Revision, revision….
The novel has been written.
Now it’s time to put it aside for a week and do something you enjoy the most—read your favorite novel, magazines or just get together with friends for a good time. You need to rest as much as possible so when you return to your manuscript, you’ll approach it with a fresh mind. Are you ready?
Go!
“But I’m not ready yet,” you say.
Well, you have an option. You can ask someone you trust to read your manuscript for honest feedback, but I warn you here; you have to prepare to thicken your skin.
This was exactly what I did. I completed my manuscript and was getting sick and tired of reading it. There is nothing wrong with it, I bragged. The more I read it the more I tended to add more scenes or narratives to each chapter. So I turned to my DH and lured him to read my manuscript. He was well educated about fiction since I started my writing so I was confident to let him read it.
And boy did he read it.
It took him a little over two weeks to finish this massive beast of over 100,000 words. I was so eager to ask the first question: can you follow the story?
He crossed his arms over his body. “I want to know more about what happens to the villains. And I don’t like the romance in it,” said the DH grimacing.
“The villains went to jail! They got arrested, you didn’t read it?”
“No. The plot is too convoluted. And I want to read more about the main character confronting the villains. They should face each other.”
Ouch! Okay, point taken. “Why didn’t you like the romance?” I asked.
The DH scratched his head then his arms. Then everything started to itch. “Well, I wondered if the male protagonist and the heroine ex-boyfriend are indeed me.”
I rolled my eyes. “They’re not you. Are you crazy?”
“Oh, good.”
He gave me a good point in his feedback though, despite the fact that he loathed the romantic element in it. This novel has two intertwining plots: an external or plot conflict and internal or character conflict. And the DH emphasized that I fix the external conflict.
So I followed his advice and let the villains and the main character confront each other. And as for the romance element, well he thought, it’s romantic enough.
So that was the major feedback from DH. Of course he said the main character is not likeable, but she is compelling enough for him to want to turn the page to the end. He is curious about the protagonist. Will she also get what she’s looking for at the end?
And as for the convoluted plot, well, I revised and re-worked it, and deleted almost 100 pages of scenes and narratives that didn’t help to move either of the two primary plots. Now these plots are clearer and hopefully more straightforward.
And now I’m ready for the second round of reading from the DH. I hope this is will be the end of the revisions…
