Revision Workshop: I've Revised My Novel. Now What?

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Congratulations to all who completed the Revision Workshop!

Where your manuscript goes from here will depend on what stage you’re at in your process. You might be sending yours to an agent, editor, or critique partner, shifting to submission research, planning to take the indie-pub route, or taking a break before your next revision pass.

Here are some suggestions on what to do next based on what stage you’re at:

Revision Workshop: Day Thirty-One: Do a Final Read Through

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy 

Stage Six: A Final Look 

Welcome to Day Thirty-One of Fiction University’s Month-Long Revision Workshop. As we enter this stage, our novels are done. Let’s pause for a moment of joyous celebration, shall we? We’ve earned it.

The final stage (and step) is to read through the manuscript one last time with an eye toward the novel as a whole. If you’re sick of your manuscript, it’s okay to take a break before doing this step. It’s not a bad idea to get a little distance to gain perspective and allow you to look at the manuscript with fresher eyes.

Today, let's read like a reader, but think like a writer.

Revision Workshop: Day Thirty: Fix Any Grammatical Errors

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Welcome to Day Thirty of Fiction University’s Month-Long Revision Workshop. Over the last month we’ve been working on the larger revision issues and ignoring the specifics of the text (in most cases). Our stories are now solid, our structure and various story arcs are sound, and our scenes flow smoothly from one idea to the next. The novel is “done,” and we feel comfortable that it’s good and well-written. Now it’s time to polish our literary jewels until they shine, so roll up those sleeves and let’s get into the nitty gritty of the individual word choices.

As we reach the final day of the serious polishing, it’s time to put on our copy editor hats and review the manuscript with a critical eye.

Today, we’re looking for grammatical errors.

Revision Workshop: Day Twenty-Nine: Eliminate Unnecessary Repetition

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Welcome to Day Twenty-Nine of Fiction University’s Month-Long Revision Workshop. Over the last month we’ve been working on the larger revision issues and ignoring the specifics of the text (in most cases). Our stories are now solid, our structure and various story arcs are sound, and our scenes flow smoothly from one idea to the next. The novel is “done,” and we feel comfortable that it’s good and well-written. Now it’s time to polish our literary jewels until they shine, so roll up those sleeves and let’s get into the nitty gritty of the individual word choices.

We’re almost to the end of the month, and I know everyone is probably tired and ready to get this revision done. Polishing a novel is probably the least fun for me (anyone else?), because there’s little creativity to it—it’s more mechanical. But it’s an important step in the revision process, and I’m always happy I put in the effort by the time I’m done. After the last few days, we should be pleased by how shiny our novels are looking. Hang in there, we’re almost done.

Revision Workshop: Day Twenty-Eight: Revise Any Misused Words and Awkward Phrasing

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Welcome to Day Twenty-Eight of Fiction University’s Month-Long Revision Workshop. Over the last month we’ve been working on the larger revision issues and ignoring the specifics of the text (in most cases). Our stories are now solid, our structure and various story arcs are sound, and our scenes flow smoothly from one idea to the next. The novel is “done,” and we feel comfortable that it’s good and well-written. Now it’s time to polish our literary jewels until they shine, so roll up those sleeves and let’s get into the nitty gritty of the individual word choices.

Yesterday we got rid of the chaff and breathed new life into stale prose. Our next step is to sneak in and fix those common words that are easy to mix up, and the accidentally hysterical phrases we sometimes write.

Today’s let focus on misused words and awkward phrases.

Revision Workshop: Day Twenty-Seven: Strengthen or Eliminate Any Weak Words

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Welcome to Day Twenty-Seven of Fiction University’s Month-Long Revision Workshop. Over the last month we’ve been working on the larger revision issues and ignoring the specifics of the text (in most cases). Our stories are now solid, our structure and various story arcs are sound, and our scenes flow smoothly from one idea to the next. The novel is “done,” and we feel comfortable that it’s good and well-written. Now it’s time to polish our literary jewels until they shine, so roll up those sleeves and let’s get into the nitty gritty of the individual word choices.

Weak words make their way into our writing on a regular basis, especially in early drafts when we’re more focused on getting the story down than on making the most of our words.

Today, we’re going on a word safari and getting rid of anything that weakens our prose.

