14 Revision Tips! | How to Edit Your Novel
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.ค. 2024
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TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 - Intro
2:02 - Drafting vs revision focused writers
4:21 - It's normal to be overwhelmed
5:21 - Revision isn't a punishment for bad writing
7:11 - Accept that it gets worse before it gets better
8:29 - Get organized
9:59 - Make the tools your book needs
11:45 - Write a pitch or synopsis
12:55 - Build the process around your book's problems
15:03 - Order tasks in a manageable way
16:13 - Cut, order, add, adjust
16:49 - Fix two problems with one solution
18:08 - Don't try to fix everything in one draft
18:48 - Slow down
19:53 - Fix anything you don't like
20:24 - Don't add filler
FAQS
→How old are you? - 25
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I've been prepping for a big revision for a few weeks and I'm freaking out. Thank you for your positive vibes encouragement. I'm not gonna lie... I'm a little excited now!
I've just started revising a book seriously for the first time last month (after years of never revising anything lol) and I love your mindset around revision *not being a punishment* !! it's so reassuring and insightful to hear other writers struggle with the same things. these are SUPER helpful tips! ✨
God loves you all! The Father sent the Son to die for you and your sins so that you could experience freedom to the fullest! Believe in Christ's death and resurrection (which sealed the work done on the cross) for your salvation and the forgiveness of sins! Amen! God loves you all! The Father sent the Son to die for you and your sins so that you could experience freedom to the fullest! Believe in Christ's death and resurrection (which sealed the work done on the cross) for your salvation and the forgiveness of sins! Amen! God bless you all, I will keep you in my prayers!!!!
This is just... invaluable. Shaelin, you're the best thing going when it comes to writing education. 👍💯
Happy to help!!
God loves you all! The Father sent the Son to die for you and your sins so that you could experience freedom to the fullest! Believe in Christ's death and resurrection (which sealed the work done on the cross) for your salvation and the forgiveness of sins! Amen! God loves you all! The Father sent the Son to die for you and your sins so that you could experience freedom to the fullest! Believe in Christ's death and resurrection (which sealed the work done on the cross) for your salvation and the forgiveness of sins! Amen! God bless you all, I will keep you in my prayers!!!!
About not adding filler, I actually put a section in my draft that said "fun and games needed here showing this story related stuff happening" then I continued on with the draft like I had written it. I hit that section in the revise and it was so easy to write now that I already know the ending. (I'm a pantser)
God loves you all! The Father sent the Son to die for you and your sins so that you could experience freedom to the fullest! Believe in Christ's death and resurrection (which sealed the work done on the cross) for your salvation and the forgiveness of sins! Amen! God loves you all! The Father sent the Son to die for you and your sins so that you could experience freedom to the fullest! Believe in Christ's death and resurrection (which sealed the work done on the cross) for your salvation and the forgiveness of sins! Amen! God bless you all, I will keep you in my prayers!!!!
I do that as well and add "flesh out scene" spots I want to come back to.
I'm definitely a revision-focused writer who absolutely loves rewriting, which is strange because so many people absolutely hate rewriting that for the longest time I thought I hated it too. But once I actually started to rewrite my drafts the experience itself wasn't draining or terrible at all. I didn't feel agonized about "starting all over". Every new rewrite, I'm more laser focused on my vision for the project. I find that the good parts stick, and everything else fades away. For me, rewriting doesn't feel like repeating the work. It feels like re-experiencing the magic of drafting and being right back inside the story . My least favorite stage is actually editing prose because that feels like focusing on the minutia. If I had all the time in the world, I would rewrite my books over and over. But because time is limited and I'm writing a massive series I have to cap my rewrites to 2-4 per book otherwise I'd never move on! 😂 With that said, I do draft/rewrite extremely fast so that's why this works for me. If someone takes months per rewrite, then I can see why rewriting as a process would be overwhelming. Anyway, I find this conversation immensely interesting so thanks for bringing it up!
Agreed! If you can write the manuscript, you can do anything. At least you have an idea and from there you cold mold it into something better. Getting everything written down first is the hardest part, at least for me
God loves you all! The Father sent the Son to die for you and your sins so that you could experience freedom to the fullest! Believe in Christ's death and resurrection (which sealed the work done on the cross) for your salvation and the forgiveness of sins! Amen! God loves you all! The Father sent the Son to die for you and your sins so that you could experience freedom to the fullest! Believe in Christ's death and resurrection (which sealed the work done on the cross) for your salvation and the forgiveness of sins! Amen! God bless you all, I will keep you in my prayers!!!!
