NaNo revisions?

For those of you ready to submit 2013 NaNoWriMo novels to an agent or editor, first ask yourself if your manuscript is sufficiently polished. How polished? Well, for comparison, here's bestseller Bruce Coville with his revisions for Always October...

Submitted by Street Team member Lois Brandt

Writing and Revision Resources

Here are some great resources to help with your writing and revision process! Thanks to Laurie for always sharing her amazing resources!!

This blog post on A Totally Random Romp (by Jean Reidy) offers a quick exercise to use with your critique group or critique friends. A great tool for novel writers!

Here's a post for What Writers Need To Know About Formatting (FAQs) on Writer's Digest. This is a great resource for those new to writing or a refresher for those who need it.

On writeoncon there's a great post on the whys and hows of revision called Revising Your Way to Success. Need I say more?

ETA: Joni's pirating in here to add these don't-miss "before and after" revision views gathered by YA novelist Maggie Stiefvater.

Tricia Lawrence: Agency Revision and Resubmit (R&R) Requests

Agency R&R Requests: The Answer Key

with Tricia Lawrence, agent, Erin Murphy Literary Agency

Agents are busier than ever and working hard. The industry is watching a lot of watershed moments now. Things are changing faster than ever.

Agents are human beings (a.k.a. they can be fickle). They have to be completely passionate about what they represent. It is a subjective business.

A revision request is a GOOD thing. It means you’ve done something worth pursuing. It is not a rejection, not a closed door, but an open door, an invitation.

Agents don’t want to crush writers. That’s not what they’re there for.

It’s about more than just the book, it IS about you as a writer, YOUR passion, what’s YOUR story. Tricia’s 4-step author test:

1.       What’s YOUR story, your axiom, your lens? How do you see the world? It will come out every time you write.

2.       Do you know (specifically) where your work belongs? (Hint: “It’s for kids” isn’t good enough.)

3.       How do you interact with kids today?

4.       What do you watch, read, follow, etc. to keep in touch with your audience?

When you put the time into an R&R, it shows the agent that you are serious about this business AND that you’ll be able to eventually stand up to the revision letter from an editor.

Follow your truest passion. Robin LaFevers said it perfectly in this post on WriterUnboxed:

“The thing is, once we have reached a certain mastery of craft, craft is no longer the issue. In order to take our writing to the next level we must embrace our strange, unique, and often embarrassing selves and write about the things that really matter to us. We need to be willing to peel our own layers back until we reach that tender, raw, voiceless place—the place where our crunchiest stories come from. We need to get some skin in the game. It should cost us something emotionally to tell our stories. But many of us who come to writing do so because they were voiceless at some point in their lives, so doing that can be the most terrifying risk of all.

Just as we must dance as if no one is watching, we must write as if no one is reading.” 

What Tricia wants:

Tricia loves troubled characters, wounded narrators, kids who pretend everything is cool when they're actually dealing with really big issues, and the kinds of kids who tend to fall through the cracks. She's crazy about ghost stories and would love to see a middle-grade thriller. She's also interested in high-concept picture books.

Deborah Wiles on Understanding Revision #scbwiwwa

Reported by Brenda Winter Hansen

After Deborah Wiles fantastic keynote Saturday morning, her breakout session, Understanding Revision, was packed to standing room only. Deborah began by crowd sourcing with the question, What is revision? She encouraged us to re-examine our process every time and to pay particular attention to reading like a writer to aid in revision. Ask yourself, HOW did that work?

Deborah then took apart three "perfect" picture books (Car Wash, The Paperboy, and Owl Babies) to show how every story should work (from picture book to novel). What they showed:

-Don't be afraid to use fragments of speech
-Ignore any prohibitive things, but know what you can't ignore
-Pay attention to language; make sure it's appropriate to your age, genre, etc
-Use foreshadowing judiciously
-Let your writing infer, DON'T spell everything out
-Bring the story full circle for a satisfactory ending

Other tips:
-Before starting a project, it helps to focus on "one clear moment in time." Writing a focus sentence about that helps keep your story in check.
-Make sure every scene, chapter, and story has a beginning, middle, and end.
-Remember that every emotion has an action.
-Make dialogue work for you. Its three jobs are: characterization, providing information, and pushing the story forward. If it's not doing this, then cut it.

Novel Re-Vision Class with Lois Brandt

For our members who are stuck on revisions:

Novel Re-Vision: Editing Your Manuscript for Story

Eight Saturdays, January 8 – March 5, 2011

10:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Do you have a completed draft novel? Wondering what to do next? This Bellevue College class walks writers through the novel revision process. In-class exercises and critiques help students recognize the sections of their manuscripts that convey story and those that don’t. During the course students will compile a list of edits necessary to revise their novel. Prerequisite: a completed draft novel. Cost $195.00

Questions? Contact Lois@LoisBrandt.com.

Register at the Bellevue College Continuing Education Website

Field's End Event

Field's End's "From Dust to Diamonds: Building the Skill of Revision" event with Elizabeth Lyon, will be on Saturday, October 23, from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. For more information visit their website.

Do you see your first draft as an expression of your creativity, but revision as routine and uninspiring? Do you see your first draft as so daunting it's hard to get started? Either way, Elizabeth Lyon's seminar is a day you won't want to miss. Her tried and true techniques are practical, fun, and demonstrate that revision isn't just editing. It's the natural creative extension of the original words we put on paper. And, knowing we have an effective tool kit to help with revision, that intimidating first draft becomes more approachable as just one step in the creative process. Join us for a day of change.

Great revision example

It's usually fascinating to see before-and-after shots of published books, and even better when you can hear why the author made the changes he or she made. Check out this example from the Story Sleuths blog about the opening to Jennifer Holm's TURTLE IN PARADISE, which changed pretty drastically along the road to a final draft. Fun!