Revision Workshop: Day Twenty-Six: Clarify Ambiguous Pronouns

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Welcome to Day Twenty-Six of Fiction University’s Month-Long Revision Workshop. Over the last month we’ve been working on the larger revision issues and ignoring the specifics of the text (in most cases). Our stories are now solid, our structure and various story arcs are sound, and our scenes flow smoothly from one idea to the next. The novel is “done,” and we feel comfortable that it’s good and well-written. Now it’s time to polish our literary jewels until they shine, so roll up those sleeves and let’s get into the nitty gritty of the individual word choices.

Ambiguous pronouns creep into our work and they're not always easy to spot. We know what they refer to because we wrote them, but if the pronoun isn't near what the referenced noun was, or there are a lot of nouns in the sentence, it can be confusing to readers what that pronoun refers to.

Today’s task will take stamina to complete. Search through the pronouns and fix any pronouns that aren’t clear.

Revision Workshop: Day Twenty-Five: Eliminate Clichés and Trim Overwriting

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Welcome to Day Twenty-Five of Fiction University’s Month-Long Revision Workshop. Over the last month we’ve been working on the larger revision issues and ignoring the specifics of the text (in most cases). Our stories are now solid, our structure and various story arcs are sound, and our scenes flow smoothly from one idea to the next. The novel is “done,” and we feel comfortable that it’s good and well-written. Now it’s time to polish our literary jewels until they shine, so roll up those sleeves and let’s get into the nitty gritty of the individual word choices.

Polishing brings out the shine of a novel, illuminating what’s unique and special about the work. So it makes sense to look for passages that aren’t so fresh or might be trying too hard to get noticed.

Today, we’ll go after both clichés and purple prose.

Revision Workshop: Day Twenty-Four: Revise Any Unnecessary Passive Voice

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Stage Five: Polishing the Draft

Welcome to Day Twenty-Four of Fiction University’s Month-Long Revision Workshop. Over the last twenty-three days we’ve been working on the larger revision issues and ignoring the specifics of the text (in most cases). Our stories are now solid, our structure and various story arcs are sound, and our scenes flow smoothly from one idea to the next. The novel is “done,” and we feel comfortable that it’s good and well-written. Now it’s time to polish our literary jewels until they shine, so roll up those sleeves and let’s get into the nitty gritty of the individual word choices.

Today, we’re going to get active and revise any unnecessary instances of passive voice.

Revision Workshop: Day Twenty-Three: Smooth Any Rough Transitions

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Welcome to Day Twenty-Three of Fiction University’s Month-Long Revision Workshop. Up until now, we’ve been adding and tweaking our stories, focusing more on getting the missing information in, and cutting the unnecessary information out. Odds are we’ve gotten some scenes a little messy, but the overall novel is working from a plot, character, and scene to scene standpoint. Now is the time to tighten things back up.

Now that our characters are talking and thinking clearly, it’s time to make sure our scenes and transitions are moving through the novel just as smoothly.

Today, we’ll look at our transitions and see if there are any rough or jarring areas between scenes and ideas.

Revision Workshop: Day Twenty-Two: Sharpen the Hooks and Tighten the Pacing

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Welcome to Day Twenty-Two of Fiction University’s Month-Long Revision Workshop. Up until now, we’ve been adding and tweaking our stories, focusing more on getting the missing information in, and cutting the unnecessary information out. Odds are we’ve gotten some scenes a little messy, but the overall novel is working from a plot, character, and scene to scene standpoint. Now is the time to tighten things back up.

Now that our characters sound good inside and out, let’s pull back and focus on the little things that keep readers reading.

Today, we’ll take a look at our hooks and how the novel’s pacing works.

Revision Workshop: Day Twenty-One: Streamline the Internalization

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Welcome to Day Twenty-One of Fiction University’s Month-Long Revision Workshop. Up until now, we’ve been adding and tweaking our stories, focusing more on getting the missing information in, and cutting the unnecessary information out. Odds are we’ve gotten some scenes a little messy, but the overall novel is working from a plot, character, and scene to scene standpoint. Now is the time to tighten things back up.

Yesterday we worked on streamlining our dialogue, and our characters’ conversations should now be tight, entertaining, and informative. Next we’ll shift to our interior conversations.

Today, the focus is on internalization.

Revision Workshop: Day Twenty: Streamline the Dialogue

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Welcome to Day Twenty of Fiction University’s Month-Long Revision Workshop. Up until now, we’ve been adding and tweaking our stories, focusing more on getting the missing information in, and cutting the unnecessary information out. Odds are we’ve gotten some scenes a little messy, but the overall novel is working from a plot, character, and scene to scene standpoint. Now is the time to tighten things back up.

