This month’s topic for #InkRipples is revision. I’ll start off with a little comparison I thought of late one night.
Revisions are a bit like hidden gems.
With hidden gems, you have to uncover them,
dig them out and polish them to see their true beauty.
With a revision, you have to uncover the best way to tell the story,
dig through all the extraneous words and polish the piece until the words flow together bringing
the beauty of the words to life in the reader’s mind.
Now on to the post. I’m torn when it comes to revision. Part of me, OK, most of me is thrilled when I actually have something I feel is worth revising and the other part of me, a small part, is overwhelmed just thinking of all the changes I’ll have to make. When I write, I don’t edit as I go, so when I reach the revision stage, there is a lot to do. But the fact that I have something worth revising is cause for celebration, as far as I’m concerned. I tossed out the first draft of The Gardenia Curse and started over. It was that bad. But, it helped me focus the story more so that the second draft was actually something I could work with.
Once I started revising, the hard part was knowing when to stop. There is always more that can be done. Even after a book is published, there is always more that could have been done. How many times have you found a typo in a book? It doesn’t matter how closely the manuscript is looked over, there just always seems to be something. It’s just a part of publishing. Rereading my book now, I see things that I would change. There’s just a point when you have to call it quits though and set it aside for a period of time so you can look at it with fresh eyes or pass it off to someone else to get a new perspective or both.
This is when a writer’s group or critique group comes in handy. After getting feedback, you can come back to the manuscript with fresh eyes and revise some more. I was lucky enough at this stage to get some great ideas from my critiques that not only helped me revise, but also sparked my imagination and allowed me to add to the story. After this stage, I called on beta readers. Once they were done, you guessed it, more revising. Then finally it was time to submit. When I signed a contract, I had to agree to more revisions before publication. I was fine with that.
All in all, it was a long process, but it was worth it. I can’t wait until I get to the revision stage again!
#Inkripples is a themed meme hosted by Mary Waibel, Katie L. Carroll, and Kai Strand posting on the first Monday of every month. To participate compose your own post regarding the theme of the month, and link back to the three host blogs. Feel free to post whenever you want during the month, but be sure to include #inkripples when you promote so readers can find you. The idea is that we toss a word or idea into the inkwell and each post is a new ripple. There is no wrong interpretation. Themes and images and more information can be found here.
