What Did You Learn from Revising Your First Novel?

[Storyteller5]

:e2BIC: I'm midway through draft 2 of my first novel. I'm surprised at the amount I've cut already; most of it was cut while getting rid of weak words.

Whether you learned on draft 2 or draft 8, what did you learn revising your first? :e2sling:

[johnzakour]

I learned I don't like revising... I also learned you can revise forever but sooner or later you have to let the book go. For the "let go" date is usually the day it's due at the publisher.

[ChaosTitan]

I learned that some books are meant to stay in the trunk. I can tweak and arrange and rearrange forever, but some stories are just fatally flawed in some way and need to be laid to rest.

[Jordygirl]

I'm not at this point yet, but I'm definitely interested in hearing what others have to say. And hoping I won't have to cut much seeing as my novel is already short.

[LimeyDawg]

Tomorrow, I begin the last chapter of my first wip, so I'm not quite there yet. What I have learned, however, is to never reread while you are in the process of writing because you'll get bogged down in editing. I should have been done a month ago.

[Southern_girl29]

I didn't do a whole lot of editing to my first, because I realized I hate editing my own work. So, it's trunked for the time being.

However, I've learned a whole lot from editing my second.

1. I still hate editing.
2. Info dumps are a very good thing in a first draft, because it helps you to get to know the characters. It's a bad thing in a second draft and needs to be cut.
3. I can write pretty good dialogue.
4. You should get everything down on paper before making any changes. It's a whole lot easier to fix something that is wrong than it is to quit writing, decide where you want to go and start back again. For me, I would probably not start back again.

[JoNightshade]

I didn't really do a "second draft," per se. This was how it went with my dearest number one:

1. Write 20% of novel.
2. Scrap and start over. Write 50% of novel.
3. Scrap and start over. Write 80% of novel.
4. Chuck certain parts and write over. Write 100% of novel.
5. Take out once a year and do a read-through. Edit for awkward phrases and other little mistakes.
6. Sigh and put away in trunk again, dreaming of the day when I am famous enough to make this quirky thing commerically viable.

[lfraser]

I didn't really do a "second draft," per se. This was how it went with my dearest number one:

1. Write 20% of novel.
2. Scrap and start over. Write 50% of novel.
3. Scrap and start over. Write 80% of novel.
4. Chuck certain parts and write over. Write 100% of novel.
5. Take out once a year and do a read-through. Edit for awkward phrases and other little mistakes.
6. Sigh and put away in trunk again, dreaming of the day when I am famous enough to make this quirky thing commerically viable.

I got to your #2 and forbade myself to do #3. Of course I'm nowhere near done yet, but what I've learned from revising my WIP is that it's something you really, really shouldn't do while you're still writing the first draft.:tongue

[Michael Dracon]

I learned that my goals were too weak. I also learned that I had too many stereotypes in my first draft.

[jmindigo]

I learned that I have trouble finishing things, and that I dislike editing in general. Also, three years ago, my capitalization was atrocious.

[Stijn Hommes]

I haven't finished my novel yet, but I already learned that it takes me 6 months to edit a short story. I'd hate to think how long editing something 2-3 times as long would take...

[Linda Adams]

This was also asked a while back on Share Your Work. This was mine, plus you'll find all the other responses, too.

http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1183068#post1183068

[Novelist in Paradise]

"If writing is hell, then re-writing is sheer hell."-- Somebody I Can't Remember.

For me, that's not true. Revision is a pleasure compared to the the first draft, which is stumbling around a maze in the dark at speed enough to hurt.

[Andre_Laurent]

I didn't bother revising the first two. They were just to see if I could do it. I never planned to try to publish either of them. The third one, I learned that polishing is a hell of a lot harder than just puking out the story. ;)

[Prawn]

I learned that all the women in my book were weak victims. Oops! I went back in and added three strong women to balance out the men.

[ccarver30]

I absolutely hate revising/editing. Especially when you can't fix what is wrong without changing the entire story.

[onetiredmama]

I just started revising my first finished novel and I was surprised how much I enjoy editing out weak words and scenes and seeing how much stronger the piece became. It was like finding the muscle of the story.

But I was also surprised that the more I read it, the less I'm certain it's a good story because I've read it so many times. I guess this is why so many people suggest letting it rest for a few months. (Which just seems weird because it's been part of my life for 6 months now.)

[dub]

I learned that what I thought was good writing, was considered unnecessary prose - professional editor read first chapter and sent it back with a note, "Use this idea and rewrite from scratch.."

[CaroGirl]

I learned that my first drafts have too much tell, so I spend a lot of revising time turning tell scenes into show scenes, with more dialogue. And I build in plot holes that I have to resolve on revision.

