September 7, 2009

“Your manuscript doesn’t meet our current needs.” Anyone who receives this nondescript rejection assumes that her manuscript needs revising, but what’s wrong with it? What’s missing?

We often tell new authors that “writing is rewriting.” However, the actual process of revising is difficult to explain. It includes so much on so many levels! There are basics of character and plot and conflict. On deeper levels, appropriate language must convey theme and motivation. It all must engage the reader.

But HOW?

How do published authors take an “okay” manuscript and turn it into something that grabs an editor? And after that, how do they work with editors to incorporate yet more changes? Look no further for your answers than Sandy Asher’s new book, Writing It Right!: How Successful Children’s Authors Revise and Sell Their Stories. It’s a gold mine.

Whether you’re writing picture books or middle grade or young adult novels, Writing It Right! (400 pages!) will show you how to pinpoint your weak areas–and how to fix them. Sandy uses nine essential questions to guide you through the process. Each question is critical to creating a solid manuscript. It’s a terrific checklist–one I intend to use myself on a couple of MG novels I’m currently working on.

Nuts and Bolts Exposed

In the book, each story (full picture book or a chapter from a longer work) is analyzed in several ways. You’ll see before and after versions. The before version highlights areas that need work. The after version shows the changes.

In another section, you will see the actual line edits that brought about the changes.  This includes the type of detailed comments an editor at a publishing house might make after accepting your manuscript. (Yes! Usually there are more revisions after acceptance.) You will also see several versions as the author works through the problems and issues, ending with the version that was published.

Personally Speaking…

I’ve known Sandy since the mid-80s. She was the first “real author” I met. At a young writer’s festival in Warrensburg, MO, she was my roommate. I was one petrified speaker, brand new at talking before groups of kids, and I barely slept the night before our first scheduled talks. I know I disturbed her sleep. (At least, I assumed she didn’t usually sleep with a pillow over her head.) I crowned my nervous performance by waking her up at 5 a.m. I accidentally knocked over the floor lamp between our beds and hit her. I was mortified, to say the least. Sandy looked up at me. Heart pounding, I said, “It’s morning.” She replied, “It certainly is.” She graciously took me under her wing that weekend, introduced me around, and became a dear friend. So I’m especially pleased to be able to recommend her book so highly.

Sandy knows her stuff. She’s had more than twenty books for children published, has edited five collections of fiction, and has published well over thirty plays. My girls read her books growing up, and I’ve seen a couple of her plays produced, and they’re excellent.

You can order Writing It Right! and examine it for 30 days without cost, and I’d really recommend that you check it out. It can bring your work up to a whole new (and publishable) level.

November 26, 2008

I won’t be commenting on my NaNoWriMo status until next Monday when it’s officially over, but I’ve received a few emails from NaNo people who are writing their first novels. As the month draws to a close, they’ve realized with horror that December is coming–with revisions!

“What do I do with this mess?” I was asked. Your rambling rough draft needs to be reworked, but where do you start? “Is there a checklist somewhere I can follow?” another writer asked. I came across such a checklist last week in James Cross Giblin’s The Giblin Guide to Writing Children’s Books.

Jim Giblin spent 30 years as a children’s book editor and publisher (the last 22 as Editor-in-Chief and Publisher at Clarion Books.) He has also written 25+ highly acclaimed books of his own. In his book for writers, the sixth chapter lays it all out for you: “Common Failings in Juvenile Fiction–and How to Correct Them.”

The chapter talks about ten different things to look for, both the problems to spot and how to fix them. The topics to revise range from dull openings and unvarying mood to holes in the plot, many dialogue issues, and weak entrances/exits. If you take your messy rough draft and apply Giblin’s 10-point checklist for fiction, you’ll have an organized and methodical way to tackle each area.

Yesterday I also read a great blog article on what to do if your scene seems trivial (besides giving it the ax, that is.) I found help here with a chapter of my own that had some sagging scenes. It’s called “Away with the Trivial Scene.”

We all have favorite ways to create rough drafts, and we all revise differently as well. What ways work best for you when tackling a first revision?