Revision & Self-Editing

1. Writing is a Craft: Continuous learning and practice are essential.

You're a writer, not someone who wants to write some books.

Embrace the journey. Becoming a writer is a lifelong commitment to a craft, not just a one-time project. Like mastering golf, it requires continuous study, practice, and analysis to improve your skills and develop a natural "feel" for storytelling. Don't just write; live the writing life.

Learn constantly. Increase your knowledge of the craft by reading widely, recording observations from books and life, and actively assimilating techniques through practice exercises. This builds your internal "storehouse" of knowledge, allowing techniques to flow naturally when you write. Pay your dues by dedicating yourself to this ongoing process.

Trust the flow. When drafting, let your creativity flow without overthinking technique; the learned skills will emerge. Later, self-editing and revision allow you to analyze and correct problems. This cycle of learning, feeling, writing, analyzing, and correcting is the path to making your writing better, over and over again.

2. The LOCK System: Build a strong story core (Lead, Objective, Confrontation, Knockout).

If the LOCK elements are in place, the story will be solid, guaranteed.

The core engine. The LOCK system provides the four non-negotiable essentials for a strong narrative: Lead, Objective, Confrontation, and Knockout. These elements create the fundamental tension and forward motion that keeps readers engaged. Ensure these are solid before refining other aspects.

Key components:

• Lead: A compelling character readers bond with (identification, sympathy, likeability, inner conflict).
• Objective: A crucial "want" for the Lead (to get something or get away from something).
• Confrontation: Opposition (preferably personal) that creates obstacles to the Lead's objective, held together by "adhesive" (duty, place, self).
• Knockout: A satisfying, unpredictable ending that resolves the central conflict.

Strengthen your story. Regularly assess your manuscript against the LOCK elements. If the story drags, check if the objective is strong enough, the opposition is challenging, or the adhesive is weak. Making these core elements powerful elevates the entire narrative.

3. Characters Drive Story: Create active, compelling characters with depth.

Living, vibrating human beings are still the secret and magic formula of great and enduring writing.

No wimps allowed. Compelling characters, especially the Lead, are essential for reader connection. They must be active, not passive, showing "grit" (guts in action) in the face of challenges. Readers bond with characters who do things, not just react.

Key character traits:

• Grit: Courage shown through action, not just thought.
• Wit: Natural, often self-deprecating humor that enlivens dialogue.
• It: Personal magnetism, charm, or fascination that draws others in.
• Attitude: A unique worldview or slant that permeates their voice/thoughts.
• Unselfishness/Honor: Caring for others or adhering to ethical principles, even at personal cost.

Go deep. Develop your characters' inner lives, including thoughts, feelings, and inner conflicts. Explore their backgrounds, flaws, and secrets to add layers of complexity. Even minor and opposition characters should be fully realized with their own motivations and distinct audio-visual markers to add spice and tension.

4. Dialogue as Action: Write purposeful, tense, and subtext-rich dialogue.

Dialogue in fiction is just another form of character action.

Every word counts. Fictional dialogue is not real-life speech; it is intentional and compressed, serving to advance plot, reveal character, or reflect theme. Every exchange should contain tension or conflict, even subtle inner turmoil. Avoid "happy talk" and dialogue that merely conveys information without dramatic purpose.

Essentials of great dialogue:

• Essential to the story's core elements.
• Comes authentically from one character to another.
• Contains conflict or tension.
• Sounds right for the overall piece and each individual character (vocabulary, regionalisms, syntax).
• Is compressed and avoids unnecessary words or tangents.
• Is rich with subtext (unspoken layers of story, character, theme).

Tools for impact. Use techniques like orchestrating character differences, assigning Parent/Adult/Child roles, dropping words for realism, casting characters in your mind, acting out scenes, curving language for freshness, placing exposition within confrontation, employing the sidestep to avoid "on the nose" responses, using silence effectively, and minimizing words during revision. Think of dialogue as a weapon characters use to achieve their scene objectives.

5. Show, Don't Tell: Reveal, don't state, using action and sensory detail.

If you want your fiction to take off in the reader's mind, you must grasp the difference between showing and telling.

