Notes on Revision

As you may (or may not) recall from December, I've been reading Stephen King's On Writing. There are two major reasons why I'm still reading it. First, I went on a reading binge over winter break—7 books in 19 days—which was amazing, but I limited my reads mainly to fiction. Second, every time I pick up King's book and read a section, I want to grab my computer and write! Not too helpful in keeping up the reading stamina.

My latest insight from Mr. King has to do with WHEN to revise. He suggests leaving your baby on the sidelines until you've all but forgotten about it. It's the writer's version of the "old" adage, mentioned in the movie Swingers—she won't call until he's completely forgotten about her. King suggests a minimum of 6-8 weeks apart from your latest prodigal work.

I had promised myself at least a month away from my NaNo work before revising it, but over the break I cheated a little. I tried working on it one morning and I'll tell you, it was PAINFUL. The whole thing continually frustrated me. I didn't get very far, to say the least.

King also suggests working on something else in between the original write and the revising. Something that can easily fill in the time slot between draft 1 and draft 2. Something that's completely different from the original project in question. So I've been working on this new dystopian, post-apocalyptic YA mumbo-jumbo that, unfortunately, for the first time for me, has no set ending in my mind. I mean, the mental outline is coming along, developing some decent plot twists, and the basic stuff at the beginning isn't going to make or break the ending, but I'm in personal uncharted territory. And it's scary. And it's hard.

I'll push through, though. Don't worry.

But with all of this, the funny bit is that I did set aside something before NaNo, and I have all but forgotten about it. It didn't even occur to me to go back and revise it until I read this section in King's book. My first big piece (that doesn't fall into the FanFic category) is sitting on my hard drive, all but forgotten, waiting for me to come back and edit it up. I can read it as if it had been written by someone else, rip it up, and decide if I want to market it or not. I might be able to do a better job with fresher eyes.

So, to summarize:

• Monarchy's Lies (currently in search of a new title): ready for the knife.
• Demon (also in search of a new title): desperately needing some time on the sidelines.
• Underground (working title, but, knowing me, it'll probably change): causing pain and anguish; still working on the mental outline; trying my hand at chapter 4.

What's your strategy for revising? Do you wait until you can look at a piece with "stranger's eyes" before revising? Do you have any revision secrets you can share?

My Own Personal Challenges

I've been reading (among many other things at once) On Writing by Stephen King. I enjoyed reading his books when I was younger. After having read every Christopher Pike novel published to that point in my life at least three times, Stephen King was the next step, moving into the world of adult horror/suspense/thriller/what-have-you. And, honestly, even if you don't like Stephen King's style or his stories or are simply jealous, you have to admit—the man's got something.

So when a friend loaned me his writing memoir a few months ago I thought, "Okay, sure. Seems like a good idea."

Then it sat on the shelf until I reached 50K for NaNo.

I thought to myself, "What now?" as I'm sure many other NaNo's do. So I picked up King's On Writing to see what advice I could glean on how to dust off my work boots and get back into it.

The book is full of fabulous advice. Above and beyond the tips like "Read a lot. Write a lot", he suggests setting a daily goal. Don't do anything until you reach your goal. Don't give up and walk away. Write while eating your lunch if you must. Obviously great advice, and something I could stand to implement into my own life.

But the piece of advice that has resonated with me so soundly today is about description. I tend to be an under-describer in my writing, particularly in my first drafts. As I read, I thought about my NaNo creation (whatever it may be) and about the setting. What had I described well? Ne, what had I described at all? Oh, it hurts to admit that I may have let the description slide some. But now I know at least one thing to focus on when I go back for rewrites.

There are plenty of other gems in King's On Writing. This is just the one that inspired me today.

What's some great writing advice you've been given/come across?