I’ve been meaning to write this post for over a week and for various reasons haven’t gotten to it. But I’m here now, so let’s talk revision!<\/p>\n
On an earlier post, Maya pointed out:<\/p>\n
What I realized a lot is that many websites talk about how to fix your story line by line, not really how to make it better as a whole such as choosing what to cut and what to add.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The straight up, annoying answer is that if something’s not moving the story forward, cut it. \u00c2\u00a0And if there’s somewhere where the story could be moving more, add. \u00c2\u00a0This is true, but it’s also the kind of answer that doesn’t really explain anything, and I hate those kinds of answers. \u00c2\u00a0I like to know how things tick.<\/p>\n
You might also notice that the two options I listed above are two sides of the same coin. \u00c2\u00a0So basically every time you find something in your novel that isn’t moving things along or adding any oomph, whether it’s a sentence, a paragraph, a conversation, a scene, etc., you have the option to either cut it or add to it. \u00c2\u00a0It’s like a sugar cookie. \u00c2\u00a0You can either chuck that boring sucker or add frosting and sprinkles.<\/p>\n
But before I get ahead of myself, let’s talk about what “moving the story forward” actually means. \u00c2\u00a0For me, it means that your scene (I’ll use scene for sake of argument, but this applies on all levels of a manuscript) has more than one type of information going on. \u00c2\u00a0A scene can<\/em> further the plot (or subplot), deepen characterization, or enhance worldbuilding. \u00c2\u00a0But what a scene needs<\/em> to do is at least two out of the three.<\/p>\n
This is also what a sentence<\/em> needs to do as well. \u00c2\u00a0This is what agents\/editors\/authors mean by “missed opportunities.” \u00c2\u00a0Every line of your book is a chance to not just, say, describe what someone’s wearing, but to show what they’re wearing reveals about them (characterization), and it’s also a good opportunity to throw in some worldbuilding (what does what they’re wearing say about their world or their particular situation?), and possibly even plot (is that a bloody glove hanging out of her pocket?). \u00c2\u00a0These things can also be achieved by giving us a character’s opinions about themselves and the world around them.<\/p>\n
A scene as a whole can have these missed opportunities, too. \u00c2\u00a0Maybe you have a scene you really love and all it is is your two favorite characters talking at the kitchen table. \u00c2\u00a0And in all honesty it’s not really moving the story along, but you like it and you think it has potential. \u00c2\u00a0And yeah, yeah, I know–kill your darlings. \u00c2\u00a0Whatever. \u00c2\u00a0But anyway, you argue that this scene has characterization. \u00c2\u00a0This is where the main couple makes gooey love eyes at each other for twenty minutes. \u00c2\u00a0But we already knew they were in love, plus… twenty minutes? \u00c2\u00a0What is this scene really giving the audience? \u00c2\u00a0Nothing. \u00c2\u00a0It’s not deepening characterization if it’s not revealing anything new.<\/p>\n
So what do you do to save this scene? \u00c2\u00a0Change it up. \u00c2\u00a0Add conflict. \u00c2\u00a0Not necessarily between the two characters. \u00c2\u00a0It can be an outside conflict. \u00c2\u00a0But whatever it is should fulfill two of the requirements I listed. \u00c2\u00a0Maybe while they’re talking at the table, having a normal boring conversation, but one of them is surreptitiously checking their phone every five minutes for a text that will call them away to their super secret spy job that the other person knows nothing about and that they probably won’t be coming back from this time. \u00c2\u00a0It deepens characterization because now we’re watching how this person is handling the situation. \u00c2\u00a0How do they talk to their loved one while knowing they might be permanently called away at any moment and the other person has no idea? \u00c2\u00a0Do they get overly sappy? \u00c2\u00a0Do they act super normal and don’t let on at all? \u00c2\u00a0And what choice will they actually make once they get the text? \u00c2\u00a0This also deepens plot because OMG, what is this spy mission? \u00c2\u00a0Why is it so dangerous? \u00c2\u00a0What is so important that they could even think about walking away from an ooey gooey love such as this? \u00c2\u00a0It may even deepen worldbuilding, depending on what we already know and what’s going on, but it could be a great place to slip in some details. \u00c2\u00a0An army of steam-powered robotic unicorns are heading towards the president’s dirigible and are going to shoot lasers at it and bring it down!<\/p>\n
Now this scene is moving things along. \u00c2\u00a0And you could easily take it further and add in more issues that make the choice for our gooey spy lover even harder. \u00c2\u00a0You could up the ante on the plot and say if our spy doesn’t go on this mission, their love is going to die, and now it’s not much of a choice for them (though how they handle it still is), and they have to break their lover’s heart to save their life.<\/p>\n
And okay, you might be thinking, “That’s great if I have a scene I want to save, but I still don’t know what to cut!” \u00c2\u00a0An easy list of things to cut is anything you feel “has” to be in the book, but that is ultimately boring. \u00c2\u00a0Like, say, a character walking to their friend’s house. \u00c2\u00a0Or a wandering group of minstrels traveling across the countryside to get to the castle. \u00c2\u00a0You may catch yourself going, “Ugh, I hate this… but it has<\/em> to be here!”<\/p>\n
Why? \u00c2\u00a0Because the audience needs to see how the characters get from point A to point B? \u00c2\u00a0A simple line stating “The minstrels spent months traveling all across the countryside, but now were finally here at the castle to play music for the king” (or whatever it is they’re doing there) works great. \u00c2\u00a0Anything that is just there because “the audience” supposedly needs it is most likely filler. \u00c2\u00a0It’s easy to fall into the habit of showing everything your characters do, but leave it out and save room for the good stuff. \u00c2\u00a0And don’t force yourself to write something boring because you feel it “needs” to be there. \u00c2\u00a0You have my permission to skip that scene and write what you really want to write about. \u00c2\u00a0You will be happier, your characters will be more interesting, and you’ll have a better chance of drawing your audience into your story.<\/p>\n
If you get stuck, don’t agonize. \u00c2\u00a0Just try something and see if it works. \u00c2\u00a0If your equivalent of the dull kitchen table scene is someone walking from point A to point B and all the books say don’t show that, but you really like that scene and feel it’s important, but OMG, what will people think if you leave it in?!?! \u00c2\u00a0Leave it in. \u00c2\u00a0Spice it up if you need to. \u00c2\u00a0But you might not even need extra spice. \u00c2\u00a0If it’s meat and not filler, then it’s meat and not filler and there’s no reason to cut it.<\/p>\n
Following these guidelines on all levels will strengthen your book and make it less swampy and more zingy. \u00c2\u00a0And honestly, I could go on about revision for several more posts, so if there’s something I haven’t covered or you have questions, just ask!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I’ve been meaning to write this post for over a week and for various reasons haven’t gotten to it. But I’m here now, so let’s talk revision! On an earlier post, Maya pointed out: What I realized a lot is that many websites talk about how to fix your story line by line, not really […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writing"],"views":279,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chelseamcampbell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chelseamcampbell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chelseamcampbell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chelseamcampbell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chelseamcampbell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=645"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.chelseamcampbell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":652,"href":"https:\/\/www.chelseamcampbell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645\/revisions\/652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chelseamcampbell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chelseamcampbell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chelseamcampbell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}