Revision Surprises

Good thing I got up early this morning, because I forgot to set up a blog post for today! I've been deep in revisions for Crow's Rest. Here's a cover design I did last year, just for fun:






One of the steps I wanted to do for revisions this time around was to use Martha Alderson's Blockbuster Plots method to chart the scenes in my book. I had tried it for my first book but didn't get very far--it can be kind of tedious, and I felt like I'd gotten the insights I needed just from charting the first 4 chapters.

But this time around I stuck it out, and I'm glad I did! Found all kinds of inconsistencies. Like my timeline was off; I had a single day that lasted like 40 hours, eep. And I had one of those writer faux pas, where my MC suffered an injury that wasn't ever mentioned again. Oops.

I also found a few scenes that were not necessary, which is where this type of revision tool really shines. Once you see the entire book laid out in tables, it's easy to see where your momentum lags or where you're being self-indulgent with characters and scenes.

So over the next week I'll be finishing the edits and getting pages out to my beta readers in preparation for querying in February. I'll also have an announcement next week (no, not an agent-y announcement) so check back for some news!

1 comments:

Kris Atkins said...

That sounds like a really awesome tool. I'll have to check it out. Thanks for the tip!
And good luck on revisions!
And and I can't wait to see your announcement!

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