The Worst Part of Writing

Writing sucks. Most of the process can be painful, exhausting, and frustrating. Writing your first draft, reading through your first draft, writing your second draft… It’s a curse to be a writer, frankly. Yet, now that I’m knee deep in revision, I wanted to outline my process for revision. Hopefully, my fellow writers find some of my tips useful, and any non-writers can appreciate the sheer amount of work that goes into creating a story. 

Here’s my breakdown of the last two weeks, reading and revising: 

1. Reading through my old manuscript. 

This step of the process was fairly easy, but I really dragged my feet. Re-reading my own work is so difficult, especially when I had built up such an emotional connection to the characters and their conflicts. Yet, since I haven’t read more than a few pages here and there in the last few years, spending days poring through the chapters highlighted the amount I have grown as a writer. I remember giving this manuscript to my mom and grandfather, and being appalled that they had critiques. Reading it now, I had an old professor, Dr. Bly’s voice in my head, going, “Too much telling,” throughout the entire 200 pages. It was very humbling, but makes me excited to give these characters the story they deserve. 

While reading, I also took fairly extensive notes. I highlighted lines that I thought were well written and/or funny, and circled concepts that did not work. 

1. Creating a reverse outline. 

When I was writing my undergraduate thesis with Professor Albin, he suggested that, after I had finished writing my initial draft, I should create a reverse outline. The goal of this exercise was to map out the structure of my argument, identify holes in logic, and ensure that Point A flowed neatly into Point B. I’ll be honest, I didn't do it. I didn’t want to, and I didn’t have time. Yesterday, however, I spent a few hours writing out brief descriptions of each of the chapters, highlighting the most important elements, and mapping out the progression themes. 

What did I notice? There’s no tenable conflict until two thirds of the way through the book, the central conflict of the prophecy is introduced on the first page but doesn’t get any further development until halfway through the novel, and the plot is super repetitive. To elaborate on that last point, everytime Tania visits a new place, the book follows the same pattern: 1) meet the court, 2) befriend another teenager, 3) realize how out of place she feels in comparison to this teenager, 4) feel bitter towards the court for making her feel out of place, 5) witness some religious ritual. It’s borrrriinnnnggggg. 

This is a step I really recommend for any fellow writers. It really made me realize the weaknesses in my plot, but also identify places where I could incorporate different scenes that would spice the story up. And, sorry Prof. Albin, you were right.

1. Highlighting weak concepts. 

This is similar to my last point, but it’s really important to highlight weak concepts in order to emphasize the exciting ones. Here’s the chart I made pointing out what I did well and what I did poorly: 

Things I did well	Things not done well
Well established world  Eloquent prose  Some really beautiful descriptions of the world Really picks up pace at the end, when stakes are established	Perspective jumps between people, does not land firmly in Tania’s body  Kind of boring  Nav & skurin divide not well established, don’t really see & know why southern people are so iffy around Tania  Need more names for people   Tara is really mean, want it to be more obvious how much she loves her daughter  Character motivations unclear  No tenable conflict, not exciting

Critical mistakes for any book.

Originally, I titled the right-hand column, “Things that sucked,” but that was too mean. I was so young when I first wrote this, and had never had any formal training. Creating anything is so difficult, there’s no reason for us to be mean to ourselves for still learning. 

1. Brainstorming new ones. 

I have two favorite brainstorming techniques: drawing and writing short stories that flesh out the world of my story more. After I’ve been stuck in one mode for a long time, I usually need to switch gears. When that happens, I pick up a pencil and sketch out the scene that’s in my head. Sometimes, I find it difficult to transfer the image I have in my mind to the written word, and first translating it into a physical image for me to reference helps to save that memory for when I can write it later. I also really like drawing scenes in order to set them up, kind of like a stage, so I can understand what props my characters can interact with. This is especially good for revision, when I know what I want my characters to say and what I want them to accomplish, but I want to make the scene more dynamic. 

My second brainstorming technique is to just sit down and write something that’s outside of the direct plot, but still helps me to develop the world. That’s where the short story that I’ve been publishing on this blog comes from. It started off as a throwaway comment about a folktale regarding the lineage of heroes, in which Tania finds herself. In writing that story, I’ve been able to stretch my dialogue and action muscles, as well as think through different ideas, such as what I want the magical entities of this world to look like. Along with short stories, I’ve also written short excerpts from a fictional explorer, Julius Karter, who describes each of the regions that Tania (and through her, the reader) visits over the course of the book. I use these descriptions to introduce each section, which I’ve found really enriches the world. 

These are some of the strategies that have been at the top of my mind since I’ve been in Revision Mode. It’s really difficult, as I am so attached to this text and feel as if I’m tearing apart my own baby. Unfortunately, it’s necessary. But it does create a lot of really exciting opportunities to make this story so much richer, deeper, and more fun than it currently is. 

So, to all my fellow writers that find themselves in a similar spot, take a deep breath, and be nice to yourself. To everyone else, be grateful to your favorite authors for writing your favorite books. It’s a miracle any book gets written.