The Place For My Writers Notes

Original posting 20 November 2007

Black to faxing up with Plot and Structure (24)

Let's see, where were we? Deep inside Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell. Chapter 11 on Revising Your Plot to be exacting. We'd looked at steps one to three - let it cool, prepare yourself, and read it through. Next?

Step 4: Brood over it. Take little time and think about what you found in reading. Bell suggests about a week! During this time, jot down notes, or maybe put down some thoughts in a journal, but don't jump into revisions. Look over your notes.

Step 5: Write the Second draft. Two big approaches to this. One is to start over and just write everything fresh. The other is to use copy-and-paste, revising and adding where needed. Use the one that works best for you, but don't resist a major rewrite where needed.

Step 6: Refine. Set the draft aside for awhile, then take another look at it. Tighten, cut, deepen as needed, but it should be getting pretty close this time. One thing to watch for are your "darlings"- the words, phrases, or bits of business that are there to please you, the writer. If you think they are going to distract the reader, cut.

Step 7: Polish. Now it's time to check the details and make it shine. Look at each scene and check:

1. Is there a good solid hook to pull the reader in at the beginning?
2. Are suspenseful scenes drawn out to raise the tension?
3. Can you delay giving the reader information and explanations? A little puzzlement and tension helps keep the reader awake!
4. Are there enough surprises?
5. Are character reaction scenes deep and interesting?
6. Do the scene and chapter endings have prompts to make the readers keep reading?
7. Are there places you can replace a description of how a character feels with actions?
8. Are your words visual, sensory-laden ones?

Then check the dialogue. Some questions:

1. Cut words. Even Cyrano had to breathe, and talked in short phrases, not long intricate paragraphs.
2. Make sure both sides, and even some spear carriers, get good lines.
3. Does your dialogue surprise the reader and raise the tension? Let the characters outfox each other, and tease the reader en passant.
4. Make sure there is conflict in the dialogue, even among friends.
5. (not in Bell's list, but tink recommends) Make sure your characters have their own voices - they shouldn't all talk the same way. One way to check - if you take the attribution tags (all those "he saids" and "she saids") off, can you still tell who is talking?

Okay? Feel free to add your own final checks to get that polish just right. Maybe you know you need to check accept and except to make sure you are using the right one, or that no one could possibly scratch his chin on every page? Whatever, add it in.

Exercises? Bell suggests three. First is to grab a hunk of your writing and try the read-through markup. Read and mark where the story drags, where the sentences don't make sense, where you think you might need to add, and where you may need to cut. Second, check the scene starts and endings in your sample. Do they have good hooks and prompts? Think about some alternatives, pick the best, and make the revisions. Third, as you are reading novels, keep track of the four areas - drag, nonsense, add, cut. If things work or don't work for you as a reader, try to figure out why - and how you can use it or improve it.

There we go. Revision in a nutshell. Take a look at self-editing for authors if you want a bit more depth. And next week, we'll take a look at Chapter 12 and the ever-popular question of just how many plots there are, anyway?