Revising is one of my favorite parts of writing, second only to when the words flow easily while drafting.
I’m nearly done writing the first draft of my latest novel, so naturally, my brain is already thinking about the revision process.
I spent fifteen months writing my first novel, and then another three years revising it.
So with all that revision experience under my belt, I’m ready to share an overview of my process with you!
If you aren’t reworking a novel, you can still take away some key revision tips from this post. Story is universal, after all.
And how you approach rewriting your work can sometimes be more about mindset than anything else.
First, Let Your Draft Rest
When I finish a draft of anything, whether it’s a novel or short story or an essay, I’ll set it aside for a period of time before I make any major changes to it.
While it’s “resting,” if you will, I might start thinking about the major areas I want to focus on in revision. But mostly I’m just thinking in this phase. I’m not doing anything with the draft itself just yet.
Letting a piece rest for a while before you revise it has major benefits for your mindset.
A little bit of distance can make a piece that once felt uber-personal feel a little less precious. And if you have some emotional distance from your work, it’s easier to alter what’s on the page.
There’s no set amount of time you should be away from your draft, but I like to put it away for at least a couple of weeks, if not longer, and work on something else in the meantime!
Start By Reading It In Full Just To Read It
Don’t worry about making changes on your first pass.
The first time you read your draft in full, your only concern should be reading to reacquaint yourself with the story.
You might want to keep a notebook with you to jot down little things you don’t want to forget, but don’t go in with a red pen on your first read-through and mark up every single line.
Read your piece once in its entirety so you know the overall pace, tone, and arc of the story. Let your brain focus on the larger-scale issues of story shape and feel at this point.
Once you’ve read it entirely, which I recommend doing in as few sittings as possible, you’ll have a good idea what the story feels like.
Did it move too fast? Too slow? Were there gaping plot holes? Does the arc feel messy? Were there elements clearly missing? Did the characters feel wooden? Try to establish your general feel of the piece as a whole after doing your first read-through.
Then…
Make A Plan
The biggest mistake I made when revising my first novel was going in without a plan.
I made line edits in sections that I eventually cut completely (waste of time!) and rearranged chapters without first addressing the overall story arc.
I learned a lot in the years I spent revising, but having a plan is the best tip I can give you. You don’t have to spend hours pre-planning how you’ll revise your book, but you should at least know what your focus will be.
Will you work on the story itself first? Maybe you need to read a book like The Plot Whisperer by Martha Alderson to help tighten up your story arc.
Do you need to focus on character development? Maybe you should work on writing exercises to help you get deeper into your characters and their motivations.
Maybe you know that a large chunk of the story isn’t right, so you start with cutting and rewriting.
Whatever you decide, make a plan and try to focus on higher-order issues first.
Sure, it can be tempting to tinker with sentences here and there, but that’s not going to help improve the story itself.
Save line edits for a later draft, when you’re nearly done and you know the sentences you’re editing are going to stay in the story.
Revise!
Once you know what your focus will be in your first round of revision, read the story again and mark all the spots that connect to the issue at hand.
For example, if you begin by examining the energetic markers in your story (this concept is from Alderson’s book — it’s worth reading!), make notes and edits to the text in direct relation to the major energetic markers.
I like to do these early revisions with the story printed out on paper. It’s thrilling to hold your novel in your hands for the first time, even if it’s still just a messy first draft!
There’s just something about holding a physical copy of your story that’s so different from seeing it on a screen.
You can print longer works out at places like Staples and have them bind it if you want. The first time I printed out a novel to revise, I didn’t have them bind it. Instead, I used binder clips to hold each chapter together.
You don’t HAVE to print your story out, though. You can just as easily revise and make comments/edits in Word or even Google Drive. Whatever will help you stay the most organized and clear.
Once you’ve done a full pass of your novel with one key focus area in mind, you can start making the changes you noted or you can move on to the next key focus area.
There are so many ways to revise, and I think each writer must figure out which method will work the best for their brain and their story. Don’t be afraid to experiment a bit and make mistakes. That’s the only way I figured out the revision style I prefer.
Prepare Yourself For Many Rounds Of Revision
I don’t know anyone who can produce a perfect draft on the first or even second attempt. It will likely take many passes before your story starts to feel polished and ready for readers.
And that’s ok!
There’s no reason to rush the revision process if you don’t have to. It takes however long it takes to get the story right. Use that as a mantra if you ever start to feel impatient and frustrated that you’re not done yet.
