Finding My Way Out Of The Eternal Revision Round About
March 7th, 2022
5 mins 42 secs
Season 4
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About this Episode
The problem with being a writer is we can always edit and revise and change and improve things. How do we know it's time to stop?
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Finding My Way Out Of The Eternal Revision Roundabout
Did you ever get the feeling that you were NEVER going to finish your revisions?
I’m definitely feeling that way these days, as you might be able to tell from my runner-up titles for this post, including:
Another Bloody Round Of Revisions? Fighting Past A Bad Case Of The I-Don’t-Wannas Holy BLEEP, When Will My Revisions End? My novel has been written and polished for years. I queried it. I got rejected. Lots of form rejections and a couple requests that turned into nothing. So, I’ve revised and queried, and revised again.
You know I’ve talked about the editing spiral before. I’ve been here and wrestled with this time and time again.
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Every time I finish a draft, I think I’m done. (Well, every draft since the third draft. You don’t want to be too hasty.)
This is my eighth round of revisions, and seeing as how I applied for a mentor in January, it’s only fitting that I should be revising again with her help.
I’ve been working with Leona Wisoker since February. And with her help, I’m adding a lot of sensory details and working on tightening my plot. My main character can get stuck in her own head pretty easily, and — for the sake of both the characters and the readers — it’s best to have her look up once in awhile.
I feel pretty confident in my characters, my world building, and my story. I just need help to take my second-world fantasy from a light read to something that will linger in the minds of the reader.
And Leona’s help is wonderful. I’m THRILLED to be working with her. (If you’re interested, she’s currently open to clients at [email protected])
BUT.
It means I’m doing another round of revisions when all I want to do is query and pitch and dream of The Call.
I wanted my story to be ready so badly. I’ve been working on this story since 2013, with a full draft in hand for nearly five YEARS.
You always hear about how most writers first novels are practice books that deserve to be in a drawer. I’m scared that the reason I’m still working this novel is because I won’t give up, when there’s no chance for this story to succeed.
The market is too crowded. Everyone has a book these days.
Yet, then I think back to those who have read it. My beta readers enjoyed it, my critique partners cheered for the story. The worst anyone’s ever said is “it’s clear this is an early draft” when I thought I was done. Back around draft five. (You thought I’d forgotten that, didn’t you. You know who you are.)
Everytime I want to throw in the towel on this round of revisions, I read my latest chapter and find myself filled with something warm and exuberant. Something that feels a lot like pride.
If I didn’t feel that sense of improvement, of rightness, after a round of revisions on a chapter, I would stop. But this is why I write.
As long as I feel at the end of the day that what I have after the effort is better than what I had before, I’m going to keep revising. Where I can take a chapter from merely telling a story to bringing the reader along for the ride.
That’s what I want.
And I’m getting closer, every day.