I would love if you did a video talking about more substantial editing, like having to rewrite an entire first draft, because I haven't seen many videos on that subject. It can be really disappointing when you begin editing and realize halfway through the identity of the story is what's flawed and it needs to change.
Good idea!!
Because I plot, my first draft doesn't need content, structural or concept revisions. Once the first draft is complete: my first editing round is for logistics to make sure the dots connect and the time lines mesh correctly. Next I fine turn characters, and I go on from there dealing with smaller and smaller issues one at a time, until I reach line editing; that for me is the hardest part. But line editing has its own magic and fun. Each stage requires a slow full reading. I can do a novel in 3 months, but then it takes 6 to prefect it.
I plot, but I still use scene descriptions and pants it. When I come back to revision for the 2nd draft, I'll be doing similar to what you suggest, list out all scenes, check for a Cohesive time line.
Wow, editing feeling like punishment for being a bad writer totally resonates with me... 😯
This video came at almost the exact right time. Currently nearing completion of the first draft of a novel and I'm going to give it a serious attempt at editing. I definitely fall under the "drafter" side of the spectrum, lots of editing and revising as I write before I move on. Appreciate you leading with that, helps contextualize everything. Looking forward to the next video, thank you for sharing what you've learned!
So good and so helpful! This is exactly what I need right now as I'm going to start revising my draft 1 in a few weeks.
Shaelin, Thank you! I keep coming back to this video because you give one of the best discussions I’ve ever heard about the whole process of revising a novel. Most others are vague & ambiguous, but you offer extremely helpful points that are so practical and positive. Super grateful. ☺️
Exactly what I'm going through now with my first ya SFF novel. I've had to get rid of paragraphs, rewrite, add more and though it was a rough three months in revisions, I'm thankful because it's helped shape my story so much better. Now I'm waiting for another set of revisions. Hopefully it will only take three rounds of revisions.
I’m in the last stages of self editing before my editor comes in and really struggling. This is motivating and teaching me so much!
This was really helpful for me creatively and technically. I've been struggling to edit my book, and these tips have made it much easier.
Of all the writing advice and writing bloggers I know of these days, shaelin is the one who thinks most like me. Honestly, it’s such a relief - I feel like I’ve been waiting 20 years to hear all this.
I love your videos : ) I really vibe with your communication style & examples. Thank you!
Totally agree, and I just had to tell you that your profile pic is sublime.💜
I'm so relieved knowing about the drafters. I'm definitely one of them. But I always heard that revising was the most important part of writing and felt bad cause I always find out that my draft was already pretty good. Thought I was resisting revision or being naive.
Thank you for your suggestions. They were wonderful, Some I already knew, but many I did not. I thought a second draft was all that was needed. Thanks again. Also. I attempted to revise when I was tired. I was in a hurry and missed a lot. Thanks again
First of all-I loved the video! I loved the painting example you gave. That's EXACTLY how I say it too !! Writing a book is like painting a picture. It happens in layers !!
(Random but I love your top! It's so pretty! Looks good on you!)
I'm writing my fourth book rn. And I personally draft without looking back. I don't necessarily check back on the chapter I just wrote. I keep drafting, and edit it later later. Seperately. With fresh eyes. So yeah, I do leave out the fine details for later. 💕💕
My advise is a bit practical. I would tell other writers to have faith as they go. Some thoughts can overwhelm you. But keep going anyway, keep drafting or editing. There's nothing that can't be improved in a book. So your book will be fine. It'll happen through you, so keep going, take breaks, have faith, and do not edit for entire days. Don't edit for 8-9 hours everyday! That can leave you exhausted! Know how much you can take in a day! Take care! 💛💛
oooh excited about this series. I love revision! It's much easier for me, since the book's already written aha. Also, excellent shirt!! very fruity
off topic: so love the shirt and earings 💗
Deeply appreciated
Revision makes your book better and better. I like to see what I come up with in the many revisions. I usually have to add to my bare bones first draft, but some additions are very obvious and greatly appreciated. First book: wrote beginning to end. 2nd book: I revised every chapter until it was “perfect’, then revised the whole thing many times, third book: minimal First draft (hand written), then, many revisions
15, look for and cut out every cliché. Good video, thanks
don't add filler is great advice. I have discovered i have 6 hours of great writing in me each day, and all the stuff I force myself to write beyond that is essentially filler garbage and gets cut immediately the next day. So now i don't do that. Once i run out of energy i spend the remainder of my work day doing mindless stuff like research, punctuation edits, file housekeeping.
