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4 Key Strategies For Revising Your Story

You’ve finished the first draft of a story. Congratulations! Whether it’s 2.5k or 250k words long, you’ve achieved something beautiful. Take the time to recognize that.

Once you’ve properly celebrated, you can begin the revision process. Some first drafts are cleaner than others, but nobody writes their perfect story on the first try. Even if you’re an architect who does a ton of preparation before you write a single word, chances are you’ll still need to clean up your work.

So where should you begin with revising your story? You probably recognize that your work has issues, however big or small, but how do you go about fixing them? The good news is this; once you’ve identified the problems with your story, fixing them is easy. As for the bad news, identifying those problems can prove difficult.

As Albert Einstein once said, “If I had an hour to solve a problem I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.” As such, my strategies for revising your story are designed to help you think about your work from new angles. Once you understand the problems, you can get on to crafting solutions.

1. Take Some Space

You need to identify the issues in your work, but how can you do that if you haven’t taken a step away before revising your story? You need to look on your writing with fresh eyes.

Don’t start editing the day after you finish your manuscript. Remember what I said about celebrating your achievement? Throw a party, or lay back for a while. If you can’t sit still (like me), work on other projects. Take a week, two weeks, or six months to get away. The amount of time needed will vary from person to person, story to story, and draft to draft.

For example, I finished a manuscript two weeks ago. I plan on starting on the next draft tomorrow. For the second draft, I will do no more than clean up my writing and reconcile plot holes, so I don’t need to come in so fresh.

However, once I finish that draft, I will likely wait months before I start on a third. Since I expect to make large alterations between the second and third drafts, I’ll need to come in as fresh as possible.

2. Remember Your Inspiration

What was the original impetus for writing this story? It might’ve been a character, a scene, a setting, or a spaceship. Remember what magic filled your heart, what excitement rushed through your veins, that brought you to sit down at the keyboard and engage in such a grueling task. Is that magic still present? Does that magic ring throughout the whole of the work? If not, where can you try to infuse that magic when revising your story?

Readers will know if your voice is disingenuous. And in my experience, the most genuine part of any story is the first seed from which the rest of the writing blooms. If you can reconnect with that seed, you can establish stronger roots. And that foothold will allow your story to blossom.

3. Map Your Story

Maybe you planned out your plot beats before you started writing. Even so, I doubt everything turned out exactly as expected. Details both small and large change as you write. So before you start revising your story, identify its major points. Define the journey.

Do you take any detours? Are they necessary? What do they add? Could you achieve the same end without leaving the path?

Do the stakes increase as the story goes on? Does your protagonist find themselves in situations of greater and greater consequence until they’re forced to confront their worst fears?

What promises do you make to your reader at the beginning of the story? Do you make good on those promises at the end of the story?

With your roadmap, you’ll act more confidently as a navigator for your readers when revising your story.

4. Find Readers

Eventually, you’ll have to let other people read what you’ve written. Terrifying, I know. But no one can look at your story with fresher eyes than someone who knows nothing about it. So, once you’ve written a second or third draft, find beta readers. They can be friends, family, industry professionals, or random people who you pay in Milky Way bars. (Side note: please pay people adequately for their labor in a government-backed currency. To my knowledge, Milky Way bars do not satisfy this requirement.)

Have your readers tell you what they honestly thought of your story. Not how they would’ve written your story, but how they enjoyed it as a reader. Did they feel the way you wanted them to feel? Why, or why not? What could you change to rectify this?

With the four tools I’ve described in this article, you should have a decent idea of where you might begin in revising your story. If you’ve already taken your time away and are ready to jump back in, happy editing! And if not, enjoy some well-deserved time off.

– AJG

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Countdown Articles Writing

4 Spooky Writing Prompts to Warm You Up for NaNoWriMo 2022

Tomorrow is Halloween. Hear nerds around the world rejoice, for cosplaying will be socially encouraged for the next 24 hours. Hooray! Shortly thereafter, hear writers around the world clack at their keyboards, for National Novel Writing Month begins on the first day of November.