Immerse the reader. Showing is like watching a movie scene – the reader experiences events through character actions, dialogue, and sensory details. Telling is like recounting the movie – the author states facts or emotions directly. Showing creates a more powerful and memorable experience, allowing readers to feel along with the characters.

When to show vs. tell:

• Show: Use for moments of high emotional intensity, crucial turning points, or when revealing character traits through behavior. Employ actions, metaphors, similes, and specific sensory details.
• Tell: Use for transitions, summarizing less important events, or providing necessary background information quickly. Keep telling brief and focused.

Avoid lazy telling. Don't simply state that a character is "sad" or "brave." Show their sadness through trembling hands or a slumped posture. Show their bravery through a specific action they take despite fear. Weave details into the narrative rather than dumping them in large blocks.

6. Scenes as Building Blocks: Structure scenes with objective, obstacle, and outcome.

If you make each scene stand on its own and contribute to the story in an essential way, your novel will be structurally solid.

Purposeful units. Scenes are the fundamental building blocks of your novel. Each scene must serve a purpose: move the story through action, characterize through reaction, set up future events, or add spice. Weak scenes can cause the story to crumble.

Action scene structure:

• Objective: What the viewpoint character wants to achieve in the scene.
• Obstacle: What person, place, thing, or circumstance prevents the character from achieving the objective (outer or inner conflict).
• Outcome: How the scene ends, preferably with the Lead in a worse position to increase tension for subsequent scenes.

Reaction scene structure:

• Emotion: The character's initial feeling after an event.
• Analysis: The character processes the situation.
• Decision: The character decides what to do next, leading to a new objective/action scene.

Engage the reader. Start scenes "in medias res" (in the middle of things) as close to the central action as possible to immediately hook the reader. Ensure every scene has tension, whether from outer conflict or inner turmoil. Use summary for transitions between scenes, getting the reader from one point to the next quickly without unnecessary detail.

7. Setting as Character: Bring the world to life with telling details and sensory input.

Think of it as another character in your book.

More than just backdrop. Setting is crucial for immersing the reader in the story world. Treat your setting as an active participant, offering conflict, influencing characters, and contributing to the mood. Research locations thoroughly, even familiar ones, using all five senses.

Effective description:

• Use telling details that are specific, unique, and instantly bring a place or character to life.
• Weave details into the character's action and perspective rather than presenting them in large, static blocks.
• Engage all the senses (sight, sound, smell, touch, taste), not just sight.
• Use description to create and enhance mood, making details do "double duty."
• Be specific (e.g., "orange snowplows" instead of "snowplows").

Avoid descriptive dumps. Don't overload the reader with information, especially research. Select only essential details and marble them throughout the narrative. For key moments, slow down the pacing and focus on specific, heightened descriptive details to make the scene stand out.

8. Structure Matters: Master beginnings, middles, and ends for flow and impact.

Your beginnings must grab. Your middles must hold. Your ends must satisfy.

The three acts. A novel naturally unfolds in three parts: beginning (Act I), middle (Act II), and end (Act III). Understanding the purpose of each act helps structure your story effectively. These acts are stitched together by a disturbance and two doorways.

Act breakdown:

• Act I (Beginning): Introduce the Lead, story world, and tone. Compel the reader to continue by introducing a disturbance (change/threat to equilibrium) and leading to the first doorway (forces Lead into main trouble, around 1/5 mark).
• Act II (Middle): The longest section, focusing on the confrontation between the Lead and opposition. Deepen character relationships and set up the final battle. Leads to the second doorway (major setback/discovery, around 3/4 mark).
• Act III (End): The final battle, tying up loose ends, and leaving the reader with resonance (a satisfying, unique feeling).

Plan your journey. Whether you outline extensively or discover as you go, knowing the key structural points helps maintain momentum. Middles often drag, so ensure continuous conflict and rising stakes. Endings are critical and must provide a sense of closure, even if ambiguous, avoiding predictability.

9. Weave Your Theme: Integrate big ideas subtly through character and conflict.

Theme is like that, too. You don't want it to overwhelm your story.

