How the heck am I supposed to track my progress during revisions?
This is my current problem. I am in the beginning of my first revision of my Max Bear novel. I am reworking the characters and the plot. There are some avenues that need to be followed and others that are getting cut out of the story. I am truly happy with how it is shaping up. But how do I track my progress? Am I working enough on it or am I moving forward at all? When I wrote the first draft it was easy to track progress because I had a word count to track. But I am not writing yet. I haven’t gotten it to the point where I can start writing again to fix everything. So how do I show myself that I am making headway?
For some people this problem never rears its ugly head. They just go off and write. And when I am in the zone I feel the same way. I can write forever and not once worry about how far I am getting. It isn’t until the down time between writing comes along and I begin to wonder how far I have gotten and how far I still need to go. The questions of whether I am wasting time with plotting, world building, character sketches or half a billion other things come to bear. All of them are important in their own ways and they each have their place in writing. For me it is just a question of what and where that is. And here is what I have come up with so far.
I wrote the first draft of this novel after about 7 months. A majority of that time was prep work in the form of plotting and characters. Once I started writing I was off to the races. When I finished I let it sit for a couple months. Now that I am working on revisions I am itching to get back to writing and being off to the races again. So I have goals in mind to keep me on track and heading forward. Some are arbitrary so I getting that immediate feel good of accomplishing something. And some are there to keep me pushing ahead with purpose and gusto.
- Answer the following questions about my key characters (Character cards)
- What is their purpose in the story?
- What do they want?
- Who are they really?
- What do they look like?
- Quick down and dirty outline to use as a road map for the second draft
- Red pencil the manuscript for what stays and what goes
- Start writing
The long and the short of it is that I need clear goals with a time limit. This keeps me moving forward and gives me something to focus on. And it will ultimately get me to what I really need to do which is write the second draft. How long will all of this take? I am giving myself to the end of the week for the character cards. There should be no reason why I can’t get that done. From there I have until Wednesday to finish my outline and then Friday to make my manuscript bleed. And from there the real fun begins.
At the end of this draft, why not ask a knowledgeable friend to serve as beta reader? We all get too close to our own writing to see pacing/logic/plotting problems sometimes. Get some good feedback and then take on the next draft with a more defined goal.
That is exactly what I plan on doing. I am a big proponent of beta readers. The second I get to a complete second draft I am going to get copies out to beta readers for that exact purpose. I want to make sure that it all makes sense to some one who isn’t me before revisions to the third draft.
I just had a thought about beta readers. Do you have any suggestions on how to find them. There is the obvious friends and family. But what about finding fellow writers or others that are more into the genre or writing in general? Any thoughts on that?
I’m fortunate to know a couple of professional writers, but if you have long-time blogging friends whose expertise you respect, that’s an option. Freelance editors will probably give you the best advice, but, naturally, you’ll have to pay for it and may want to buzz through a further draft or two before you go that route.
I guess the traditional method is the writer’s group. Like you, I have a family, so it’s hard to carve out the time. Family members and friends are more likely to tell you what they think you want to hear, as you’ve probably experienced. Plus, you really need beta readers who know the fundamentals of storytelling so they can articulate the reasons are certain passage or story element doesn’t work.
I doubt I’m telling you anything you don’t know, but it’s my experience. My main beta reader is a published writer, and her advice has been invaluable.
I think it is awesome that you have such good people to help as beta readers. And I have thought about looking into a writing group. I just recently moved to the east coast and haven’t spent any time looking for a good group of writers here. One of the many to do’s on my writing list. You definitely hit the nail on the head with the need of beta readers that know the fundamentals of storytelling and writing. That is what I am looking for. And if I can come up with a list of people now while I am working toward the second draft then all the better. That way I can begin asking right before I finish and can hand them it right off the proverbial presses. Thanks for your thoughts on the subject. It is always good to get others’ experiences when it comes to writing. Writing is a community and the more we work together the better it is for everyone.
Cheers to that. I’ve learned a lot from our fellow wordpress writers.