great advice! each of these points was relevant and extremely useful. thank you!
a tip on not getting jammed up on process “rules” for anyone who needs it: revision and drafting don’t need to be entirely separate steps. im someone who writes linearly and I get tangled up if previous sections of the story don’t mesh with the final product im currently envisioning. instead of drafting out an entire messy novel and then starting to revise - or, alternatively, getting so caught up in revision that I never make it past the first few pages of the book - I make certain “checkpoints” for myself. basically after writing each section/act of the book (but not before I finish the first draft of it!), I go back and revise it to fit with my current vision and to line-edit. this reduces a lot of stress for me while drafting and ensures that I don’t have as tall of a mountain of revision to do at the end of the work. the process doesn’t have to be completely linear and you can break everything up however you want in order to work best for you
Just going to sit here and replay the "Revision is not a punishment for bad writing" part a few times. I know I am getting better but I'm so overwhelmed with what I feel needs to be fixed right now that it's harder to sit down to revise than it was to start writing in the first place (which took years and that scares me).
I can promise it only gets easier! revision overwhelmed and kind of terrified me when i first went into doing major edits on a book back in 2020, and now that I've revised two novels, I'm actually looking forward to getting to edit my next book hehe
Thank you for saying that revision is needed and it's not saying anything about the quality of the writing 🥰💗
I made a list of 8 rounds of edits for my novel current WIP. (1) Insert elements from notes that I did not included in the First Draft. (2) Inter-cut/re-sequence scenes (I have two story lines in different centuries). (3) Scour every scene for opportunities to add Specificity. (4) Strengthen verbs in all scenes. (5) Improve dialogue in all scenes. (6) Insert historic quotations prior to each chapter. (7) Fluidity - read through in one sitting and polish transitions. (8) Final Line edit. Thanks for another good video, Shaelin!
I’m trying to find the balance between weaving the story within the backstory. Yes so overwhelming. It feels like I get lost in the novel more than actually editing it. Organisation is needed to link it. Great tips 👌🏼
Gurl you have to watch 'Our flag means death' immediately it's so good!!
Good video. I learned a lot from you.
How I beat overwhelm is to pick one item of craft to address at a time. Each reading is specific. It goes fast that way. Break the task down into pieces then tackle each one. I do edit as I write but I still need to take small bites on specific items which makes the long process of perfecting the work more digestible.
I got a good tip from author , Larry Brooks. He says look at one scene at a time and design what the scene is for. Each scene must connect to the last or foreshadow the next in some way, each scene is an entry unto itself that should hit necessary scene parameters and hold up as a kind of a short story. Each scene has an agenda and a job to do. One can decide what that job is and how it relates to the rest of the work. It is best if each entry does several jobs, such as characterization, moving the plot, informing the reader. mood, setting, and other scene goals. It amounts to editing each scene individually with the direct purpose of relating it to the body of the work. Build up to and away from each plot point scene by way of supporting scenes. If you know what each scene must do, if you can identify the plot points, it makes it easier to edit.
Great ideas as I edit my memoir. Any hints or tips on structure?
I think you need to revise the video's title, ironically 🤭 but on a real note, thanks for the continuous amazing advice, you always inspire me to write!
Im a sad mix of drafting and revision focused writer: i draft slowly and carelessly, but end up with a mess that i don't know how to fix lol
This is honestly so relatable
*Revision isn't a Punishment for Bad Writing* : Good enough advice for a Writing School's T-shirt logo.
Be thankful for the mistakes you made in the First Draft: mistakes are an opportunity for adding new layers of depth.
Again, great advice. Revision is not home decoration, it may mean tearing down a wall to get at the wiring. Brilliant image.
Just finished the first draft today
I'm a little bit of both but more of the second one the revision one
At the moment, I am revising short stories from the 19th and 20th centuries. From the start, it was frustrating and felt like an impossible task to undertake. The more I did, the easier it becomes. So stick to it and enjoy.