If you maintain a mindset rooted in curiosity and open-mindedness, you’ll find the revision process much more enjoyable. Look at every pass as a chance to learn something new about your writing, yourself, and the story.
Try to see revision as an exciting experience you get to have with your craft.
It’s where you take this messy and misshapen story and smooth it out so it’s beautiful and more reflective of what you initially saw in your mind.
Cultivate a sense of curiosity (what would happen if I wrote X?) and a sense of openness (it might be interesting to do X instead of Y) with your revision process.
Try not to see it as a drudge, but rather a chance to make the story better and better.
And truly, don’t despair if revision takes you many, many rounds to get right. Each pass gets you closer to the finished product!
Next Step: Beta Readers
Beta readers are a whole separate topic for another blog post, but I’ll mention it here since it’s part of my revision process.
Real talk: the longer I spend writing and revising a piece, the less clearly I can see it for what it is.
Basically, I usually get to a point in my process where I can no longer tell if I’m making the story better or if it’s even any good. It’s almost like wearing blinders. Is this working? Am I destroying this or making it stronger? Who even am I? What’s the point of life?
I’m sort of kidding. But not really! Because these are all things I’ve thought or even said to my writing group and beta readers.
So when you hit a point where you’ve done as much work on a draft as you can and you need the insight of other people, it’s time to think about beta readers.
Beta readers are valuable because they can point out issues you never considered before, ask questions that make you dig deeper into your story, and maybe even give you validation that you’re moving in the right direction.
That alone makes the revision process seem less daunting. But, like I said, I’ll revisit beta readers (who they should be, how to find them, what to ask of them) in another post.
Do you love revision, or do you dread it? Tell me in the comments below!
At the end of 2018, I shared my goal of getting 100 writing rejections this year.
It’s been three full months of actively submitting pitches and stories, and I have some exciting news to share…
It’s working!
In the process of accumulating rejections, I’ve also received two acceptances. One for an essay I pitched and another for a short story!
If you’re curious about the numbers, here’s how it broke down for the short story:
33 submissions = 11 rejections, 1 acceptance with the rest still pending at the time of acceptance.
The essay was a little different. I saw a call for submissions in a Facebook group for writing jobs, sent in a pitch, and had the piece accepted and commissioned.
While I’m thrilled to share these wins with you, I think it’s more helpful if I give you some actionable tips you can implement in your own writing life.
Here’s how I planned out and started to execute my goal of getting 100 writing rejections this year, as well as my next steps as we head into the second quarter of the year.
Give Yourself Lead Time
I decided on this goal in the fall and knew I’d edit and polish a short story in preparation for submitting it starting January 1st.
That lead time was important because it gave me a few months to get organized, revise the story I wanted to publish, and come up with a game plan for myself.
There’s no harm in starting your own 100 rejections project today if you’ve just decided to do it, but I can vouch for the peace of mind that comes with having a little bit of time to get organized and prepare.
On that note…
Get Organized
To get 100 rejections, you’ll need to submit your work to a lot of places, and because of that, I recommend keeping track of each submission.
I use two systems for tracking: one is the submission site Submittable and the other is a private spreadsheet.
The reason I use two systems is that some journals, oddly enough, don’t accept submissions through Submittable. To be honest, of the 33 submissions I made from January through March, only ONE wasn’t via Submittable, so the vast majority do seem to utilize this service.
The one journal that didn’t use Submittable was Ploughshares, though, and I really wanted to submit to them even though they use their own submission platform (which, honestly, I found quite cumbersome and unintuitive).
My suggestion is to use Submittable when possible, but also track every single submission in a separate format that works for you.
Here’s a snapshot of what my spreadsheet looks like:
I knew that I wanted to tally my submissions, track the date of each one, the method for submitting, the journal name, the story title, the outcome, and of course, payment in or out.
You may have other data points that are important for you to track, but this is what has worked for me.
You’ll notice I also have links for two articles at the top. One is a VERY comprehensive list of literary journals and if they pay, and the other is a list of submission strategies. I like having those handy.
Something else to consider before you start submitting is where you’ll send your work.
I spent a few weeks researching many of the journals in that Erika Rouse list I mentioned, reading submission policies, organizing journals by open reading periods, and figuring out which ones were going to cost me a reading fee or not.
(The whole reading fee thing is a rant I’ll save for another day, but keep it in mind. READING FEES ADD UP.)
Many literary journals have open and closed reading periods, which means there are whole chunks of the year where you may not be able to submit to a journal you really like.
Planning ahead will give you a chance to see which journals are accepting submissions and when. Then you can be strategic about what you submit and how much you’re spending on fees.
