QoW: Keeping the highlighter people in business
Question of the week: What is your revision process?
I tend to revise in a BIG WAY. That is because I am a REVISOR. Or, um, a REVISIONIST. Whatever. The point is that I write about a million and one drafts, and things often change drastically from the first draft to the last. Sometimes I wonder why I bother to write the first million drafts, because obviously it would be much easier if I could just write the last one first. But my brain doesn't work like that.
So here's how I do it (usually). First, I read through the entire novel. I'm not allowed to write on the manuscript at this stage, but I can take notes. Then, when I'm done reading, I go through all of my notes and my editor's notes and my workshop ladies' notes and what have you, and I make a plan. In The Plan I try to outline very clearly what I'm going to change and why. If I can't think of a reason to change something -- a good reason -- then I'm not allowed to do it.
Then I begin Phase Two: Highlighting. This phase pretty much only exists because I like to use highlighters. I assign colors to things I have to work on (blue might be for scenes that need a complete overhaul, and orange for scenes with a minor tweak, or I might do pink for scenes where I want to change the sibling dynamic, and yellow for scenes where my character is being annoying). That gives me a good sense of how much work I'm going to have to do in any given area, which helps me focus. Focus is good.
I also like to use my handy-dandy highlighters to track a character's dialogue. That way I can flip through the entire story very quickly, focusing on just that one character, and I can see how he evolves, and make sure he has a clear character arc. (It makes the manuscript really pretty and colorful, too. Ooooh, pretty colors...)
Then I Get To Work. That's the hard part. But I try to stick with The Plan, and not stray off course and change everything in the universe. It's a loooong process, but usually by the end of a revision, I can remember why I began writing this particular story in the first place, and I'm ready to go back to Phase One and take the next revision-tastic baby step. Highlighter in hand, of course.
I tend to revise in a BIG WAY. That is because I am a REVISOR. Or, um, a REVISIONIST. Whatever. The point is that I write about a million and one drafts, and things often change drastically from the first draft to the last. Sometimes I wonder why I bother to write the first million drafts, because obviously it would be much easier if I could just write the last one first. But my brain doesn't work like that.
So here's how I do it (usually). First, I read through the entire novel. I'm not allowed to write on the manuscript at this stage, but I can take notes. Then, when I'm done reading, I go through all of my notes and my editor's notes and my workshop ladies' notes and what have you, and I make a plan. In The Plan I try to outline very clearly what I'm going to change and why. If I can't think of a reason to change something -- a good reason -- then I'm not allowed to do it.
Then I begin Phase Two: Highlighting. This phase pretty much only exists because I like to use highlighters. I assign colors to things I have to work on (blue might be for scenes that need a complete overhaul, and orange for scenes with a minor tweak, or I might do pink for scenes where I want to change the sibling dynamic, and yellow for scenes where my character is being annoying). That gives me a good sense of how much work I'm going to have to do in any given area, which helps me focus. Focus is good.
I also like to use my handy-dandy highlighters to track a character's dialogue. That way I can flip through the entire story very quickly, focusing on just that one character, and I can see how he evolves, and make sure he has a clear character arc. (It makes the manuscript really pretty and colorful, too. Ooooh, pretty colors...)
Then I Get To Work. That's the hard part. But I try to stick with The Plan, and not stray off course and change everything in the universe. It's a loooong process, but usually by the end of a revision, I can remember why I began writing this particular story in the first place, and I'm ready to go back to Phase One and take the next revision-tastic baby step. Highlighter in hand, of course.
posted by Lisa Graff at 3:46 PM
2 Comments:
i love that idea of multi colored dialogue! i may give that a try though at this point i keep the post-it tag people in business and i may not be able to afford to also finance the summer houses of the highlighter people
I highlight in my Word document as i'm revising for things i want to go back and fix, and dont feel like slowing down to work on. i find that MSWord has all kinds of nifty tools in it for talking to yourself as you edit. But i like your more tactile approach. there's something nice about holding your ms in your hands, and physically marking it up. Doesn't Coe have a masters in psych? I bet she'd have some interesting opinions.
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