Dialogue makes up a sizable chunk of a novel, but it’s also a common area to find weak prose. We let our characters ramble on, give them unrealistic things to say, and even steal their unique voices from them.

Today, let’s take a closer look at our dialogue and make sure our story people sound as good as they look.

Revision Workshop: Day Nineteen: Check the Narrative Focus

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Stage Four: Tightening the Draft

Welcome to Day Nineteen of Fiction University’s Month-Long Revision Workshop. Up until now, we’ve been adding and tweaking our stories, focusing on getting the missing information in, and cutting the unnecessary information out. Odds are we’ve gotten some scenes a little messy, but the overall novel is working from a plot, character, and scene to scene standpoint. Now is the time to tighten things back up.

Today, we’re going to go deeper and examine the text itself, starting with how the narrative flows. Once we know everything is aligned and pointing where we want it to go, we’ll start tightening the draft overall.

Revision Workshop: Day Eighteen: Eliminate Unnecessary Told Prose

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Welcome to Day Eighteen of Fiction University’s Month-Long Revision Workshop. During this stage, we should feel pretty good about our plot and characters, and understand what and why they’re doing all those exciting and interesting things in our novels. We’ve been focusing on the what and the why for a while, so it’s time to give a little attention to the where.

We’ve been doing a lot of description work these last few days, and any time there’s description or stage direction, there’s the risk of telling, not showing.

Today, we’re rolling up our sleeves and getting rid of any unnecessary told prose.

Revision Workshop: Day Seventeen: Strengthen the Foreshadowing and Reveals

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Welcome to Day Seventeen of Fiction University’s Month-Long Revision Workshop. As we enter this stage, we should feel pretty good about our plot and characters, and understand what and why they’re doing all those exciting and interesting things in our novels. We’ve been focusing on the what and the why for a while, so it’s time to give a little attention to the where.

Now that we have a rich world filled with the right emotions, it’s time to make the most of them and slip in all those hints, clues, and whispers of things to come.

Today, let’s strengthen our foreshadow and reveals.

Revision Workshop: Day Sixteen: Clarify the Tone and Mood

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Welcome to Day Sixteen of Fiction University’s Month-Long Revision Workshop. As we enter this stage, we should feel pretty good about our plot and characters, and understand what and why they’re doing all those exciting and interesting things in our novels. We’ve been focusing on the what and the why for a while, so it’s time to give a little attention to the where.

Our description has now been whipped into shape and is doing a solid job of setting the scene and directing the action. It’s time to move on to the emotional side of description.

Today, let’s take a closer look at the tone and mood of our novels.

Revision Workshop: Day Fifteen: Clean Up the Description and Stage Direction

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Welcome to Day Fifteen of Fiction University’s Month-Long At-Home Revision Workshop. As we enter this stage, we should feel pretty good about our plot and characters, and understand what and why they’re doing all those exciting and interesting things in our novels. We’ve been focusing on the what and the why for a while now, so it’s time to give a little attention to the where.

Now that we have the setting, world, and information about that world cleaned up, it’s time to move on to the general descriptions in the novel and see how they compare.

Today, let’s make sure our descriptions and stage directions are serving the story and not getting in its way.

Revision Workshop: Day Fourteen: Eliminate Unnecessary Infodumps

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Welcome to Day Fourteen of Fiction University’s Month-Long At-Home Revision Workshop. As we enter this stage, we should feel pretty good about our plot and characters, and understand what and why they’re doing all those exciting and interesting things in our novels. We’ve been focusing on the what and the why for a while now, so it’s time to give a little attention to the where.

Now that we’ve deepened our world, it’s a good idea to weed out any areas were we’ve gone too far. Building a story world takes a lot of effort, and usually a lot of research. After doing all that work, it’s understandable that we’d want to share all the cool things we’d uncovered or created for this story. Unfortunately, we can get a little too excited and all that information bogs the novel down.

Today, let’s go on a hunt for infodumps and trim back what we don’t need.

Revision Workshop: Day Thirteen: Deepen the World Building and Setting

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Stage Three: Setting and Description Issues

Welcome to Day Thirteen of Fiction University’s Month-Long At-Home Revision Workshop. As we enter this stage, we should feel pretty good about our plot and characters, and understand what and why they’re doing all those exciting and interesting things in our novels. We’ve been focusing on the what and the why for a while now, so it’s time to give a little attention to the where.

Today, let’s look at ways to deepen our world building and setting