Why I Love Revising*
I loved puzzles when I was a kid. Apparently my nursery school teacher remarked to my mom that four-year-old me always did puzzles while other kids drew pictures, played with toys, and raced around the room yelling at the top of their lungs.
Really-stretching-to-make-an-analogy** time:
Revising a novel is like doing a puzzle.
Rearranging scenes or sentences so things work better, flow better, is like having a bunch of puzzle pieces jumbled up in front of you and putting them together so they fit.
When you finally figure out (or it’s pointed out to you by Best Beta Ever or Awesome Agent) that there’s a scene or character trait or storyline not quite working, it’s sort of like discovering your puzzle is missing a few pieces. Frustrating? Of course, but how happy are you when you find the missing puzzle pieces? And then once you figure out where they belong, your puzzle is really shaping up.
But, you ask, doesn’t it hurt to get rid of a character you love, a scene you love, an entire sub-plot you love in the course of revisions? Well, when you’re doing a puzzle and you find pieces of other puzzles, do you throw the extraneous pieces in the garbage? Of course not! You put them aside, because when you’re working on another puzzle, those may be the very pieces you need. Likewise, there’s no shame in a writer looking at the outtakes file from her last novel when her brain ceases to come up with material for her new novel ;)
*other writers, please don’t throw cyber tomatoes at me -- let’s all get together and throw cyber tomatoes at those freaky writers who love writing first drafts or synopses or, heaven forbid, query letters
**however, anyone who wants to throw cyber tomatoes at me because my analogy sucks should feel free to do so
Really-stretching-to-make-an-analogy** time:
Revising a novel is like doing a puzzle.
Rearranging scenes or sentences so things work better, flow better, is like having a bunch of puzzle pieces jumbled up in front of you and putting them together so they fit.
When you finally figure out (or it’s pointed out to you by Best Beta Ever or Awesome Agent) that there’s a scene or character trait or storyline not quite working, it’s sort of like discovering your puzzle is missing a few pieces. Frustrating? Of course, but how happy are you when you find the missing puzzle pieces? And then once you figure out where they belong, your puzzle is really shaping up.
But, you ask, doesn’t it hurt to get rid of a character you love, a scene you love, an entire sub-plot you love in the course of revisions? Well, when you’re doing a puzzle and you find pieces of other puzzles, do you throw the extraneous pieces in the garbage? Of course not! You put them aside, because when you’re working on another puzzle, those may be the very pieces you need. Likewise, there’s no shame in a writer looking at the outtakes file from her last novel when her brain ceases to come up with material for her new novel ;)
*other writers, please don’t throw cyber tomatoes at me -- let’s all get together and throw cyber tomatoes at those freaky writers who love writing first drafts or synopses or, heaven forbid, query letters
**however, anyone who wants to throw cyber tomatoes at me because my analogy sucks should feel free to do so