[MidnightMuse]

Wow, that was a while ago . . . but I learned my grammar and punctuation weren't as good as I thought they were. Improved that right away.

And I learned I can, in fact, write.

[Stew21]

I learned that I don't know where to start stories. I took off the first two chapters.
I learned that I have too many characters. I took out two characters and attributed the their dialogue and influences into one.
I learned that I write lean on the first draft and have to add chapters and scenes to bridge gaps.
I learned that 2 drafts isn't enough. with all of that added writing, I have to read the whole thing and edit it again.

[scarletpeaches]

I learned I wasn't the bastard love child of Jane Austen and Charles Dickens after all.

Too many commas, head jumping, dialogue tags, personal pronouns, run-on sentences, telling-not-showing...

And a novel that deserved to be trunked.

The one I'm sending to agents just now is a lot better. A thousand times better. Even if it's never published I can still see the improvement in my writing over the past few years.

[engmajor2005]

That it sucked.

[Susan Breen]

I found it very helpful to imagine someone actually reading my novel. Then I would try to imagine what this person might find interesting. It forced me to focus more on the story. Because I teach, I am very conscious of when people get bored because they yawn a lot and look at their watch. That's taught me a lot about pacing. So I tried to put all that together, somehow.

[Lyra Jean]

I'm still trying to finish a rough draft. :)

[Cathy C]

I learned two things:

1) Dialogue tags are the enemy and should be eliminated whenever possible.

2) Serial commas are like liver. Editors either like them or loathe them. I learned to find out which one my editor-of-the-moment was and act accordingly when writing. :D

[Harper K]

I learned that I needed to write 15 first drafts of other novels before I wrote a draft that was worth revising. That's the one that I'm working on now.

And then I learned that it only took one good, close reading from a more experienced writer for me to recognize where I'd been overwriting (hint: everywhere).

I learned that my main character needed to sit and think less and DO a lot more.

I learned that 2000 words is reasonable for an evening's work on a first draft, but is a full day's work on a 2nd or 3rd draft. At least, it is for me.

I learned that I'm useless without deadlines. Deadlines imposed on me by my husband have helped me come as far as I have. Now I have to finish draft 3 of my novel by June 28 -- and if I don't, I'm taking Husband to dinner at the fanciest steakhouse in town (and I'm a vegetarian).

[Dave.C.Robinson]

Who I could trust as betas.

[AndreaGS]

I learned that simply writing a lot of words really does help make you a better writer! I'm revising my first chapters, which I wrote two years ago, and they are horrible. My later chapters read much more smoothly, are less full of cliches and plot holes, and are more exciting.

I also learned that it's ok to write crap your first go-around, because it's easier to fix crap than it is to write a finished rough draft of perfect prose.

[sunna]

I learned that head-jumping in mid-scene (worse still, in mid-sentence ::cringe::) only seems like a good idea while I'm writing it. And that I apparently have an unacknowledged obsession with semicolons.

Also I really love the word "astonished", and my characters blink a lot more than normal people probably should.

[justpat]

I learned not to sweat anything while writing the first draft. The import thing is to get it down on paper. Not until the second draft do I worry about smoothing out the writing, fixing dialog, all that stuff. This was a hard lesson to learn, and it kept me from actually finishing a first draft. But when I finally did and started the editing, it all became clear and has become a big help ever since.

By the way, one of the keys to just getting through the first draft without re-writing is (or at least was a problem for me) was offering partial reads to friends and family. I always had to go back and rewrite those parts so it was ready for them. But that meant I wasted a lot of time trying to get it perfect, when it should have waited.

[jhtatroe]

I'm still working on my edit, but I've learned that editing is a lot harder than writing.

I've learned that themes creep their way unbidden into a first draft and don't get their due until the second time through.

I've learned that characters really are just words on paper and don't bleed when you write them out.

[bylinebree]

I learned that I am really, really slow at writing novels...just like I suspected.

Still don't know if the first novel was for practice or is good enough for publication! (since I'm still querying it...when does one stop that?!)

[Scrawler]

What did I learn? How to write.

[Axeminister]

This is a cool topic for me as this is exactly where I am right now.

I am learning that if I liked writing, I love editing. (And I apparently love italics too.)
There is nothing quite like spending my hours in front of the keyboard watching the story I already like get better. I just keep chipping away.

Of course it helps that I had a professional critique the first draft, so that advice has been invaluable as I remove excess, merge characters, and change major flaws. (Which of course I didn't see as flaws until they were put under a very bright light.)

So, anyway, thx for the fun topic.

