First Look at a First Draft: How to Revise Your Manuscript

By Janice Hardy

A first draft is a wonderful thing, but it always needs more work.

There's something exciting and rewarding about a first draft. The story that's been in our heads is finally down on paper, and we can see how it developed. Sometimes it unfolded exactly how we pictured, but more often we encountered snags here and there and discovered fun twists and plots as we wrote. The draft might even be, shall we say, a little messy.

And that's okay, because first drafts are often messy and filled with holes.

It's what you do with it from there that really matters. As the adage goes...writing is rewriting. Often, a lot of rewriting (sigh).

This is why taking an objective first look at your first draft is so important. 

You're taking stock of what you have and looking for what's working, what's not working, and what could use a little more work to get it right. It's much easier to do the heavier rewrites in draft form before the story becomes mentally "set in stone." First drafts are supposed to be messed with. 

How to Edit (or Revise) a Novel Without Feeling Overwhelmed

By Janice Hardy

If you dread starting a revision, you're not alone. But you can do this.

Finishing a draft is a huge accomplishment, and one every writer should be proud of, no matter what stage of their career they’re at. But after the draft is done, it’s time to edit (or revise), and sometimes, that can be a bit overwhelming.

I know both new and established writers who struggle with this, so this isn’t a matter of skill or talent. There’s nothing wrong with you if you dread having to face a manuscript that needs editing.

I love the editing process, so a lot of writer friends (and readers) have come to me over the years seeking a little editing advice (so much so I even went and wrote a whole book on it). 

Here are some tips on how to make the editing and revision process a little easier to manage:

5 Ways Repetition Hurts Your Novel

By Janice Hardy

How to spot and fix those sneaky repetitions that weaken your prose.

Aside from a great one liner, a declaration of love, or a juicy piece of gossip, most people don’t like to hear the same thing over and over. This is doubly true for readers, and repeating yourself in a novel can make your story feel redundant, stale, or even poorly edited.

When you consider a typical novel runs between 80,000 and 100,000 words, it’s no wonder words (and even ideas) get repeated. Some of those words readers don’t notice (such as said) and others stand out even if you only used them once or twice (like antidisestablishmentarianism). 

Repetition drags down your pacing and makes even strong prose feel clunky.

Where Was I Going Again? The Benefits of Re-Reading During a Revision

By Janice Hardy

A re-read might be the right path to find your story and fall in love with it all over again.

Many writers shudder at the very thought of revising their novel. Others curse. But I’ve always enjoyed the revision process (don’t hate me). I’ve found it’s where my best writing happens, because I know how my story turned out and I have a much better understanding of who the characters are and what they want and need to do.

Even if you’re a meticulous outliner, your final draft rarely matches your original plan exactly. And if you’re a pantser or discovery writer? Well, your manuscript may resemble your initial vision about as much as a squirrel resembles a spaceship. Though honestly, that can happen to plotters, too.

Because things change as we write. Motivations shift. New ideas pop up halfway through and suddenly alter our understanding of the plot. Characters do things we didn’t plan, and sometimes what sounded brilliant in Chapter Eight feels like a complete mistake by Chapter Twenty.

The Revision Ripple Effect

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Tiny tweaks in a story can cause a tidal wave of changes.

Maybe I’m a writing freak, but I actually love revisions. A single change can impact a novel on multiple levels, which is both cool, and terrifying.

Tweak a character’s backstory or change the rules of your world’s magic, and bam! Your entire novel starts to shift under your feet. One change leads to another, and another, and then you realize the larger ramifications of all those changes and before you know it, it’s practically a new book.

Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but you want to make sure it’s what you want.

Some rippled-revisions are massive, while others are more nuanced.

That Sounds Familiar: Cut Often-Used Words in Your Writing

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

It takes a lot of work to write well, and sometimes we go for what's easiest instead of what's original. 

During the drafting stage of a manuscript, some phrases and combinations of words tend to roll off our fingers and into our stories because they're easy. These phrases aren’t clichés, per se, but they’ve been used so often by enough writers that they carry the same feeling as a cliché when readers read them.

• Beamed a smile
• Cacophony of sound
• Shrugged a shoulder
• Hair flowed down her back
• Any kind of glow from any kind of light
• Releasing a breath you didn't realize you were holding

They also tend to sound “right” to us, and that's the problem. 

We automatically use them without thinking, and that robs us of the chance to write something unique to our voice and style.

5 Edits to Strengthen Your Writing, Right Now

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Making some simple word edits can turn a flat scene into one that sings.

Back when I was first learning how to write, I loved discovering a great writing tip--the ones I could immediately apply to my work and see actual improvement were the best. I got especially excited over lists of words or specific examples, because I could search and find the weak areas right away. Which is probably why I like to do a lot of lists and examples now in my own articles.

While there's nothing inherently wrong with a "weak word," they do tend to hang around trouble areas--just like those red flag words with show, don't tell. They're good places to start when something feels off in your work or you're getting negative feedback and aren't sure why. 

If you're looking for easy ways to improve your writing, here are great words to search for to identify potentially weak areas.

Let's a take a peek at a few of the more common troublemakers that often pull readers out of a story.

