Perseverance and revision strategy
It’s #writerswednesday and March 14th. Today I’m wrapping up revising chapter seven of my paranormal romance novel Kilonova Blues. As I’ve mentioned earlier, my naïvety knew no boundaries when I sat down to schedule my work this spring. I estimated to spend one day per chapter for the first revision round, but boy, was I mistaken.
I’m still revising at the same slow, steady pace in which I set off with the first chapter, meaning I’m working through two chapters a week. With the first draft of the book coming in at 18 chapters, that means I’ve still got five weeks to go before the second draft’s finished. Instead of three to four weeks, I’ll end up spending roughly nine weeks in total on this part of the process. Deep breaths Aries, deep breaths… It’ll be worth it.
Since my 30th birthday’s coming up this spring as well, it’ll probably come in at ten or eleven weeks, ’cause I got myself a little trip to celebrate the occasion. 😉 I’ll tell you more about that later on.
So, how have I structured the work of revising the text? Well, for this first round, I’ve just decided to focus on rewriting everything that strikes me as too simply phrased. I try to glue the story together, make sure everything make sense, add to the story where the context seems to thin. I’m basically working through the body of the text. The key of my strategy is to focus on one thing at a time, at least this early in the process. Otherwise it’s easy to get overwhelmed.
While I work, I take notes on what I need to focus on for the next round (or the round after that, or the one after that…). So far, this is what I’ve found I need to work through:
- Strike out as many adjectives and adverbs as possible – show, don’t tell
- Check consistency for dates and time
- Check accurate use of ´ vs. ‘
- Check consistency for dialogue and quotes
- How often do I use the phrase “a wide smile” – eventually replace?
- How often do I use the phrase “a wry smile” – eventually replace?
- How often do I use the word “gaze” – eventually replace?
- Check “toward” vs. “towards”
- Do I really like “eyes pop wide open”? How can I rephrase this surprised facial expression?
- Check accurate use of “spark” vs. “sparkle”
- “Ok” or “Okay” – choose which one
- Check the phrasing of “with a (certain) tone of voice” vs. “in a (certain) tone of voice”
And I guess the list will continue to expand since I’m only half way through the first draft. As you can see, over the last couple of months, I’ve learned what every writer knows but all non-writers have no idea about – it takes time and a great dose of perseverance to write a GOOD book! Not to mention strong character and a considerable amount of self-confidence.
Visualization’s become my best friend, and when I’m not working, you’ll find me either meditating or Googling “kilonovas” or “blue eyes” for book cover inspiration! Some days, when I really get in the mood, I even Google which actors to cast for the movie…
Tomorrow’s an exciting day; I’ll be sharing the first quote from the book on Instagram. I’m beginning to get really excited to let you guys in on reading some chapters as well, it’ll most likely be posted on the blog sometime in May – keep your eyes open!
That’s all for now,
hej så länge!
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