One final thing to consider before you start is, on average, how many submissions you’ll need to make on a monthly basis to hit 100 rejections.
I wanted to submit my work about 8-9 times per month, if not more. Having this target number in mind made it easy to plan the time each month to send out my work and gave me a concrete goal to hit on a short-term basis, too.
Be Strategic When Submitting Your Work
For me, being strategic meant submitting my story to a mix of both higher-prestige/higher-readership journals as well as smaller ones that still had clout.
It also meant making sure I wasn’t submitting to more than a handful of journals each month that required reading fees.
After my story was accepted, I had to go through all of my pending submissions and withdraw my story from consideration.
The painful part is, you don’t get your reading fee back if your story is accepted somewhere while out on simultaneous submission, so it’s wise to not over-submit to journals with fees.
Even if they haven’t read your story yet, you still lose the money for that submission.
Work On Something Else!
This piece of advice has completely changed my writing life over the last year. And it’s such a simple and obvious one at that!
When you’re in the process of finding a home for your work, whether you’re looking for an agent, submitting a short story or poem, trying to pitch an essay, or literally anything else…
Work. On. Something. Else.
Once you’ve deemed a piece of work complete and ready for the world, send it out and turn your attention elsewhere. Continue generating new work while your current work is out there looking for a home.
Don’t be a helicopter parent. Don’t hover, don’t revise endlessly, don’t tinker with it until each punctuation mark is just right.
Let it go and work on something else. You might be astounded to realize how little attachment you feel to the piece you’re submitting if you’re working on something new.
Know When To Fold
Decide early on how much rejection you’ll allow for each piece you’re submitting. Sometimes it’s truly a numbers game, and the more times you submit, the more likely you are to be accepted.
Other times, there’s valuable feedback to gain from a high number of rejections on a single piece of work.
Decide what your personal threshold is and know when to pull a piece out of the rotation, either to revise it or retire it.
The good news is, if you’re working on new stuff, you should have more work to send out if you need to take something out of the running.
Don’t dwell on it if you have to do that – just start submitting your next piece and move on.
What I’m Doing Next
Cheers if you’re still with me on this epic blog post!
Here’s what I plan to do now that my short story has found its home:
- Finish the draft of the novel I’ve been writing for the last 9 months. I’m about 10,000 words from the end, so it should be wrapped up soon
- Start a couple of new short stories
- Revise an existing short story so it can be the next piece out on submission
- Pitch a few more essay ideas to the site that accepted my first pitch
- Celebrate when my pieces are in print!
Now, tell me… what are your writing goals for the next few months? Share in the comments! I’d love to hear what you’re working on.
Back in 2012, I was fresh off my first post-MFA writing course, an online class called Story Is A State of Mind by Sarah Selecky. (It’s now called The Story Course and I’m one of the program teachers!)
At that point, I had already tried starting up a couple of local writing groups to fill the MFA-shaped hole in my heart, but those attempts ultimately failed because the participants weren’t committed.
But when Sarah held a live chat one day on her Facebook page, the conversation turned to the topic of writing groups.
I lamented my attempts at forming a local group when she suggested I form an online group with other Story Is A State of Mind students who were looking for a writing group, too.
A few of us then hopped on an email thread, organized our first meeting online (since we were spread across two countries), and the rest is history.
It’s been six and a half years and we’re still meeting on a monthly basis to give feedback on each other’s work. We’ve read short stories, plays, novels, essays, and more. We give one another honest feedback, we share resources, and we provide a space where we can each take risks and grow.
Here’s why you should have a writing group too, or at the very least a trusted writing partner, and how to get started once you’ve decided it’s right for you.
It Gives You A Break From Writing In A Vacuum
Let’s be real: writing is a solitary act. You’re alone in your own mind when you’re thinking through a project and you’re usually alone in your space when you’re writing.
Sometimes in the midst of that isolation, it’s nice to stick your head out of the cave and be seen, to have another writer to look at your work and share their thoughts. And it’s so much easier to have this need met when you’ve got a writing group or a writing partner you trust.
And when you experience writing wins, it’s so much sweeter to share them with your writing friends.
Workshopping Will Make You A Better Writer
If you’re not 100% sold on the idea that connection with other writers is important, maybe this will convince you of the value in having a writing group.
When you’re regularly reading and critiquing other writers’ work, you naturally begin to sharpen your own writing skills.
It’s simple: when you help another writer see what’s strong or what needs improvement in their work, your own editing eye will start to see those things in your own work, too.