Have you completed your plotting, your world-building, your outlining? Do you already know what your main characters’ favorite fruits are? Good, good. But are you ready to write approximately 1,667 words a day? If not, why don’t you warm up with some fun Halloween-themed writing prompts? Set a timer for thirty minutes, and don’t stop writing. When the timer goes off, wrap up the story, and go back to edit if you like. Or don’t! NaNoWriMo is about first drafts, nothing more.

Here are four spooky prompts to get you warmed up.

1. The Necromancer

You come from a long line of dark wizards. Over the past few years, you’ve perfected a resurrection spell. Now, you can finally ask your great-grandfather where he left the family book of spells–and why he hid it.

2. Parsecs From Home

You’re on a space ranging mission in a vast, unexplored corner of the universe. To your surprise, you see another spacecraft in the distance. However, your bioscanners tell you that there are no life forms on board.

3. A Bigger Fish

All sorts of monsters have been spotted outside your village of late, but there have been no casualties thus far. When a werewolf is captured and interrogated, you find out that the monsters are not coming to your village. No, they’re running away from something. But what?

4. The Amnesiac Prisoner

You wake up in the dungeons of a dark castle situated atop a cliff. Distressingly, you have no memory of how you got there, and your jailer is not particularly talkative. Your memory begins to return when you place a hand on your chest, for there you feel the bulge of a key, sewn under your skin.

I’m far from experienced when it comes to writing short stories. In fact, every time I try, I inevitably seem to find myself plotting another novel. Nonetheless, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. has some wonderful creative writing advice that I feel applies especially to writers of short fiction. Every sentence must do one of two things–reveal character or advance the action. With that in mind, go forth and conquer!

– AJG

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Writing

Write, and Write Often

You should write.

I don’t care what you write, as long as you write.

You should write a grocery list, a letter to your parents, an e-mail to your boss, or a poem about your dog. At the end of your day, write about the guy at the coffee shop who cut you in line (his haircut was stupid). About the kid who complimented you on your glasses. About the bird you saw and the pasta you tried.

Write about it, write about it.

Why should you write? There are many, many reasons. But there’s only one reason that really, truly matters. You should write because writing will make you a lovelier person.

When you take the time to reflect on your experiences, on the people you’ve met, on the things you’ve done, you remember gratitude. You practice empathy. You articulate what otherwise would’ve gone unsaid. Don’t bottle up your happiness, your anger, your love. Write, write, write.

When you write a poem, you’re taking care of yourself. That’s true even if your poem is sappy or cringey or pretentious or if it doesn’t rhyme or follow any meter. What is a poem, anyway? Don’t think about it too hard, just write one.

What euphoria have you felt akin to expressing the inexpressible? Isn’t that feeling alone worth your while? So rip up your poem when you’re done, and burn it for good measure. Or show it to a friend, and ignore the unsolicited advice they give you on how to make it better. Then, do a silly dance in your bedroom, sing a silly song in the shower, or take a silly picture of a house plant. It’s good for you.

You should write because you’re scared to write. What if you mess up your story? Or say something about yourself that makes you uncomfortable? Good, mess up your story. Good, be uncomfortable. I would rather that than have you never write your story. Than have you never know who you are.

You should write because it makes you kind. And there’s only one rule that I know of, babies–you’ve got to be kind.

I want you to be lovely. So write.

– AJG

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Writing

Finding the Time and Willpower to Write

How many people have you met who’ve said that they intend on writing a book in their lifetime? Storytelling is innate in our human nature; everyone with a pulse has something they’re excited to share. Acting on that desire is the difficult part.

How many people do you know who have a regular writing schedule? I would venture to guess that you would give a significantly smaller number in response to this question than the first. How many people do you know who have finished writing the first draft of a novel? Unless you have connections in the industry, you can probably count them on one hand.

If everyone wants to write a novel, why have so few of us done it? Well, writing takes time and willpower. And having effort to spare on personal endeavors is a high privilege. If you’re working 40 hours a week, keeping up with housework, regularly exercising, and maintaining a social life, is it even possible to find the time to write? The answer is yes, and I’ll show you how.

Even if you don’t have so many responsibilities, writing a book is hard. When you write, you bare your soul. Your thoughts move from your brain, down your arms, into the pen, and onto paper. What if people think that those thoughts are silly? What if you make an awful job of it? The written word feels more permanent than the spoken one, so mustn’t you make sure each one is perfect? The answer is no, and I’ll show you why.

