I finished typing up the third revision to my novel last week. I think it will take at least two more revisions — though not as time consuming as the first three — to get the novel to a point where I can start shopping it around to agents. Revision is such an important part of the writing process. When I was younger, I used to hate revising my work, but the more I do it, the more I find I enjoy it.
From reading through the third revision edits, I feel the story is really coming together, the writing style is more consistent, and the characters are much more developed this go around. Internal thought, I’ve discovered, is so important to developing your characters. Readers want to get inside the characters’ heads, to feel strongly one way or another for them, and a character’s internal thoughts can really enrich his or her development. This kind of development is something I’ve observed from reading lots of fiction. The novels, where by the end of the story I felt I’ve known the characters on some personal level, these are the novels that have stayed with me over the years, and looking more closely at the characters, you’ll find strong internal dialogue at work in each of them, and it’s these thoughts that create a stage for a character’s internal conflict.
It’s always interesting to come back to your novel after you’ve stepped away from it for a while. This is what I plan to do — as I have done with the first two revisions — with my own novel. By late August, I will come back to it, and after reading through it a fourth time, I hope to find my characters more fully developed and the story more engaging. Until then, I plan to spend more time working on my blog, and hopefully, I will have the chance to edit a couple of short stories I wrote a while back and post them on my site.
I love internal dialogues, but they have to be well done. That’s the catch. A lot of writers will have some attempt at this, but handle it in an awkward way. The most frequent mistake I see is that the internal dialogue will come right in the middle of action sequences. So things are getting exciting, the adrenaline is pumping, I’m reading as fast as I can, and suddenly I get to a long passage explaining the main character’s thoughts on the morality of warfare – no thanks. That stuff is best reserved for after the battle, looking at the aftermath. In other words, reflection needs to be put in the appropriate place, not only for realism (who thinks about morality when they’ve got a big guy swinging a sword at them?), but also just for the reader’s attention.
Another big issue I have with internal dialogue as it is often handled is that it frequently doesn’t present any new information. Just to give you a terrible example off the top of my head: “Joe looked over the battlefield. There were so many bodies. It made him sad. Oh, so many families will be short a husband, son, or father, he thought. It makes me so sad!” – that’s an awful example, obviously, but it shows my point. Either the statements are so obvious that they don’t need to be said, or the narrator has already told us Joe’s feelings before allowing Joe to tell them to us himself. I can’t stand that!
Anyway, this is all rather ranty. I’m glad to hear that you feel positive when you come back to something you’ve written after giving it a break. My feelings tend more to be in line with “what is this? I wrote this? This is awful! I can never show anyone! I can’t believe I showed anyone when I first wrote it! What will those people think of me now? AAAH!” That’s usually why ever revision generally turns into a complete re-write which then requires its own revising. I’m a terrible writer, I really am.
Best of luck with your novel 🙂
Thanks, Grimalkin. I completely agree with everything you said. Internal dialogue has to be used at the right time, and — I’ve probably been guilty of this — but too much of it at once can be taxing on the reader. As for my novel, I basically did entire rewrites of the first two drafts, keeping more of the second than the first, but still did a lot of re-writing to get where I am now. I chopped off about 100 unecessary pages from the second draft, so the third draft ended up around 400 pages. I remember after finishing the second draft that a friend of mine really wanted to read it. I had already read back through a good bit of it, and he said “I really want to read it,” and I told him, “No, you don’t, it’s really bad. It still needs A LOT of editing.” But he insisted, and so I printed out and gave him a copy, which I don’t think he ever finished reading. No big surprise there; it was terrible.
I think this is an interesting take on rewriting. Rewriting is an essential part of writing, but it should not be allowed to smother one’s muse. When asked when his writings were considered complete, Marlowe replied, “When the curtain goes up.” Shakespeare was asked the same question about a decade later. Shax replied, “When I am dead.” Walt Whitman never did finish _Leaves of Grass_. I guess the point I am trying to make is the point you made earlier in your blog: write because you enjoy the craft (to paraphrase). I too am an inspiring writer–been at it for nearly 25 years, but according to agents and publishers, I am the author of the worst books ever written. Nonetheless, I love writing. I am not the greatest writer, but I know I am not the worst. After all, my writing has earned me an A.A. degree, a B.A. degree, and an M.A. degree in English Literature and Composition. I have taught college writing for six years and have taught secondary English for five years, which has enabled me to grow as a writer and a person. When I teach writing, I do more than pass on the essential skills to my students; I try to get them to love the art and love their own work no matter who tells them “It is not good enough.” Think about the “Good enough” phrase. As a teacher of writing, I can say with the utmost confidence that Barnes and Noble is filled with books that are… not so grand. It is not what is good; it is what sells that line the shelves. What is popular is usually never what is “good”; it just makes someone money. Sorry for babbling so much.
Cheers!
Allan
Allan, when I worked in a bookstore for 2 years, I picked up and read a lot of books, and there were many on the shelves that really made me question how these authors ever published anything. I know there are plenty of unpublished authors who deserve a chance, who have great potential, but for whatever reason, publishers and agents decide to go in a different direction. It’s mostly about what topics are hot, and what they — agents and publishers — feel will make them the most money. It is so much about the business side; talent is important, sure, but talent alone does not sell books. It helps to have a business plan, to be willing and know how to market yourself and your novel. Best of luck with your writing, and always — I’ll tell this to anyone — write what you love, not what is “hot” or what you think will sell just because other books on a certain topic are making money.
Brilliant point. I cannot agree with you more. This is the philosophy I pass on to both my college and my high school students. Never sweat over being “good enough” because that is such a small part of the publishing world. I had a student slave over a novel (hot topic) for two years, but by the time she finished the novel, the trend shifted. When I worked for a mid-sized publisher and a small magazine, many times I heard the phrase “This is hot topic.” Rarely did I hear the phrase “This is brilliantly written” (MBAs judging the work of MAs–not the literary value, but the dollar value). Fortunately, writers who love writing and love to share writing are not silenced into oblivian. We have web pages, blogs, and alternative means to publish, after all; hence, we can share and enjoy with the world. On another note, I look forward to reading your novel in whole.
Cheers!
Allan
Allan, you make a good point about writing on “hot” topics. Those trends can shift so quickly that your novel or book may not even be marketable by the time you finish. I’ve been working on my novel for six years now, but I don’t concern myself with trends. If I did, I would have never gotten as far as I did. I’m sure I would have become bored with it and moved on to another project, but I love the topic (medieval history) my novel is based on, and so the process of writing and even re-writing is enjoyable to me.
Before I ever started writing my current novel, I actually was working on expanding a short story into a longer novel, but I became bored with it after 20 pages or so because I realized I didn’t enjoy the subject matter. I knew I could never maintain enough momentum to finish an entire novel, and that’s when I switched to something I really enjoy.
For an interesting look at the labor and love of writing (and the eventual toll it takes on one author’s mind) take a look at the documentary Stone Reader which chronicles the filmmaker’s journey to find a recluse author who only wrote one novel. Interesting stuff.
I’ve heard of that documentary before. Sounds very interesting.