Axe

[OverTheHills&FarAway]

I'm learning that things are connected:


that thing you mentioned off-handedly back in chapter three (and only mentioned because the character had to be holding something, and it to fit into the sentence it had to start with a hard "g" sound and thus became a "gun") becomes the key to solving all the plot holes you thought you had but really don't, because it turned out he was holding a gun.
that writing is an art, and like many forms of art (drawing, sculpture) you don't slowly, inch-by-inch, produce a finished piece. You start with a loose sketch, or a big lump of marble, that you have to build on, chip away, add detail to or remove big chunks that just don't fit. You do it again and again and again. And for most of the time, it doesn't look like a bowl of fruit or anatomically-correct representation of David. It looks like the idea of it. You just have to continue putting that idea into form and editing and editing and editing until it looks like something. Maybe not David. Maybe it turns out to be Homer Simpson. But whatever it becomes, it doesn't happen all at once.
And, as with painting, sometimes, to get something black, you first have to paint it blue. To get something green, you first have to paint it red. That scene can be fixed later, you can change the time of year later, everything that's wrong can be fixed later. That stereotypical character may only be a place-holder, now, but later--you have the groundwork for some great characterization. Just be patient.Patience. That's what I'm learning, now.

[Spiny Norman]

You should leave it the hell alone for at least a month. I leapt into revising while still in love with the damn thing, so, of course....

Yeah, wasted a few months of my life but learned a lot.

[AJ Clare]

I learned that attempting overlapping narratives under the influence of alcohol is an even worse idea than it sounds.

[deathwizard]

I learned that no matter how many times I revised it, I could still find something else. Damn annoying ...

[Tia Nevitt]

:e2BIC: Whether you learned on draft 2 or draft 8, what did you learn revising your first? :e2sling:

I learned what was plot and what was not. And most of what I wrote were cool scenes, not plot. I learned not to include every character you want to include. Only include the characters that are necessary to advance the plot.

I learned a lot from the second novel too. I learned how to build a plot. I learned to figure out which scenes advanced the plots, and which scenes had to go -- even if I loved them.

And I am learning a lot from my third novel as I write it. Mostly, these lessons have to do with plot as well, but I'm still learning these lessons.

Tia

[Hummingbird]

I learned how to cut the amount of characters, get more into the characters' head, and have a little more fun with my writing while still having it readable.

Also, it was so hard writing the first draft because I hated my style for some reason. While I was revising my first novel I realized that my style was boring me to death. That is the biggest thing I learned. Thankfully, I'm having a lot more fun now. :)

[Storyteller5]

I learned that no matter how many times I revised it, I could still find something else. Damn annoying ...

I read a good statement on that somewhere else on this board: writers don't finish, they abandon. ;)

[Sean D. Schaffer]

:e2BIC: I'm midway through draft 2 of my first novel. I'm surprised at the amount I've cut already; most of it was cut while getting rid of weak words.

Whether you learned on draft 2 or draft 8, what did you learn revising your first? :e2sling:


I learned I will never get my work perfect. My first novel, which took me 17 years to complete, is still on my tweaking list. I plan on writing my (heck, I don't know how many drafts I've done on this since 1986!) draft of the piece in the next few months, just after I finish my present WIP.

But like I said above, I will never work any piece I ever do to complete perfection. It will never happen, because I'm an imperfect human being.

The other thing I've learned is that I need to give up on certain works, including the one I just mentioned! I don't know what keeps me working on that manuscript, but it's not good for me. I really should move on.

[RVwriter]

I learned that even though I'm a SOTP writer, I still need to know where I'm going, and a basic idea of how many scenes I need to complete the entire thing.

I wrote my first novel, without a clue! Of anything! Period! It was horrid.

Now I'm working on my 2nd and 3rd, and actually have publishers already interested in them - because I planned.

[Scrawler]

I learned that writing it was easy. Revising and editing took more skill.

[Anne Lyle]

I've written (or started) several novels, but this is the first one I've attempted to revise, so in that sense I'm revising my first novel.

What I've learnt is that it's a lot harder than I anticipated. Line-editing is easy - I can do that in my sleep. Turning a very rough draft into a coherent, well-paced narrative, on the other hand... Herakles had it easy with those Augean stables :)

[maestrowork]

The biggest things I learned was:

-- you CAN kill your darlings. I cut about 15000 from the ms.

-- there's no such thing as "perfect." I stopped being such a perfectionist when I wrote

-- depended too much on cliches as placeholders. It's good to go back and rewrite those passages.

-- I could finish something like that if I set my mind to it

[alisarish]

In revisions, I try to detect technical errors more than the grammatical slips because syntax errors will be taken care of by copyeditor, but he / she may not catch basic mistakes which could result in a flawed edited copy, and there is always a possibility that the error will eventually be detected by readers. That is highly undesirable.

