday morning, August 5 - so get those entries in!
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| How many writing coaches agree to meet you at Whole Foods Market in Wilmington, NC? Rebecca did! |
Rebecca Petruck is a Minnesota girl, though she also has
lived in Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, England, Connecticut and, currently,
North Carolina. A former member of 4-H, she was also a Girl Scout, a
cheerleader, and competed in MathCounts. She reads National Geographic cover to cover. She is represented by Kate
Testerman of kt literary, and her first novel, STEERING TOWARD NORMAL, will be
released by Abrams/Amulet Spring 2014. Please visit her online.
