Working With Revision As A Main

WORKING WITH REVISION AS A MAIN

Last April I finished off my last two drafting projects for a while. I'd wanted to take some time to go back over older projects and rewrite as needed, but also to revise them and get them into better shape. I started with two standalones that were basically the next standalones to be released. I had a way of revising so I knew some of what I'd do, but at the same time it'd been years since I last looked at both projects and I didn't know how long it would take, or what state they'd be in.

Since then I've finished with those first two projects and started on two new ones, also revising and rewriting where needed. These are both the first in trilogies, and both, I knew, needed a lot of work, and a read through by sensitivity readers. I gave myself a whole year to work on them because I had some other revision projects due for release that would cut into my dedicated time.

All that to say, it's now been a year since I switched to mainly revising, and it's opened my eyes to things in a way I didn't see coming. I've always preferred drafting. I still do in a way, but I have to say there's something nice about getting to see, and make, older works shine. I've been able to work out what things I need to focus on pretty quickly, and because I know what happens, vaguely, but enough to work with, in the second books in each series, I can work out how to foreshadow things, and what to lean into and what to remove because it goes nowhere. 

It's been an eye-opener in that regard because I only remembered the bad parts of the drafts. I only remembered that things didn't flow, that the pacing wasn't brilliant. I only remembered that I didn't like this twist and didn't know if it paid off. I didn't remember the way the characters feel real, and I didn't remember the little bits and pieces I'd snuck into the work that ended up being a massive thing. 

It's easy enough when we don't have that distance, and time, away from our work, to think that what we're doing is rubbish, and that you'll never be able to get it into shape for publication, and if you do, people will hate it. It's easy to get caught up in the things that don't work, that sometimes, we forget the things that very much do work. 

While I have more time on these projects now because when drafting I would see a handful of chapters at a time over six months, now I'm reading through the projects at least once every month. That helps me get the bigger picture, it helps me work out what beats of plot I'm hitting and when, and it allows me to see things clearer and therefore enables me to make changes easier. The whole thing has been a learning experience and I'm really glad that I took the time to do it. While I don't think I'll be skipping over revisions again when it's time for the stories to start on the editing train, I do know that they are in a lot better shape than they were, and that's very much a win.

For those wondering, I do plan to go back to drafting next year. I have two ideas that are brewing in the back of my head, and while I will spend my time writing them, I do also want to go back to revision as a main focus again as well. I have a lot of stories that I feel like they could benefit from being looked at without too much of a deadline attached. It's working for me, and that's a great thing!

Any questions? Lemme know in the comments! 

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