Get serious about finishing your novel.

Over a month ago, I wrote an article containing tips for fledgling novelists. In that piece, I concerned myself with sharing information on how to improve in the craft. However, there’s no more surefire way to improve than by writing. In this piece, I intend purely on increasing your writing output.

The more you write, the more you separate yourself from the “I’ll eventually write a book” majority. Okay, but this is much easier said than done. Where do you find the time and willpower to write?

Think of writing as going to the gym. When you finally get that gym membership, you’re feeling stoked. You always wanted to have a six-pack and massive biceps, and now, you’re making it happen. You have an amazing session, maybe two, maybe nine. But around week three, you start to taper off. The allure of doing thirty minutes on the elliptical and crunches before a full day of work diminishes.

What are your options? You can stop going to the gym, or you can continue to go despite the fact that you’re not feeling inspired.

This is exactly how your writing practice will feel. No matter what, you’re going to have periods of time where you just aren’t feeling it. You may feel great while writing the first 30k words of your novel, but now you have 50k more to go, and you’re losing steam. Here is where habit and persistence come into play. When you hit that wall, you have to keep going. You can’t sit around and wait for inspiration to strike again. Because when it does, it will probably come in the form of a new story. So you’ll scrap the manuscript you have going, and you’ll start something new that you never finish.

You need to finish a manuscript. In my experience, finishing my first (horrible) book was the biggest aid to my growth as a writer.

Find the time to write consistently.

But what if you don’t have the time to write every morning, even if you possess the stick-to-itiveness? That’s okay. You’re a busy person. But I’m absolutely certain that with some restructuring, you can find at least some time to write. Maybe not every day, but at least weekly. What if you cut out your two-hour TV binge session on Sunday? Can you, instead of spending thirty minutes on your phone every night before bed, spend that time writing? What if you frontload your chores, so you have a chunk of time at the end of the week?

The trick here is that any amount of time is enough to write a book, as long as you’re consistent. Let’s do some math. Obviously, writing isn’t always as dry and calculable as this, but bear with me. Say you take my advice, and you find two hours at the end of every week. In those two hours, you average 500 words/hour. So you write 1000 words a week.

A year from now, you will have a 52k-word novel.

“A whole year to finish my novel?” you might ask, exasperated. “That’s way too long!” Well, if you can’t find more time (or write faster), that’s how long it will take. So start now. Otherwise, this time next year, you’ll have exactly as much as you had this time last year. Zip.

Writing faster isn’t a bad option. You can increase your average amount of words per hour by brainstorming before your writing sessions. If you have some rote tasks to complete during the week, use that time to think about your story. Say these plotting sessions increase your writing output to 1000 words/hour. Now, you can finish your book in six months.

But don’t sweat the imperfections.

Time isn’t always the issue. Sometimes, it’s the mental struggle. The feeling that your words won’t be good enough. That your book is progressing poorly. The dark night of the soul.

Remember this: editing a page full of words is a lot easier than editing a blank one.

If you finish your first draft a year from now, pop a bottle of champagne and celebrate. Then, a few months later, reread it. At that point, you can confront how awful it is. But all that work wasn’t for naught. Now, you have a broken story on the page. That’s a whole lot better than having a perfect story in your head. You can fix a broken story on paper. You can’t share a perfect story if you never articulate it.

If you can find a little time to write, use it to the fullest. If you’re holding back from writing because you want everything to be perfect, trust in the revision process. Your story will never be perfect. But it can be written. Your actions decide whether or not your novel ever makes it to paper.

The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is now.

– AJG

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Are You An Architect Or A Gardener? (Outlining vs. Discovery Writing)

George R.R. Martin famously said, “I think there are two types of writers, the architects and the gardeners.” One type of writer plans everything about their story ahead of time, as an architect blueprints a building. The other type of writer, the gardener, plants seeds. They water and nurture these seeds through their writing until they have a story. This metaphor does not illustrate a new concept; there are other terms that point to the same ideas. For example, architects and gardeners have also been called planners and pantsers. Nonetheless, Martin’s metaphor does illustrate the concept well. His quote is a useful starting point for determining whether you’re a writer who prefers outlining or discovery writing.