TL;DR - Graphing software can help visualize your plot.
Full Context:
I'm hobby-writing a vivid-dream-series journal in script format for my sister who has photographic memory. We've been doing this for two years now with about 3 books' worth of content, and beside the chronological storyline we also get a bunch of fragments: Scenes or episodes that tie into the main plot or develop into a subplot at some point. When we realized this I started using yEd graphing software to build up an episode graph, which I recently started extending with plot continuity analysis by adding plot points and linking them: A lot of seemingly insignificant factors proved to be very relevant later on, and we realized that some details - to our surprise - justified character behaviors that would puzzle us at the time when we hadn't considered said facets of their story yet, and this helped place fragments based on how characters related to each other or what they knew or how they looked in a particular fragment.
for CAUSALITY: how do you figure out what the "right" answer is when trying to determine what is the cause and effect in a thing? IS there a right answer? basically, how do you avoid plausibility/reliability/plotting inconsistencies with respect to how events unfold?
If you're struggling to figure out the causality between events, there probably *isn't* causality there. Events should naturally be connected, either in a direct way (scene A causes scene B) or an internal way (events caused by your character's motivations/emotional state). The 'right' answer should be inherent, and if it isn't there, the scenes probably don't causally connect.
This is very helpful. I can use these tips on revising my book. Have you heard of a two act structure? Would you consider making a video about it? The two act structure is hard to find to watch a video on. I think most two act structures are plays but can be in a book but it's very rare.
I don't think I'd be able to since I have never used it in my work, so I don't think I have the experience to be able to make a video on it!
@@ShaelinWrites Thanks. I write in the two act structure for my books. Basically there are really no rules. The thing I learned is the main character/protagonist needs to accomplish two goals. Goal one is the first act. Goal two is the second act. In fact, this is clarified at the beginning of the story/first act. Another thing is when there are two stories going on at the same time. They're some how connected and come together at the end of the story. I wanted to get better at my writing by learning from some one who has more experience. I enjoy watching your videos. Keep up the good work.
@@VideoGameRoom32 saw your comment and found it super interesting. I chopped up 3 act structure into six acts for myself at one point to accommodate exactly this division in the middle of the story! I feel like two acts will still fit with most stories because of the midpoint and suspect the rest of the structure would be reminiscent of others with more divisions. I will definitely go research this!
@@IsabelA-hp9yt There are so many ways to write in the two act structure. In my comments, I explained that there are two different ways to write in the two act structure. I wrote my books like this because I thought they worked best on how to tell the stories.
@@VideoGameRoom32 I loved that approach! It never occurred to me to view stories like that! Do you have any resources to recommend? I’m really interested in this.
Drafting Focused Writers & Revision Focused Writers: A useful distinction. You will have met both in the last four years.
Must read. *Talking Horse: Bernard Malamud on Life and Work* edited by Nicholas Delbanco and *Becoming A Writer* Dorothea Brande.
Neal Simon titled his memoirs *ReWrites* and reading Hermione Lee's biography of Tom Stoppard reveals how playwrights rewrite on the fly.
Drafting & revision necessitates seclusion but remember that the unconscious is *the great home of form, the higher imagination* - Brande.
When you are not working listen to classical and popular music, go to parties and cafes, because fresh material will feed into your story.
2022 will be my third attempt at properly starting a draft of my series, which when I'm done will be somewhere between 14,000 and 20,000 pages of material spread across 20 or so books. The character relationships and themes have become so intricate that every single day of the story's four-year timespan will have to be put to use (no time jumps).
Here's my question: will it be better to revise the series one book at a time? or lump multiple books together during the revision process (based on the act structure I anticipate for the series as a whole)? If it makes any difference, my deadline to start serially publishing the chapters is in 2024.
Honestly I can't really tell you! Seems like a huge project, and I've never worked with something on that scale. I think just do whatever is most manageable and best fits your planned publication schedule.
Adam, what's your Twitter handle? I'm also writing a massive series. Would love to connect with another writer doing the same. :D
@@shebreathesingold8043 I just realized that notifications weren't reaching me about replies to my comments, so I'm getting to this a month late.
I don't really use Twitter anymore, but if there's another way you want to connect then I'll see about that.
Shaelin is wearing a shirt exactly like one I used to have :0
I did thrift it so maybe it's the same shirt!?
