When Should You Stop Revising?
Posted by annastan on March 26th, 2010. Filed under: Craft, WIP, Writing Rants.Revision has been on my mind a lot recently; not only have I been doing a lot of it in past weeks, I’ve also been talking about it in my classes. The longer I write, the more revision approaches I find that work for me. But I’m always looking for new methods that might help me along. That’s why I was excited when Joanna posted about the Shrunken Manuscript Technique. I think I’ll give this a try when I go back to my fairy tale retelling.
One thing I’ve been thinking about is when to stop revising. I have a manuscript that I’ve been working on for years. I love the idea for it, but I think when I started writing it, it was too ambitious for my writing ability at that time. I got tons of feedback and rewrote the story so many times that it was practically unrecognizable from the first draft, but it still wasn’t working. Finally, I decided to put it away for an extended vacation.
I suspect what went wrong was that I allowed the story to stray too far away from my original idea to the point where I wasn’t sure what story I was trying to tell anymore. I’d lost sight of my goal and revised the manuscript to death. I guess my advice is, stop revising when you feel like your story is getting away from you, when it’s starting to get too far away from the story you want to be telling. Ideally, you’ll stop before you ever get to this point.
I haven’t given up hope on my story, but I won’t let myself go back to it until I can figure out how to tell it the right way. This was probably a lesson I needed to learn, though. Now I’m much more cautious about making big changes; I constantly have to ask myself if they serve the larger goal of the story and if they’re getting me closer to the story I want to tell.
March 26th, 2010 at 7:15 am
I’ve never been very good at disciplined revisions. Lately, though, I’ve been itching to revise a YA Fantasy that I wrote a few years ago. I had sent it out and had some nibbles on it, but no takers for publication.
After thinking about the story in the back of my mind for some time, I have some concrete ideas on how to make the manuscript stronger. I’ve been really overwhelmed by the idea of starting the revision, though. I think the Shrunken Manuscript Technique may be just the thing I need to get me started!
Thanks for the link, Anna.
KT
March 26th, 2010 at 7:23 am
Hi Anna, Such an interesting post. I have been thinking about related questions as I work on a first draft. I think your point of knowing what the story is that you want to tell-no matter what is going on with the actual crafting of the story-is really important.
March 26th, 2010 at 7:34 am
Great suggestion, and it’s something that I’m also dealing with right now. While I’m not at the point of losing the original vision of my story, I can see how that could easily happen. I’m going to check out that link.
March 26th, 2010 at 7:49 am
Anna, this is an interesting post. I have a story that has been a struggle to revise. Even though I really believe in it and there are a lot of parts I like, something about it still isn’t working. Maybe I’ll try shrinking it!
March 26th, 2010 at 8:05 am
I saw that post too about shrunken manuscripts and I tried it. It’s very cool.
March 26th, 2010 at 8:13 am
I’ll have to try the shrunken manuscript thing! This has been on my mind too–I’m not quite there yet!
March 26th, 2010 at 8:21 am
I remember first hearing about the shrunken manuscript when I attend Darcy’s workshop at the SCBWI LA conference. I can see how it can help during the revision phase.
And I totally hear about not making big changes. Sometimes I think you should take a step back and let the manuscript sit for awhile so that you can have a new perspective.
March 26th, 2010 at 8:33 am
Great post. I struggle with this too, but so far not yet at the overly revised stage. The shrunken MS thing is interesting…going to check it out. Thanks!
March 26th, 2010 at 8:37 am
I’ll have to look up that technique. Thanks!
March 26th, 2010 at 8:39 am
Really interesting post, Anna and great advice. I’ve definitely hit that point of a manuscript that no longer matches my vision and is too off to work as my creation any longer. But I’m not sure I could have articulated that as clearly as you have here.
I’m near finishing a manuscript (just a week more, I hope!) so all this talk of revision is great prep.
