This is my first attempt at a novel length work. I've been reasonably good with writing short fiction and stage plays in the past. I'm learning just how different this process can be, especially when it comes to revisions.
The first revision resulted in an entire rewrite of nearly 2/3 of the book. This pass I've just completed probably rewrote another 30%. Entire chapters were scrapped, rebuilt from the ground up, and in some cases moved.
I hope I've cleaned up all the plot holes and character inconsistencies at this point.
The next pass will be targeting passive voice, word choice, and grammar. It should be considerably faster as I've been doing some of that on this pass I've just finished. Still, I'm putting it out there for Critique Partners (my post on CPSeek.com is getting no love so far) to have a go at it with the intent to get fresh writerly eyes on Plot and Character (please! please! please don't look at grammar just yet!).
The novel isn't the only thing that's getting revised either. Thanks to some help from Lauren Spieller and this epic post on her blog, my Query has been getting some love too. Distilling 100,000 words to a single page query has been frightening. I can only hope I've done a better job on the story itself.
Even if this novel never sees the light of day I'm better for it. I've had a lot of fun and learned a great deal along the way that will help with the next one.
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