Anna Staniszewski

A while back I mentioned I was working on revising a funny MG novel. It’s a project I’ve been working on for a long time, and my agent gave me some great advice on how to make it stronger. I finally put the finishing touches on the manuscript and sent it back to her yesterday. (Yay!) Here are the main things I focused on in revision:

Simplifying the Plot

I’ve never been great at plotting. My stories often get overly complicated or unfocused. This is something I know to go back and work on in later drafts, but because this project is funny, I think the humor was masking some of the plot issues.

I had several critique partners read various drafts and, while their comments were helpful, none of them could quite pinpoint what was off about it. It was only when my agent pointed out how many different plotlines there were that I realized I needed to pare things way down.

Cutting Out Characters

One of the first things I examined were the characters. I liked them all, but did I need them all? The answer, in short, was no. I realized I could cut out a couple major characters who came later in the story by focusing more on the characters introduced from the beginning. I made these central characters have larger roles, so the focus would be more tightly on them.

Once I began to give the central characters more to do, I didn’t need as many twists and turns in the story because those characters had plenty going on already. Instead, I tried to focus more on their relationships with one another, and with the main character.

Creating an Emotional Arc

Speaking of the main character, it dawned on me that her emotional journey (unlike everything else in the story) was actually too simple. I had been thinking about the “moment of change” too literally in previous drafts. I had the character make a decision almost from page 1 and stick with it chapter after chapter. The result was that the story lacked any real emotional range.

In revisions, I tried to set up all the reasons for why the character makes this decision, but I didn’t push her over the edge until about halfway through the story. Now there’s more buildup to her decision and greater consequences as a result of it. Plus, there’s a much more fluid story arc (which is always nice).

So is the story perfect now? Um, probably not. But I feel much more confident about it. Not only is the plot a lot stronger than it was before, I think the humor comes across better because the story isn’t so convoluted. I’m sure I’ll still have to revise it some more, but I’m excited to have gotten it to where it is now.

How are you all doing with your WIPs? Are there any specific things you’ve been working on improving?