Sometime in 2013, I came up with my idea for a novel. It has been quite the nine years. I can’t claim to have worked non-stop on it, but I’ve done two complete rewrites and restructured it several times as well. Currently, I’m revising it again. Before I had a two-story line approach of 25 long chapters. I decided to divide them up to make 68 shorter chapters. With the two-story lines alternating back and forth, this took a lot of copying and pasting.
From beta readers, I got suggestions that I’m taking. I’m going to take three writing sessions (days or nights) for each chapter. Three nights per chapter times 68 is more than six months.
There are many ways to write and revise a novel. What I learned, though, is that the steps should be routine-based with a strategy. If you start writing a book for a week but take a break for several months, you’ll probably stop completely or need to start over. The revision process is similar. Once you’ve decided on a system, go ahead and try it. I may take some evenings off. And some chapters may need more than three nights of work. But if I consistently work on it, I’ll have a different and better version in winter.
Any writer should read Stephen King’s On Writing. The first half is more memoirish, but the second half gets into his writing principles. He states that for a novel, one should have ‘beta-readers.’ Those are other people who read your novel and give suggestions. Stephen King likes to have eight beta readers for his projects. He states that if one beta reader criticizes something, and the others don’t, it can go on the back burner. But if multiple beta readers state the same thing, it’s something to consider. And if more than half of your beta readers state the same concern, it’s a problem.
If you type in ‘beta-readers’ online, there are many blog posts out there. I can’t find much advice concerning whether beta readers don’t get back to you at all. Maybe people don’t want to admit that sometimes they don’t get feedback. My first version had problems. For my dialogue, I put the comma after the quotation instead of inside the quotation, like this.
“That was a nice kickflip”, Mary said.
“Thank you”, Romana replied.
When this awful dialogue should read.
“That was a nice kickflip,” Mary said.
“Thank you,” Romana replied.
I also grossed people out, and maybe I revised too much by cutting too much. Several people did not get back to me at all. As a writer, how are you supposed to take that when your beta readers don’t get back to you? For those who do get back to you, be grateful. Offer to beta-read their projects or treat them to drinks or a dinner. People are busy. Suppose someone finishes your manuscript and gives you feedback. That is a beautiful thing. Also, I learned try to make it your best before asking others to read it.
I waited for feedback on that first draft and pitched it at the 2014 Writers Digest Conference. I received the go-ahead to submit to the five literary agents I pitched to at the conference. One got back to me within a week, stating it felt too much like a first draft. She was right, even though I did not know that at the time. The others took longer, maybe around eight months.
From one beta reader, I received a rude email stating that I didn’t know what I was doing, writing a novel, and that he was disgusted by it. I tried to write erotica, and instead wrote porn. There is a difference. Erotica features romance and the development of love interests. My first draft was only sex and skateboard scenes. It makes sense that some beta readers were grossed out or did not give me feedback.
At the time, I was angry. The process made me realize I needed to work a lot on it before I attempted to get it published. I did get enough feedback to keep working on it.
In the winter of 2015, I rewrote it from scratch. That version I wrote by hand easily enough in four months. But I was in such party mode that year, it took me over a year to type it up, and then in the fall of 2016, I had a psychotic episode.
I don’t think it was until the summer of 2017 that I showed that version to beta readers. The reaction to that one was better. However, I think a few beta readers also did not get back to me on that one. Also, I was still recovering from my psychotic episode, and got it in my mind I did not want to be known for a stoner novel. I’d rather it be known as a skateboard dystopian novel.
I believe I wrote the storyline of another character in the dystopian world of my novel in 2019. In 2020, I got some feedback from beta readers, but less than for the second version. Shortly after I decided to combine the two story lines, I think making the chapters shorter and really working on it will make it a better read. Things like party scenes are repetitive, and there is room for improvement in the dialogue and tightening of prose. Such as He was running down the street could be He ran down the street. When I finish my routine-based revising, I’ll read it all out loud for typos and send it out. This dystopian world I created has potential, and after this revision, I have ideas for a sequel.
In college, a teacher told the class something I hope I’m not doing.
Polishing a turd:
–You pick up a turd. You can mold it, craft it, polish it, and revise it for a long time. It will never become a diamond. However long you scrub it, tinker with it, or play with it, you’ll always have a piece of shit.
I think my former professor was trying to explain when to let a project go, or not just to write anything, but to write something you care about. In the past, I have rushed blog posts or when I share my work. I’m sure many saw those rushed attempts and did not take me seriously as a writer after that.
I recall that for an underground fiction writing class, I was pleased with what I wrote. On a visit to my sister in a college town, I decided to read it in front of her friends, who were a few years older than me. I didn’t get past the first paragraph because I noticed it was not good. In middle school I was in special ed classes, and when I moved to Toledo, the private school I attended made me have a tutor for part of the day.
I think the reason why I’ve stuck with writing was a creative writing teacher in college who commented on my story You Have a Good Imagination. Reading that gave me momentum, even though I didn’t get an A on that story. Writing is subjective, too. One person’s turd could be another person’s diamond. Lastly, if I work on my novel for another year, I can claim it took me a decade to write it. And I’ve improved since my college days and since the first draft of my novel.