@@ShaelinWrites I live in Oregon so I don't think it would be?
My conspiracy theory falls apart
@@ShaelinWrites Lol. Btw I really like your writing advice, it's helped me a lot
this is so helpful it's scary. how do you do that?
Do you have any advice on spending too much time on editing? I'll spend hours editing paragraphs because it just doesn't sound right and I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.
First... Marhaban ya Ramadhan :)
Wow. Different. Cool.
Great video! But also I have that exact shirt and I bought it because I thought it gave queer vibes, so great taste haha
I edit as I write. How can I stop that? I mean, it's taking me so long to write and I have a deadline 😭
Try scheduling the edits! So stopping to do one editing pass every x chapters, etc. This way you can stay more on track and not just keep falling into a constant editing pit, but still edit as you write.
@@ShaelinWrites okay, i will try that. Thank you for responding. Your videos help me a lot. ♥️
Revision is painful and painstaking no matter how you look at it.
Another Friday.. 😃 My midterms ended yesterday I hate my degree. And I'm very much considering stealing all my mother's and aunt's jewellery and leaving forever to be an obscure writer in New Jersey who cleans the public toilet in a zoo during the day
How're you all doing? 😃✌
Honestly sounds like kind of a good plan
People who clean lavatories deserve our respect. As for working in a zoo, great idea.
Ted Hughes worked in London Zoo after studying at Pembroke College, Cambridge.
While observing animals he put together his first collection *The Hawk in the Rain* a new kind of bold physical poetry.
*Ted Hughes Reads the Thought Fox* *101 Poems Anthology (various) read by Ted Hughes*. Both TH-cam.
Do not hate your degree, it made you the person you are.
Read great literature from Shakespeare to Jane Austen, Dickens, Flaubert, Balzac, Tolstoy, Chekhov, Dostoevsky, Proust, Virginia Woolf and Nabokov.
Nabokov's printed lectures on Russian + European Lit. are essential as is Brian Boyd's two-volume biography of Nabokov.
Write continuously even when you think you have nothing to say. Remember, Pandora closed the box before Hope flew out and away.
@@johnhaggerty4396 Yo sir Mr. Serious, all of that was just a joke. Sometimes when you're in STEM you just gotta whisper "I hate this degree" and "I'm gonna kill myself" under your breath within regular intervals in order to cope. Them's the rules.
@@rev6215 I am not Mr. Serious, and I won't offer you good advice again. Them's my rules.
like 777 the lucky number
God loves you all! The Father sent the Son to die for you and your sins so that you could experience freedom to the fullest! Believe in Christ's death and resurrection (which sealed the work done on the cross) for your salvation and the forgiveness of sins! Amen! God loves you all! The Father sent the Son to die for you and your sins so that you could experience freedom to the fullest! Believe in Christ's death and resurrection (which sealed the work done on the cross) for your salvation and the forgiveness of sins! Amen! God bless you all, I will keep you in my prayers!!!!
Your videos are informative and very helpful. On you older videos, you had longer hair. Why did you decide to go with shorter hair?
Idk why this is such a common question haha, I just prefer having shorter hair. I feel more like myself, I like how it looks, it's way less maintenance, and it's more comfortable.
@@ShaelinWrites I can understand how you feel. You should do what makes you happy and not what others think should make you happy. I was just wondering. I thought you prettier with longer hair. Just my opinion.
@@Courtney-Alice-Gargani girl keep comments like that to yourself. no one wants you commenting on their appearance, especially when it has nothing to do with the content.
@AudoPlay unfortunately I have gotten a question about why I cut my hair, or a comment telling me I looked better with long hair, on almost every video I have posted since I cut my hair🙃 apparently my haircut is a very big concern to people despite my channel/content having nothing to do with my hair lol
@@AudoPlay I wasn't talking to you so stay out of it. It was just a question. There was no disrespect intended to her.
why could i just see you visibly struggling through that wiring and floor plan analogy
Idk haha I wasn't struggling with that analogy in any way
Revision?
Hopefully you did not screw yourself over in the first draft by writing 2,600 words of nonsense with the expectation that it will be replaced by 2,600 words of something brilliant.
Just write to the best of your abilities at all times regardless if that is only a few words, or a lot of words.
The revision process, that the second draft is always better than the first? Whatever just keep writing to the best of your abilities, most authors take until 30 years of age to have peak writing abilities.