You’ll start to better understand your own strengths and weaknesses. You’ll write stronger first drafts and have an easier time with revision. Your craft will become more refined.
And that’s in addition to helping your groupmates become better writers, too. Isn’t that worth it?!
How To Find The Right People
When I made my first few attempts at forming a writing group, I relied on Craigslist to put out a call for local members. (This was 2010 or 2011, so it’s really all we had!)
The problem with casting such a wide net is that our group was made up of people who didn’t mesh well and, frankly, didn’t care about each other’s work.
For example, there was one woman in the group who only showed up to meetings when her story was being workshopped. She didn’t contribute anything when it wasn’t her turn. The group only lasted a couple of months, and the meetings we did have were pretty disappointing.
Finding the right writers to connect with much easier today. You can potentially join a group that already exists if they’re seeking new members, or you can start your own.
If you’re starting your own group, first decide how many members you’ll have (I would say five or six is a good maximum number, especially at first) and how you’ll meet.
Do you want to see people in person? If so, search in your area for writers who will mix well together… and who are committed to the other group members. Don’t be afraid to tell potential members that you’re only seeking people who are as serious about giving feedback to others as they are about their own writing.
You might want to put out a call for members on social media, through people you know, or even other avenues like your local library or coffee shop. Those announcement boards can be cluttered, but they’re also a good way to connect.
If you’d rather start an online group like mine, you have a few more options.
Consider fellow classmates in online classes you’ve taken (that’s how my group began!) or find writers on social media, particularly Twitter or Instagram. Use writing hashtags or connect directly with people you think will be a good fit.
You can also ask friends and family if they know anyone who writes and might want to be part of a group.
Next Steps
Before your first meeting, decide on a few key things:
- How frequently will you be meeting? Monthly? Twice a month? Every other month?
- What is your workshop lineup? Who will go first, second, third, etc?
- How do you want meetings to be organized? In our group, we start the call with a quick hello and then dive right into our workshop. We each take a turn saying what we think the story is about, what’s working for us, and one thing we would recommend for revision. This helps us stay focused, but also allows us to organically jump in with other pieces of feedback as they arise.
- How long will your meetings be? Set this expectation early on to respect everyone’s time.
- What is the word count or page limit on workshop submissions?
- How much in advance of a meeting should the writer send their piece to the group?
- How will you be meeting, if not in person? Skype? FB Messenger?
After your first meeting, reflect on what went well and what you want to improve upon next time.
The first few meetings might be awkward as you figure it all out, but don’t get discouraged. It can take some time before a writing group begins to hit its stride.
And if, over time, you realize it’s just not working out don’t feel bad about calling it quits and trying again. When you have the right group, you should feel inspired, excited, and fulfilled after your meetings.
If you come away feeling anything less than that, maybe it’s not a good fit.
But the perks of having a writing group or a writing partner are so plentiful, it’s worth looking for the right people and giving them your all when you do find them!
Do you have a writing group? Are you looking for one? Comment below and maybe you’ll find someone to connect with!
I once told someone that I had nothing to show for my novel after I’d finished three full drafts of it and queried it to literary agents.
“But… you have a novel,” she said.
She was right, of course. It wasn’t that I had nothing to show for it, I just hadn’t reached my desired end goal yet so the milestones along the way were just details.
I realize now that writing milestones, both big and small, are far more than just “details” in the writing process. They’re the very foundation on which a project is built.
What are some ways you can celebrate your own writing milestones?
Share Your Wins With Others
When something happens in my writing life, I have a few writing friends I tell before anyone else. This includes my writing group of six years as well as some writing friends who are always great cheerleaders and supporters.
Share your wins with the writers in your life who help cheer you on and lift you up.
Even if it’s just a matter of sending a text or email and sharing your news, take a few minutes to spread the good word.
If you feel weird about sharing your wins, like it’s too braggy or self-centered, check that baggage at the gate, please. Anyone who knows and loves you and your work won’t think you’re being a brat. They’ll be excited for you, as you would be for them if the roles were reversed!
Have A Ritual For Honoring Your Milestones
If you’re like me, you might complete a huge aspect of a project (like finishing a revision on a 300-page manuscript) and immediately move onto the next task.
Stop! Before you shift gears, honor the work you’ve just done with a ritual or reward for yourself.
Buy some fresh flowers that will remind you every day for the next week that you DID it. Or maybe your ritual is something more internal, like sitting in gratitude for a few minutes or journaling.
Maybe you celebrate milestones by taking a walk, buying yourself a new book, taking yourself out for coffee at your favorite place, or cracking open a bottle of something bubbly.