Outlining

How does one create an outline? This is a difficult question to answer because there are an infinite number of correct ways to do so. Each writer is going to outline differently. What helps one writer in their outline may actively hinder another. A better question would be: why would one outline?

A writer might create an outline so that they can get all of the technical bits out of the way before they sit down in front of a blank page. You already know what’s going to happen, and you already know your characters’ motivations. Thus, you can clack away at your keyboard without worrying about what happens next.

Additionally, an outliner will likely have a more cohesive story by the end of their first draft than would a discovery writer. The gardener will need to do more work on the back end of the story, trimming the plants they’ve grown.

One shortcoming of outlining is that sometimes, it may cause you to get stuck in your pre-writing phase. When does the worldbuilding end? At a certain point, no more good can be done by planning and plotting. You just need to write. But all your outlining might make you feel pressured to write the perfect words and nothing else. Unfortunately, this is impossible. Your first drafts will need work. The sooner you finish them, the sooner you can get to doing this work. Get out of your own way, and let the writing happen.

Discovery Writing

You’ve got a vague idea of some characters. You’ve got a setting, more or less. You know your genre. And you’ve got an inkling of an idea that makes you really excited. If you’re a discovery writer, you don’t need anything else.

Discovery writing is a great way of making sure you get words on the page. The book unfolds as you write. You keep putting your characters in new situations without determining ahead of time how they’re going to get out. This can also keep you excited, as even you don’t know what’s going to happen next.

But what happens when you realize you took a wrong turn some 10k words ago? Will you have the strength to move those words to a separate document (don’t delete them!) and start over? Or will you close out the manuscript, never to touch it again?

Say you do have the strength to keep trucking forward. When you reach the end of the draft, will you have the patience to go back and make sense of your messy manuscript? Editing a full page is easier than editing a blank one. But seeing your story in a state of such disarray can get discouraging, and you may fall into a negative line of thinking. You may abandon what you deem to be a “bad story,” that really just needs tuning up.

Which Method Is Right For You?

More than likely, the answer to this question is… both! In varying degrees. You see, architects and gardeners rarely exist in absolute forms. Rather, these terms should be used to indicate a spectrum. One may consider themselves an architect or a gardener, but they’ll still utilize tricks from the other side as necessary. Even in Martin’s quote, he says he’s “more a gardener than an architect” (italics mine). Not completely one or the other.

In my own writing, I’ve found that I need a basic outline. I need to determine a few qualities about each of my characters. I need an idea of the major plot beats. And I need much of the setting details ahead of time. With these, I can sit down in front of a blank page with confidence. The dots are there; I just need to connect them.

And in connecting them, I discover new character traits and motivations. New intrigues in my plot. Nooks and crannies in my setting that I couldn’t see ahead of time.

Will this work for you? Maybe. There’s only one way to find out. Try it! Or try something else, something that you suspect would work for you. In reading this article, I’m sure you already have an idea what you might prefer.

So write and experiment. Have faith, and keep at it.

– AJG

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4 Crucial Tips for Fledgling Novelists

Throughout grade school, I made several attempts to write novels. My most successful attempt was in high school; I managed to write the first 25,000 words of a fantasy novel in the span of two weeks. I was so proud of myself! Granted, I’ve looked back on that story, and it’s rife with rookie mistakes. But without writing those words, I never would have believed in myself enough to finish my first novel a few years later. And now, I’m at a point where finishing my projects isn’t a question–it’s a given.

Moreover, as I continue to finish first drafts and to revise them, I feel myself growing as a writer. Things that once required my constant attention, such as minimizing use of passive voice, now come as instinct. And yet, I can still feel so much room to grow.

What helped me get from having seven unfinished manuscripts in my writing folder to writing multiple first drafts a year? And how did I become a better writer in the process?

If you’re a fledgling novelist, whether you’re about to start your twelfth attempt at writing a novel or you’ve yet to write a word, these tips should help you finish your stories and see long-term development.

1. Form a Writing Habit

Start writing your first novel today.

You may not want to hear this. But there’s an incredibly simple way to become a better and more prolific writer. It has nothing to do with extensive plotting, watching writing lectures, or waking up at the perfect time every single day.

