Revision Blues

I used to be so positive about revising. I loved printing out copies of a draft on the backs of old paper, whipping out a favored pen–in purple, turquoise, hot pink, or some other fun color–and having at it. Revised pages had notations, additions, scribbles up the margins and on the back, arrows pointing hither and yon as I moved around sentences and paragraphs. With my first book, my key revision tools were a pair of scissors and a roll of Scotch tape. I literally cut-and-pasted the opening to that book to cure a bad case of backstory dump.

Now I’m in the doldrums, to borrow an image from one of my favorite children’s books. I can’t seem to move forward or back. My tools have upgraded since the scissors and paste days (all hail Scrivener!), but now the process is bogging down. I’m not sure exactly why, but I suspect the culprit is (gulp) NaNoWriMo.

A peek at the sidebar lists three books, all in the revision stage. These three books were all birthed during the frenzy that is NaNoWriMo. None is complete. Their stories are–I did manage to get to “The End” on all of them, but they’re in varying states of crazy. Read long enough, and you’ll find plenty of all-caps notations like SOMETHING NEEDS TO HAPPEN HERE or NEEDS A BETTER TRANSITION or something like that. My mind knew where to go, but NaNo doesn’t provide you with enough time to mull over things, and let me say, my natural writing process involves lots of mulling. I spend twice, even three times as much time thinking over a chapter as I do committing it to paper.

I think the problem lies in the discovery. I am a seat-of-the-pants style writer. I have a general idea of where I’m going (usually a very clear opening scene and an equally clear closing scene, with a lot of mist in the middle), so I’ve found it easy to write a general synopsis of the book. As I go along, ideas will pop up that I incorporate into that bare skeleton. I used to cut up the synopsis, too–I’d tape pieces onto separate sheets of paper representing future chapters, then when inspiration struck, I’d scribble that dialogue snippet or piece of business on the appropriate chapter and go on my merry way. In that way, Scrivener works as an electronic replacement of my battered red clipboard. I can jot ideas on a new card and rearrange at will as the book takes shape. I’d keep at this, chapter by chapter, as surprises revealed themselves, characters did unexpected things, and odd bits of business found their homes. Writing that way, every book built momentum toward the conclusion I’d already envisioned, and first drafts were darned close to finished length. Then, out came the pens.

Now, I have three “finished” plots, thanks to NaNoWriMo, and the revision has been painful. I think my brain thinks those books are complete and doesn’t really want to fool much with them. Of course, when you reread you find all kinds of wrong that need fixing, but it takes so much longer than it used to (or seems, anyway). It’s not fun. And I used to be the “Revision is FUN!” poster girl. Hmm.

So, do I abandon NaNo and the rush of getting something completed, or go back to my old, slow ways? Anyone else out there have the same issues? mimi could use some help.