You get the picture. The point is that you mark the moment in one way or another.
It’s a conscious act of acknowledging the work you’ve done and how great it is that you’ve made it to this point in the process before you jump into the next phase.
Determine Which Milestones Matter Most
Anything can be a milestone, but think about which ones mean the most to you and make a list.
For example, I love to celebrate when I break certain work counts in a novel manuscript and when I complete a draft.
With short stories, I focus on finishing drafts, completing revisions, and submitting to journals. I also like to mark the occasion when a new idea for a story really sparks my interest. It feels nice to acknowledge that excitement and help fuel it while I start a new piece.
Your milestones might look the same or vastly different. Maybe you’re just starting out and for you, it’s a big deal just to sit down and write for ten minutes every day for a week. That’s amazing!
Create joy and honor around that accomplishment. You deserve it.
Don’t Be Scared To Celebrate Yourself
I often find it hard to talk about myself or my work without feeling like it sounds as though I just want attention or I think I’m sooo incredible and want everyone else to think so, too.
The thing is… if you’re a woman, you probably have felt this way at some point, too.
There’s this societal belief that it’s snobby or braggy to talk about our accomplishments. It’s not ladylike, or some bull like that.
I’ve never in my life met a man who felt shame or hesitation when talking about the great things he’s achieved. It seems men, in general, aren’t taught to be humble for the sake of others.
So don’t be scared to celebrate yourself, your work, and every milestone you hit along the way.
There’s no shame in announcing that you finally finished writing a 95,000-word manuscript, that you landed an agent, or that you found a journal to publish your short story.
Those are things that deserve at least a moment of recognition for how great they are.
Tell me your most recent writing wins below so I can celebrate them with you!
One of the things I love most about writing fiction is that there’s no formula.
There’s no A + B = C equation you can plug your story into that will tell you if it’s working or if it’s done.
For me, this is thrilling and also somewhat unsettling.
But over the years, I’ve come to rely on a system to help me figure out when a first draft is done.
Since there isn’t a handy formula for fiction writing, there’s also no definitive way to tell when you’ve hit the end.
There are, of course, things you should do with a piece before you start thinking about it being DONE done (revise, edit, workshop, revise again, put it away for a while, etc), but how do you tell when your first draft is complete and ready for the next stage?
Read Your Piece In Full Without Editing
This is a helpful tactic throughout the entire process of writing a story, but I especially love it in the beginning.
If possible, print your story out and read it start to finish without making a single note or edit.
Read it aloud if you can. Take your time and try to imagine you’re a new reader experiencing the story for the first time.
Then…
Answer These Questions
Have I left anything off the page because I wanted to save it for later?
Write by hand and jot down any ideas, images, scenes, characters, etc. that you left out of the story (on purpose or not).
The first draft is no place to skimp on story elements. Put it all in, every word and image and idea.
Trust me. ALL OF IT.
If you’re holding anything back, you’re not done with your draft. Unless something truly doesn’t work in the story, write it in. You can take it out later, but it might also prove crucial for the story when you start revising.
Was I surprised while I wrote this? Or is there still room for surprises?
This question asks you to consider the possibility that there’s more story for you to still discover. The best way I know to determine that is to think about how many times I felt surprised while writing the draft.
By “surprised” I just mean that the story showed me something in the process of writing that I hadn’t anticipated.
It could be as simple as an image or as big as a major plot point. If I felt like the story was being revealed to me while I wrote it, then I feel confident my draft is done.
If I feel like I was too much in charge while writing and I saw everything coming, I will usually stick with a draft a while longer to unearth whatever surprises are left.
As Robert Frost famously said, “No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.”
Put It Away For A While
I know it can feel hard to put a story away when you’re still in the honeymoon phase of a first draft, but this part is key.
Stop working it for a little while. I think a couple of weeks is the bare minimum, but longer if you can stand it. It’s your call, but here’s the thing:
The longer you’re away from a story, the clearer you can see it for what it is.
First drafts sometimes feel so precious while we’re writing them, we can’t really see beyond our own ego. Time away from a story helps to shift the mind so you can see your writing more objectively.
After some time away from a piece, you can read it again and tell if the draft is done or if you need to sit with it longer.
Another tip: start something new in the interim.
Or read everything you can get your hands on. Just try to shift your focus and cleanse your palette so you’ll feel less attached to your story when you go back to it.
While there’s no formula for telling if a first draft is done, these are a few tricks I use to ensure I’ve done everything possible with a story before moving onto the next stage.
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