I’m still struggling with the first section of The Next Novel. Putting scenes under a microscope, I realize how much I’ve left unsaid ? unimagined.
How exactly do they get into the city? By what route?
Do they need papers?
What are they wearing?
What are they seeing, experiencing, feeling?
Where will they stay the night?
How will they lock up their things?
What about the donkey! Doesn’t she need food and water?
On one level the revision process has to do with the big picture: the movement of energy from one scene to another. On another level it has to do with the little picture, the microscopic view, with bringing scenes to life through detail. Both are the work of the 3rd draft.
I often think of Ariel Gore’s summation of the writing process: lather and rinse, lather and rinse. I’m at a lather stage, but I wish it were that easy. It feels, instead, like crawling through a story, groping in the dark. It can be painstaking, and often, for me, requires quite a bit of research. It’s slow going ? but then, as I’ve said many times before, beginnings are the hardest.
Heather, your questions deserve a long answer. I'm going to answer them in a post to the blog (likely next week). The short answer: more or less 5 drafts. In the 2nd, I try to make it a clean draft, not so messy. However, that said, my process changes with every novel I write.
Sandra, how many revisions do you typically go through before you arrive at the finished product, and what does revising the second draft usually entail for you? I'm working on a historical novel of my own and I'm enjoying the revision process but could probably go on revising forever at the rate I'm going!! Thank you, and good luck with your work. I'm enjoying your blogs and finding them very helpful!
Hi Julianne! Good question. The first draft is so free, but I do enjoy editing. I think revising is harder, though. I'm likely saying that because that's what I'm doing right now.
Thank YOU, Erica.
Good luck, Sandra! It will turn out wonderfully.
Just curious–do you prefer writing the first draft or revising?
"On one level the revision process has to do with the big picture: the movement of energy from one scene to another. On another level it has to do with the little picture, the microscopic view, with bringing scenes to life through detail."
Very true. Revision is such a tiring yet rewarding process.
I'm (selfishly)excited to hear you're on a third draft of your new novel! Thanks for sharing the process with us.