No, the trick is this: write. A lot.

I mentioned that I finished my first novel a few years out of high school. Well, that one was pretty bad, too. Of course, while I was writing it, I felt sure that it would see publication in no time. Accepting the truth about the quality of my novel didn’t come easy.

But without finishing that novel, I never would have finished the next one, the next one, nor the next one.

We’re creatures of habit. And if we sit down to write every single day, maybe at a certain time of day or after a certain activity, we’re going to find it a lot easier to see progress in the long term. Rather than writing 25,000 words in a two week burst, you’re going to see yourself accumulating 100,000+ words over the course of months and years.

And even if your work is “bad” in the beginning (such a broad and subjective qualifier), don’t get discouraged. No one needs to see that work. As with any other skill, you can’t expect to be a master straight away. You need time to exercise all your different writing muscles.

As Neil Gaiman says, “Assume that you have a million words inside you that are absolute rubbish and you need to get them out before you get to the good ones.”

So stop saying you’re in the “research phase” of your novel and write consistently. You can worry about constructing a fictional language for your fantasy race of not-elves later. You’ll get to those good words a lot sooner if you chip away at the bad ones every day. Even if you’re only writing a hundred words a day. Or fifty a night.

2. Read, Read, Read

Learn from the works that work.

In On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, Stephen King writes, “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.”

Most of your development as a writer will come from writing. The second most beneficial activity is reading. If you can write and read consistently over time, you’re perhaps 90% percent of the way there. The other 10% is revision, feedback, and querying, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

I can’t stress this enough. Read, read, read. Read anything and everything you can get your hands on. Get a library card. Visit used book stores. Ask friends for recommendations. Reread your old favorites. Not only will you grow your vocabulary and learn what makes a good story, but you’ll also learn what you like. You’ll mimic the voices of the authors you love before you find your own. That’s okay. Figure out what you enjoy, and write something that you would want to read. Chances are, someone else will too.

If you read slow, that’s also okay. The key here is consistency. Can you do fifty pages a day? No? What about ten? Five? If you can’t read every day, what if you read a whole book every Sunday? Find a way to fit it into your schedule. Make the time, and you will be rewarded.

3. Revise and Reflect

Get ready for some criticism.

When you’ve formed a consistent habit of reading and writing, it’s time to work some new muscles. They’re related to the ones you’ve already exercised, but they’re also surprisingly different. Go through your first drafts a couple months after you’ve written them. How would you improve them now that you’ve grown as a writer? Don’t be afraid to say that you’d rip them up and start from scratch. Writing a bad novel gives you key information on what does and doesn’t work, so be honest.

Once you’ve done some editing on your own, show your work to friends and other writers. Form or join a writing group. Others will have perspectives on your writing that you would never have expected, not if you guessed at them for a hundred years. These perspectives are extraordinarily beneficial, even when they’re harsh.

However, be careful not to let others’ advice discourage you. Even well-meaning advice can be detrimental. Other writers have a tendency to say, “If it were me, I would have written it like this…” They didn’t write it. You did. Mitigate their advice through the lens of the story you’re trying to tell. But before you dismiss their advice, ask yourself if you’re being honest or stubborn.

4. Believe in Yourself

You will finish your first novel.

As Syrio tells Arya in George R.R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones, “The man who fears losing has already lost.”

Forming any good and healthy habit is hard. Fitness, dietary, and financial habits all come to mind. Think of the healthy habits you’ve successfully formed, and think of how many times you failed on your way there. Writing is no different. You’re going to trip and stumble and fall and spend six months on the worst novel anyone’s ever seen, and maybe you’ll stop writing for a while.

Don’t give up. You’re still a writer.

Very intentionally, I chose not to use the words “aspiring writer” in the title of this article. If you enjoy writing, what else do you need to consider yourself a writer? Don’t be afraid to assign yourself that label, especially if it helps you feel more legitimate in your work. You don’t need to wait until you quit your day job to be a writer.

In fact, I would argue that everyone should be a writer. Articulating one’s thoughts in a more permanent medium than speech begets reflection and development.

So write consistently. If for no one else, then for you.

– AJG

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