March 26th, 2010 at 8:50 am
Katie, jumping into a revision can be so intimidating, especially if you’ve been away from the manuscript for a while. I hope the Shrunken Manuscript method works helps – good luck!
Thanks, Heather! Good luck with your draft. I hope things stay on track for you.
MG, I think sometimes we get so desperate to “fix” the story that we lose track of where it actually needs to go – that definitely happened to me. Good luck with your revisions; I hope they behave!
Andrea, it sounds like that manuscript is a perfect shrinking candidate! When I finally go back to that sad, shelved WIP, I might try shrinking it too.
March 26th, 2010 at 8:56 am
Terry, I’m glad it helped. Now I’m even more eager to try it!
Heather, I feel like I should start chanting “shrink! shrink!” to encourage everyone to try it.
Karen, taking time away is SO important. I keep hoping all this WIP needs is time and then I’ll finally find the right way to tell the story. *fingers crossed*
Thanks, Lydia! I’m glad I’m not the only who’s struggled with this, even though it’s not a very fun place to be. Good luck with your revisions!
You’re welcome, Angela! Let us know how shrinking works for you.
Anne, how exciting that you’re almost at the end of your manuscript! Isn’t it the best feeling? Good luck finishing and moving on to revisions!
March 26th, 2010 at 9:47 am
Fascinating post. I’ve heard people say you never stop revising. I don’t agree with that because you can undo too much that way. I do think there needs to be a passage of time between drafts so you can clearly see what needs work, and what works well. I’m not sure there is an answer because everyone writes–and revises–differently.
I have to go check out the shrunken manuscript technique…
March 26th, 2010 at 9:55 am
It’s always so comforting to hear that I’m not the only one who struggles with revisions!!
Also an interesting point about knowing when to STOP. Such a tricky process.
Yay for SHRINKING!
March 26th, 2010 at 10:36 am
There definitely comes a time when continuing to revise hurts your manuscript. I’ve gotten to the point where I can’t go any further. I know it’s not perfect but it’s the best I can do right now. I’m done revising. Time to put any newly learned skills into a new project. And just query. Thanks for the thoughtful post! One I continually think about.
March 26th, 2010 at 11:46 am
Anna,
I love the “shrinking” technique. I tend to be very visual and have always found it hard to “picture” the whole book at once. This includes the limited beta reading I’ve done. I’m looking forward to trying it out.
I developed my own spreadsheet tracking technique years ago, but I traded that in after I discovered Microsoft OneNote, which I adore for too many reasons to write about here.
Thanks both to you and Joanna for sharing this! And to Darcy Pattison for writing it!
March 26th, 2010 at 7:32 pm
I couldn’t agree more. I seem to have a good feeling when I’m reading to drop the revisions and get a new set of eyes. And when something doesn’t feel right, that’s not a good feeling at all.
March 26th, 2010 at 8:20 pm
Andrea, it is tricky to know when to stop revising. Sometimes it seems like a manuscript can never be truly “done,” but you don’t want to get to the point where you’ve revised it into oblivion!
Joanna, I think it’s safe to say that you are in very good company when it comes to revision struggles. Luckily there’s shrinking to help us!
Laura, I think that sounds reasonable. Do as much as you can and then move on to something else. I’m sure once you come back to that first manuscript, you’ll have a clearer sense of what else it might need.
John, my husband’s new laptop has OneNote, but I’ve been hesitant about trying it. You’ve encouraged me to test it out!
PJ, isn’t revising such a roller coaster? Sometimes the best thing you can do is step back and let things sit for a while.
March 28th, 2010 at 6:57 am
Oh, I’m so in the revision trenches right now. I read about the Shrunken Manuscript technique in Darcy Pattinson’s Novel Metamorphosis — I’m not at the point with revisions, but I think I’ll try it. And I’ve got to open an excel spreadsheet. I’m kind of still on line edits, but I’ve got to move on to big picture stuff soon. Thanks for sharing this Anna!