In a guest post on Jane Friedman’s blog, Monica Cox says that writers shouldn’t necessarily start on page one when they start revising their first draft. “Returning to page one with red pen in hand inevitably leads to reading on the line level,” she says. “You start fiddling with individual words, phrases, and paragraphs…when you haven’t even finished your first read-through.”
While your manuscript eventually needs a line edit, this won’t help you identify structural issues, which usually hide in the middle. “No writer wants to realize a paragraph they spent an entire afternoon dissecting and making stellar needs to be deleted, along with the rest of the chapter that doesn’t fit the story anymore once you fixed a plot hole,” Cox explains. Cutting scenes is hard enough; don’t make it harder by perfecting them too soon.
To revise more effectively, Cox recommends setting a manuscript aside for a short time. The longer the manuscript, the longer you may want to give yourself. When you come back to it, make a point to approach the story from a new angle. Change the font, read the story on a different device or at a different location, or print it out. “These changes may seem superficial, but they help transition you from writer to reader,” Cox says.
Importantly, try not to edit during your first read-through. Make notes when you find a problem area, but don’t dive in to start re-writing. Also, don’t worry about word choice right away. Instead, focus on elements such as point of view, characterization, character choices and agency, conflict, and pacing. “After this initial read-through, you should have notes indicating where your story went a little sideways, or the character spent three chapters simply reacting and not acting, or you noticed a little head hopping,” Cox writes. “Look for patterns and group your issues together by category.”
Once you have an idea of what needs to be fixed, pick a single category and work through the manuscript to fix that particular issue, then move to the next. “Just like a home inspector needs to check the frame, plumbing, and wiring before the contractor walls them in, make sure your story structure is strong and set up for success before you dress up the writing,” Cox recommends. Leave the detail work to the end.
