Writing friend Camille LaGuire, wrote an interesting post on her Daring Novelist blog the other day.
Camille noted that she’d recently needed to un-revise (a term I think she’s coined!) a large portion of text in the middle of her manuscript. She said that her instincts were good (there was an area that needed work), but her efforts to edit the scenes she thought were causing a lagging pace led to some problems…then more problems. In fact, the revision created a sort of domino effect of additional revisions….and what’s more, it changed the plot, and not in a good way. She states:
And one of the things that happened with the misbegotten revision was that (a main character) sobered up to deal with some things in the middle. And that means the emotional trajectory of the sequence changes.
Camille makes the point that a character’s emotional state is trajectory… it powers the plot.
She had a character that was out of control, and his lack of control was powering the plot. Camille didn’t need to create a situation where this character regained control—she actually needed to increase his downward spiral.
The post resonated with me because I’d faced a similar situation in a manuscript. I had actually done a large revision, changing the murderer and the personalities of several of the characters. I’d put a lot of time into the changes, meticulously working through the manuscript to make sure that I’d switched everything to fit my revision and keep continuity in the new version.
But after reading it through, it just wasn’t right. I’d written it with particular character foibles that set off other character foibles and character reactions. Those reactions had triggered a particular series of events. It just didn’t make as much sense as the way I’d written the story before.
So I un-revised. And that was one of those times where I patted myself on the back for keeping old versions of my manuscript. I went back to the previous version and thought of a different way to approach my problem. (I ended up adding some additional tension to a couple of scenes, which worked well.)
Have you ever gone through a lengthy revision to find out it just didn’t work? Was it easy to un-revise?
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I have had that happen but unfortunately, I didn’t save the prior version! Boy was that a mistake, one I will never make again!
Elizabeth – Good for you and Camille to do what you thought was right. I’ve done some un-revisions, and yes sometimes, we were right the first time and should keep what works. I think you make a strong point, too, that our characters have distinctive traits that trigger certain things in other characters. If that’s not there, then the story simply doesn’t stay the same. It’s that interaction that moves a story along.
It’s kind of like cleaning house and tossing things you find later that you need. And…sometimes you can’t replace the item.
You’ve got to go with your instincts.
T
Thanks for mentioning my post. (And yes, I did make up “Un-revise.” I tend to do that….)
I do minor unrevisions all the time, but this one was a lot bigger. I’m glad I did the revision in the first place, though, because it allowed me to explore. And I know that I will be using some of the new material here and there.
I cut 4 chapters and then added 3 back in not only b/c I loved them but because I figured out a way to make them work with just a couple tweaks.
Saw your signed ARC copy for Hart. Congratulations for the upcoming release. As for big revision, I hope it will stay away from me as far as possible.
Chemical Fusion
Yes I HAVE had that experience. I was so micro-managing my revisions and self-edits on my last novel, Beware the Devil’s Hug, that my editor told me to go back and look at what I had originally written – she had, and found that what was first penned often sounded more natural an original than my lenghty attempts ar ‘perfect’ writing.
Good post and points, here. :-)
I’m a strong believer that revising is just good writing, but I was say in certain situations, a once-thought good revision turns into a bad end-result…Although it’s hard to go back to something that previously needed to be re-written.
I am in the process now of revising and I don’t find it easy but I do believe its necessary. I changed two of the leading characters names and couldn’t believe the zest it added. So, hopefully the rest of the revision will go well.
Haha, yes I’ve had to unrevise! But I never thought of that way. I considered it just another darn revision, LoL.
Not yet, but I’ll know what to do if it happens!
Heather–I’ve gotten a little paranoid about throwing away my old versions, too!
Laura–That must have been a great feeling, realizing you could make them work!
Margot–The neat thing is that the characters aren’t static. They’re out there making messes of things, or having problems and are impacting the story as they go.
Teresa–Don’t you hate that? I’ll be cleaning my closets and feel so proud of myself for giving away something that I hadn’t used for a while…then I need it. :)
Enid–Fingers crossed! Sounds like you’ve had a good track record so far. :)
The Old Silly–Oh yeah–the OVER-revising! Yes, I’ve done that, too…taken all the natural wording out and made the text stiff. Bleh.
The Daring Novelist–Great post! Thanks for making me think. :)
H. L. Banks–I’m sure it will be! That’s almost always the case, that the story is improved. Good luck with them!
Laura–The never-ending revisions! I know what you mean. :)
Alex–Hope you won’t run into the problem at all!
Jarvis–Nearly always I like my revisions better. But that one time I really screwed up the manuscript while revising it!
Oh, definitely. I always keep copies. It’s one of the reasons I now love Scrivener—I can easily duplicate a story’s current setup and save it in an “Old” folder and take snapshots of scenes before I start editing.
Much easier than my old policy of 1 document for the story, 1 “Notes & Scraps” file.
In fact, I just yesterday went back and pulled out an old version of a scene to continue. It wasn’t working the way I was going, so I’d ditched it and tried again. Silly me, I was trying to take it the wrong way, even though I was thinking that a particular thing was wrong with what I was planning.
I keep three copies of any files I’m working on. I went through the trauma of lost files and rewrites from memory many years ago. I don’t need to be beaten over the head to get the hint.
Eesh, I’ve had that happen. It probably happens to everyone. Usually when that happens, I’ve had to let the project go. But I’m glad you were able to reverse it!
Thank you, thank you, thank you. This gives me a reason to keep my 45 previous revisions. It is because I may need to unrevise. And now I dare anyone to say it is wasting hard drive.