Good Prose Is My Last Concern
How I Revised My Novel in Two Stages
I am a lyrical writer, but I literally do not care about good prose. For most of my writing life, I would bend over backwards to keep a pretty line or paragraph or even an entire chapter that ultimately made my story weaker. In doing this, I was refusing to revise, and a lot of my stories did not reach their full potential. This is why I’ve broken my revision process into the two stages we talked about last week: the macroscopic stage and the microscopic stage.
If you’re interested in an overview of how I approach my first draft and macroscopic revision, check out our earlier posts:
Today, we’re breaking down the microscopic revision that I completed for the fourth, fifth, and sixth drafts of my novel. In these revisions, my priorities were (1) deepening the interiority of all three POV characters, (2) polishing scene craft, and (3) strengthening line-to-line writing.
Here’s the novel’s pitch for context:
YOU WILL SURVIVE THIS follows Izzy Hayes, a Black folklore anthropologist in Seoul who falls in love with a thousand-year-old man. It is a story about love, loss, and living forever.
A lonely expat, Izzy spends her days studying Korean folklore and isolating herself from the world around her. While touring an art museum, she meets Kim Taejong, a strange, wildly wealthy man who takes a special interest in her work. Taejong flies Izzy out to Jeju Island for a research trip, and they stumble across a woman from his past. In an act of violence, Blanche—a survivor of Taejong’s former cult—reveals his secret: he’s spent the last thousand years cursed with immortality. Back in Seoul, Izzy agrees to help Taejong find a cure for immortality using her folklore research. But when she finds something that might actually work, she must choose between spending her life with the man she loves and giving his long life a well-deserved end. Alternating between the perspectives of Izzy, Taejong, and Blanche, the story complicates as Taejong wants to find peace in a permanent death immediately, Izzy wants him to stay alive for the remainder of her lifetime, and Blanche wants to kill Taejong to take his eternal life for herself.
Using immortality as a lens to explore love, loss, and what it means to be alive, YOU WILL SURVIVE THIS has the magical realism of Jesmyn Ward’s Sing, Unburied, Sing, the dynamic setting of Frances Cha’s If I Had Your Face, and the tone and style of Claire Vaye Watkins’ Gold Fame Citrus.
Draft 4
Stats
Goal: Line Editing
Schedule: 10 weeks
Timeline: November 1, 2022 to January 9, 2023
Audience: My agent
Process
This was the most fun draft because the story’s structure was set and I finally got to play with the writing on the line level. When I studied screenwriting in college, one of my professors had said that actors act for free; they’re paid for all of the waiting they have to do between shooting their scenes. In a similar vein, I see line-to-line writing as a reward for designing a strong narrative. The next time I start a new novel, I’ll frontload the hard work of crafting plot and story with an outline, so that I can have fun with the writing itself earlier in the process.
What Worked for Me
Reading my novel aloud
Having my partner read scenes and answer my questions
Writing at night after work
Limiting myself to one social activity on the weekends
Sending my agent a list of editorial questions in a separate document and asking her to address them after her read
What I Wish I’d Done Differently
Better self-care, mostly cleaning my writing and living space
Draft 5
Stats
Goals:
Address Agent Feedback:
Add one more Blanche chapter in the middle
Deepen interiority and emotional responses of all three POV characters throughout
Fix continuity errors
Schedule: 4 weeks
Timeline: January 23, 2023 to February 20, 2023
Audience: My agent
Process
After I got my second edit letter from my agent, I did another revision focusing on deepening interiority and adding one more new chapter from Blanche’s POV. By the end of this draft, I was sick of reading the words I’ve written.
What Worked for Me
Having Siri read the draft back to me
Using light imagery to ground a scene whenever I was getting burned out
If you’re interested in a post about how I use light imagery as a writing prompt to get me out of a rut, let me know in the comments:
What I Wish I’d Done Differently
Nothing, a sign that the manuscript was almost ready for submission to publishers
Draft 6 — The “Final” Draft
Stats
Goal: Accept track changes and address small, line-level issues
Schedule: 13 hours
Timeline: February 25, 2023
Audience: Editors
Process
I put “final draft” in quotes because if a publisher buys the book, I will have to do another round of edits. But this draft was the last draft that I did before submission, and most of it was small, final touches.
I am about a month out from finishing, and I’m still so exhausted and burnt out that I never want to write another metaphor again.
What Worked for Me
Having Siri read the track changes from my agent to confirm I wanted to accept them
What I Wish I’d Done Differently
Nothing, the manuscript was definitely ready for sub
Recap
Kat’s Advice for Novel Revision
Set concrete goals for each draft
Set a deadline
Remind yourself who your audience is
For me, my first drafts are most productive if I plan for no one to see them but me.
Make sure everything serves the story and omit anything that doesn’t
Use an outline to save time later
If you’re looking for an outline to try out, check out our craft lessons on character goals, crisis decisions, and the first act of a story.
What does your revision process look like? Are you a discovery writer or an outliner? How do you approach your second draft? What about your fifth? Share your writing practice in the comments:
Until next week,
Kat
I'm just so excited for you and your book! What a journey so far, I can't wait to see what's next.
And, I'm also interested in light imagery.... :)
“Light imagery” sounds intriguing! Would love to know more.