6 “Fatal Flaws” That Will Kill a Novel

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Fatal flaws can sink a story, but don’t lose hope if you find one in your novel.

First drafts are all about getting an idea from your head onto the page, but sometimes that idea doesn’t come out quite right. Maybe you took the wrong approach, or maybe you tried to do too much to the story, or maybe you overlooked a critical aspect that would make it all come together.

Whatever the reason, your first draft is…not good.

It doesn’t work, there’s something wrong, and you have no clue how to fix it. It’s possible you haven’t even finished it yet, because all your instincts are telling you “Stop writing until you figure this out!”

What’s worse, is that these flawed drafts are often well written and quite good on a scene-by- scene basis, because the writing isn’t the problem. The problem is rooted in the story itself, or how you decided to approach that story.

Tighten Your Novel with a Preposition Patrol

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

A tighter novel helps keeps readers engaged in the story.

When I first started writing, my novels were long. Like, seriously long. This isn’t unusual for a new writer, and like countless ones before me, I set out to learn how to trim some of those excess words from my manuscript.

One of the things I discovered was the, “words you don’t always need” advice. On that list was “cut prepositions.”

I’d learned enough about writing at that point to know you shouldn’t heed advice without understanding the reasoning behind it, so I sat down and studied why prepositions and prepositional phrases were so awful.

What I found was—they aren’t.

Move Along: Fixing Pacing Problems

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy 

A badly paced novel can ruin an otherwise strong story.

Pacing problems fall into two categories: too slow or too fast. While this makes it easy to diagnose the trouble, it takes a bit more to solve the actual problem. Too slow can be an editing issue, a stakes issue, or even a structure issue. Too fast can be a plotting problem, a characterization problem, or yes, a structure problem.

If your pacing isn’t where you want it to be, first identify what the problem is.

Is your pacing too slow? 

While any number of things can contribute to a slow pace, "too much of something" is usually the culprit. Maybe it has too many long sentences, or it's heavy exposition, or characters give too many speeches. A reader has to slug through "a lot of something" to get to the actual story.

Dealing with Multiple Drafts During Revisions

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

During a revision, trying to piece together all the best parts of your novel and still make the story feel cohesive can be a challenge.

Some novels are really hard to revise. The story goes through multiple drafts and there are strong scenes in each one—but no one draft that works on its own. The only way to save the story and craft the novel you know you have in there somewhere, is to pick the best scenes and smoosh it all together.

Which can be good, or lead to a Frankendraft. 

Don't fret though—you can turn all those drafts into a novel worth reading. It just takes a little more work and a lot more focus.

When dealing with multiple drafts of a novel, the first step is to clarify what you have that works, and what you have that doesn't.

Make a list of your scenes allows you to identify which pieces contribute to your core conflict and which don't. Note the critical details in all the scenes you plan to use and see how they flow together. Maybe even craft a one-line summary of each scene that describes the plot movement so you can see how they connect to the overall story arcs.

5 Ways to Revive a Manuscript That Doesn't Work

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Difficult manuscripts often need tough love and hard choices to make them work.

Last year, I had three manuscripts for novels that didn't work. They were all stories and concepts I loved, but the drafts got less-than-stellar feedback. But I wasn't willing to give up on those stories, because I believed in them, even while they tried to kill me and my muse.

Some of them have been waiting years for me to figure out how to fix them. It took me a while, but I have a good feeling about all three of them now.

Idea #1 I threw out and started over from scratch. I even changed my POV from first to third person. The story stayed the same, but I re-addressed how I told that story.

I completed it a few months ago, and it just needs one last final critique pass. I'm delighted to report that the feedback from my beta readers is now stellar. The last time I had such overwhelmingly positive comments was when my betas were reading my debut novel, The Shifter. I'm taking this as a very good sign.

After the First Draft: Revising Your Plot

By Becca Puglisi, @beccapuglisi

Part of The How They Do It Series

JH: A solid story structure makes revising a novel a lot easier. Becca Puglisi discusses the three-act structure and offers a handy plot checklist to work with. 

Becca Puglisi is an international speaker, writing coach, and bestselling author of The Emotion Thesaurus and other resources for writers. Her books have sold over 650,000 copies and are available in multiple languages, are sourced by US universities, and are used by novelists, screenwriters, editors, and psychologists around the world. She is passionate about learning and sharing her knowledge with others through her Writers Helping Writers blog and via One Stop For Writers—a powerhouse online library created to help writers elevate their storytelling.

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Take it away Becca...

5 Reasons You’re Struggling with Your Revision (And How to Fix Them)

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Revising a novel is a lot of work, but if every word is a struggle, there might be a problem you’re missing.

In theory, novel revisions should be easy. You’ve already written the story, you know where it goes and how it all unfolds, and now it’s just a matter of making the novel better.

In practice, it takes work. The first draft is more brain dump than workable manuscript, and there are always details to work out, characters to develop, and plot holes to fill.

Revisions are a part of writing, and as much as we wish they'd go smoothly, they don't always work out like we planned.