[Anne Lyle]

In revisions, I try to detect technical errors more than the grammatical slips because syntax errors will be taken care of by copyeditor

I wouldn't bank on it. Too many errors and your manuscript won't get past the first reader. For every genius writer whose work is taken on, warts and all, because the agent/publisher loves its other aspects, there's a gazillion others who get rejected. Sorry if that sounds cynical and pessimistic, but you can't afford to submit anything but your very best...

[Michael Dracon]

-- there's no such thing as "perfect." I stopped being such a perfectionist when I wrote


I'm also, slowly, learning not to be a perfectionist. And it's a damned hard thing to do...:e2writer:

[deathwizard]

I read a good statement on that somewhere else on this board: writers don't finish, they abandon. ;)

I like that.

[deathwizard]

I'm also, slowly, learning not to be a perfectionist. And it's a damned hard thing to do...:e2writer:

I agree. The worst thing is what seems perfect when you read it on Monday seems full of errors when you re-read it on Friday. So if you ever revise something to the point of perfection, it's really just an illusion that you can't quite trust. That said, the reader is seeing it for the first time without preconceptions, and therefore is more forgiving. At least, I hope so.

[Angelinity]

revising = rewriting. my third draft of the novel is so different from the first, it really is a different novel altogether.

i learned that i was rushing when i wrote the first draft. i was trying to finish it. will never-ever make that mistake again, rather write an outline and then take my time on the first draft.

rewriting is harder than writing.

[czjaba]

I'm still editing my first novel, but it's my 5th edit. After the first version, the word count was 75,000. Then I realized the beginning sucked, so I cut the first 3 chapters out completely and started closer to the action. I also realized that I was head hopping everywhere and couldn't for the life of me pick a tense and stick with it. After I took out almost all the dialogue tags, I ended with almost 79,000 words in the 3rd edit. During the 4th edit, I found another entirely new story line to flesh out more and got my tenses straight.
In the meantime, I wrote another book and have a long synopsis laid out with the first 5 chapters written for a 3rd. With these 2, I picked a tense from the beginning and still went back and cut about the first 3 chapter to start the story at the action. Then I decided that the finished book might sound better in 3rd person rather that 1st.
So, what did I learn? That every book is different with a different set of flaws. Now, I just try to get the story on paper and worry about fixing it later. I have also learned not to worry about word count because it will change anyway.

[Lindo]

Revise?????????

[Azure Skye]

I learned that no matter how many times I revised it, I could still find something else. Damn annoying ...

LOL

I learned that too. *sigh*

[Gigi Sahi]

I learned that I had two characters named Christopher; and I used the number 5 waaay too much. Everything happened at 5 o'clock, 5 minutes later, 5 years earlier, 5 weeks ago, 5 siblings... There was even a bit in there, now on the cutting room floor, where one of the characters went to a fortune teller and the room was decorated with wallpaper that had pentagrams. The beauty of the first draft? No one will ever know of my obsession with the number 5. LOL!

[Vomaxx]

[quote=] what did you learn revising your first? [quote]

Humility.

[Inky]

I learned that I have a love/hate relationship with editing. I hate getting all the bloody grammar rules correct. I hate that my imagination explodes with allllll kinds of new avenues different parts of the story can take to make it even better/deeper/passionate/complex when doing a 'read through'.

But I love that this is my fulltime job, so I shut up, listen to my characters arguing their points of why/how a scene can be so much more fulfilling for the reader....and type.

[pickman]

I learnt that structure is more important than I gave it credit for - that I should plan where the novel is going before I sit down to write it. I don't have to adhere rigidly to it, but at least it keeps me from being stuck mid-chapter.

I learnt to think of the ending as well as the beginning before I start writing.

I also learnt the real importance of character development, and allowing more time during the planning stages to develop characters. The very nature of the character would likely have a bearing on the plot that I personally didn't intend.

[aadams73]

What did I learn? That the first one wasn't publishable :D

[Chumplet]

I learned to replace navel gazing with action and dialogue.

[ClaudiaGray]

That I can always pick up the pacing.

That after I think I've removed every unnecessary word or phrase, I need to go back through and remove all the unnecessary crap that's still in there.

That there will always be something so ridiculously stupid in there that I cannot believe I wrote it, but that's okay, as long as I take it out now.

That it can be done!

[DamaNegra]

I learned that when I'm writing I really don't put a lot of attention to detail and description. I also learned that writing a crappy first draft with good story is easier to revise than a good first draft with a crappy story, which is why I'm concentrating more on the story than on the form right now. Details and description can be easily corrected, but the story takes much more work.

[Axeminister]

I'm midway through draft 2 of my first novel. I'm surprised at the amount I've cut already; most of it was cut while getting rid of weak words.


Most of it was cut while removing weak words.

You mean like that? :) J/K

Axe