Meaning emerges. Theme is the big idea or meta-message of your novel. It often emerges naturally from the characters' struggles and conflicting values. Focus on creating real characters with passionate commitments, and the theme will reveal itself through their actions and choices.

Avoid preaching. Don't force a theme by creating cardboard characters who represent abstract ideas or by inserting authorial lectures. Theme should be woven subtly into the narrative fabric, like the woof in a tapestry, supporting the plot (warp) without overpowering it.

Weaving techniques:

• Dialogue: Integrate thematic ideas into character conversations, especially during conflict. Ensure the dialogue sounds authentic to the character, not the author.
• Inner Monologue: Use character thoughts to reveal their internal struggle with thematic concepts, keeping bursts short within action or developing a compelling internal style for longer passages.
• Metaphors, Motifs, Symbols: Use recurring objects, images, or concepts to represent thematic elements, adding layers of meaning for the reader.

Seek resonance. The ending is a key place to reinforce theme, leaving the reader with a lasting impression that artfully concentrates the meaning of the entire work.

10. Cultivate Your Voice: Develop a unique style through reading and practice.

Voice is your basic approach, the sound of the words, the tone of the sentences, paragraphs, and pages.

Your unique sound. Voice and style are the distinct qualities of your prose. They should emerge organically from your writing, not be forced or overly conspicuous. Your voice is your basic sound; your style is its application throughout the novel.

Finding your voice:

• Read widely: Absorb the rhythms and techniques of other writers, but don't imitate.
• Let it flow: Write first drafts without censoring to discover your natural voice.
• Experiment: Try exercises like the first-to-third POV flip, writing long run-on sentences, or turning descriptive passages into poems to stretch your stylistic boundaries.
• Emulate favorites: Study passages from authors you admire to heighten your awareness of craft, but maintain your own core voice.

Refine your style. Pay attention to the music of your words, sentence structure, and paragraph flow. Use similes, metaphors, and unexpected phrasing to add freshness and "unobtrusive poetry." Embrace the good aspects of minimalism (economical use of modifiers) but avoid ambiguity for its own sake. Write hot (with passion) and revise cool (with critical distance).

11. Revision is Essential: Rewriting is where good writing happens.

Rewriting is essential to the production of a great novel.

The real work. Finishing the first draft is a significant accomplishment, but it's just the beginning. Revision is where your novel truly takes shape, transforming the raw material into a polished work. It's not a chore, but a crucial part of the craft that distinguishes professionals.

Why revise?

• It makes you a better writer by reinforcing craft principles.
• It marks you as a professional to editors and agents.
• It builds confidence and allows you to stretch creatively.
• It is its own reward when you see the improvement.

Take the long view. Understand that becoming a successful novelist involves years of learning and practice, including dedicated revision. Don't expect perfection in the first draft. Be willing to cut and change, but also work through your plan systematically.

Manage the mental game. Approach revision with a positive outlook. Set up reward systems, stay healthy, and embrace the process. Don't overthink; sometimes you just have to keep writing/revising because it's the only way to finish.

12. Systematic Revision: Approach rewriting methodically, from big picture to polish.

Much better is to go from large to small.

Method over chaos. Avoid making random changes page by page. A systematic approach, starting with the most crucial elements and working down to the details, is far more effective. This ensures you address foundational issues before polishing the surface.

The first read-through:

• Take a cool-down break (2-4 weeks) after finishing the first draft.
• Prepare a fresh copy and create a positive mental outlook.
• Read the entire manuscript quickly (2-4 sittings) like a fresh reader, making only minimal notes (dragging sections, incomprehensible sentences, places to add).
• Analyze the overall story: Does it make sense? Is the plot compelling? Do characters jump off the page? Are stakes high?
• Consider writing a summary or using outside readers for perspective.

The checklist approach. After the initial overview, use a checklist (like the one provided in the book) to go through the manuscript multiple times, focusing on specific areas in each pass: Character, Plot, Structure (Openings, Middles, Endings), Scenes, Exposition, Voice/Style/POV, Setting/Description, Dialogue, and finally, The Polish. Address major issues first before refining sentences and word choices.

Last updated: May 19, 2025