Some manuscripts fight us more than usual and nothing we do makes them into the glorious novels we know they could be. When we run into such a troublesome beast, it helps to step back and figure out the problem before we make a mess of our stories.

Is This Right? A Commonly Misused Words Quiz

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

 
Take this quick quiz to see if you know how to use these five commonly misused words.

Being a writer is all about using the right word for the job, but there are some words that trip up just about everyone. Words such as farther or further, lay or lie, and the always troublesome affect or effect. I can’t tell you how often I’ve puzzled over that last one, since it’s particularly tricky.

It doesn't help that these words are frequently used incorrectly in the real world, either. We get so used to seeing the wrong usage that we don't even noticed it when we goof up.

Take this quiz and see how well you know your commonly misused words:

Revision Tips for Pantsers: 3 Steps to a Full Rewrite

By Orly Konig, @OrlyKonig

Part of The How They Do It Series

JH: Having to revise on a tight deadline can give any writer nightmares, but sometimes we have a lot to do in little time. Orly Konig shares tips on how she managed a full rewrite in just five weeks—as a pantser. 

Orly Konig is an escapee from the corporate world. Now she spends her days chatting up imaginary friends, drinking too much coffee, and negotiating writing space around her cats. She is the founding president of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association and a member of the Tall Poppy Writers. She’s a book coach and author of The Distance Home and Carousel Beach.

Website | Facebook | Pinterest | Instagram | BookBub | Goodreads

Take it away Orly…

6 Steps to Fast and Easy Revision

By Laurence MacNaughton, @LMacNaughton

Part of The How They Do It Series

JH: The first draft is only the first step of a novel, and the revision is where the fun (and work) really begins. Laurence MacNaughton shares an easy plan for revising your novel.

Some writers love to revise their work. At least I assume so. I've never met any. That's why I try so hard to make the entire revision process as painless and quick as possible. Let's face it, the process of revising an entire novel can seem impossibly daunting. And while it is a lot of work, it's not impossible.

Here's how to break it down into manageable chunks so you can get your revisions done faster and easier than ever before.

1. Before you start changing anything, decide which changes you're going to make.

Don't just dive in and start making changes one by one, or you could end up getting lost in the details. Instead, take a step back and evaluate the feedback you've received so far.

5 Places in Your Novel That Probably Aren’t Terrible Enough

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

With so much at stake, the smart writer takes a closer look at their stakes before they send that manuscript out.

Just a quick heads up that I’m guest posting over at Writers in the Storm today, talking about a simple change you can make to improve your writing success this year. Pop on over and say hello. 

I know this is a touchy subject for some writers, but…I love revisions.

First drafts are also fun, but it isn’t until I’ve been through the story once that I see where I can dig in and make it worse.

Yep, you heard me. Worse.

As in, raise the stakes and be as evil to my characters as I can. Because high stakes and personal consequences keep tensions cranked up and the pace chugging along, and that keeps readers glued to the page. 

First drafts are all about getting the story down on paper, and we frequently don’t know everything about that story yet. For a rare few, one draft is all they need, but for most of us, several drafts (at least) are required to fully understand the full potential of the conflict. 

5 Ways to Fix a Stalled Scene in Your Novel

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

It’s a terrible feeling when the scene you’re working on grinds to a halt—and you have no idea how to get it moving again.

Imagine it—you’re in the middle of a writing session, your fingers are dancing over the keyboard, and suddenly…

They stop.

The words, your fingers, your understanding of what comes next in your novel.

Your scene has stalled and you don’t know why, and what’s worse, you have no idea what to do to fix it.

We’ve all been there, and it doesn’t matter if you’re a brand-new writer working on your first story or a professional author with fifty published novels. Sometimes, scenes just stall. Ideas poof out of your head and leave you hanging. Your characters stop talking to you, and the last thing they said was so out of the blue that you can’t fathom what they meant by it or what they plan to do.

Taylor Swift’s Lyrical Storytelling Provides a Perfect Revision Checklist

By Sarah Skilton, @Sarah_Skilton

Part of the How They Do It Series

JH: Great writing advice can come from the unlikeliest of places--including song lyrics. Sarah Skilton shares how studying Taylor Swift lyrics can teach a writer a lot about good writing. 

Like Taylor Swift, Sarah Skilton is a genre-hopper! That is where all similarities end! Sarah is the author of two critically acclaimed young adult novels, Bruised and High & Dry, and was a 2018 Edgar awards judge. For adults, she's written a murder mystery, Club Deception, set in a fictional underground magic club; and a romantic comedy, Fame Adjacent, about a former child star on a mission to confront her famous castmates at a 25th reunion show. Writing with Sarvenaz Tash, she is the co-author of Ghosting: A Love Story, which was published in seven countries and six different languages, and which Kirkus called, "An energetic romance that would make Nora Ephron proud."

Sarah’s first novella, “Mind Games,” will appear in the 2021 rom-com anthology Summer in the City, alongside authors Lori Wilde and Priscilla Oliveras. There’s nothing like summer in Manhattan. The days are long and the nights are even longer. But when the lights go out on the city, fireworks explode...! Pre-order Summer in the City.

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Take it away Sarah…