{"id":5366,"date":"2015-12-15T11:46:46","date_gmt":"2015-12-15T19:46:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/?p=5366"},"modified":"2015-12-16T22:13:15","modified_gmt":"2015-12-17T06:13:15","slug":"revise-masterpiece-amwriting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/revise-masterpiece-amwriting\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Revise Your #NaNo Masterpiece #amwriting (sign ups now closed)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Right now you\u2019re thinking one (or both) of two things:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Hang on, if it\u2019s such a masterpiece, why would you need to revise it?<\/li>\n
  2. If I have to revise it, why would you call it a masterpiece?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Well, dudes, both are true.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \"unpolishedI\u2019ll start with #2 first, just to make sure you\u2019re paying attention.<\/p>\n

    If you finished a novel, or even if you got 50,000 words down during November, you\u2019ve created something amazing. For some of you it was your first novel or first finished writing piece. So whatever you accomplished is a masterpiece.<\/p>\n

    Now for #1<\/p>\n

    Think of diamonds. Most first draft novels are like a lump of sparkly gray rock, and it needs some major cutting to be ready to show the world. Some manuscripts, especially for experienced writers, just need a little polish.<\/p>\n

    But chances are your book needs some major renovations.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    That\u2019s the difference between editing and revising<\/a>. (Even if you\u2019ve already read my post about that, go back and read it again<\/a>. The distinctions are significant and make the difference between a good book and a great book.<\/p>\n

    I used to absolutely detest, abhor, loathe, despise (fill in thesaurus gem of your own) rewriting and revising. I’d put some cosmetic touches, get rid of half the “thats” and call it done. But the more I write, the more I have discovered that it takes 2-3 passes on a novel before you can add in all the layers and nuance, and develop the subplots or tweak them so they better support the theme and main plot line. Whenever I have taken the additional step for a thoughtful rewrite\/revision, I have made the book infinitely better.<\/p>\n

    Even if you spent a long time planning (and I guarantee most of you did not….) you will benefit from putting in some more work before you toss this puppy out onto Kindle.<\/p>\n

    So it should come as no surprise that even a solid NaNo effort can benefit from some thoughtful revision of the structural elements like character, theme, etc.<\/p>\n

    \"HTRYN-FLAT-Course-Advert-300\"<\/a>So, how do you go about this?<\/h2>\n

    Give yourself and your writing career a holiday gift!<\/em><\/h3>\n

    In the past I have taught some revision seminars, but this year I have too many irons in the fire. In fact, I didn\u2019t even participate in NaNo, which was so painful, since I\u2019ve been an enthusiastic supporter (and winner!) for years. In fact NaNo has been a huge inspiration for me every year, even after I became a full-time writer.<\/p>\n

    If you\u2019ve read more than a couple of my posts about planning and writing a novel or you used my book How to Be a NaNoWriMo Winner<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, it will be no surprise that Holly Lisle has been a huge influence on my writing. She\u2019s also a goddess when it comes to revision. She teaches an amazing in-depth online class (How to Revise Your Novel) that forces you to pick apart your book (yes, it can feel like chopping up the baby), but the dissection and analysis will make the book a much better book.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    \u201cWhen Even The Pros Crash And Burn While Rewriting Their Books,<\/strong>
    \nHow Are YOU\u00a0Supposed To
    \nGet Revision Right?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    You will feel like a real<\/em> writer as you go through the lessons. I know you already wrote a novel, so what do I mean? You\u2019ll look at your story at so many more levels than you would otherwise. Once you learn these techniques, you will start to apply them to writing, so you have less to do to revise a future piece.<\/p>\n

    \"HollysWritingClasses-2015-Logo-200x200-FLAT\"<\/a>So, the shortcut to revising is to take Holly\u2019s wonderful class rather than trying to do it yourself, or picking apart beta reader comments. You will never get better advice about rewriting a story than when you apply tried-and-true techniques to what you already know you want to achieve in a story. Plus you will get advice and support from other people in the class on whether you\u2019re on the right track. You\u2019ll also get feedback from Holly, which is priceless!<\/p>\n

    For full disclosure, I am one of Holly\u2019s affiliate partners. But that\u2019s only because I have taken her classes in the past and can honestly recommend her as a teacher and can offer genuine raves on her techniques.<\/p>\n

    In fact, this time around I\u2019m going to join in again and work on a book that\u2019s been gathering dust, unloved and untouched in a corner. By the end of the class I\u2019ll have a real masterpiece, and so will you!<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Find out all the good stuff from Holly about what she\u2019ll be teaching and how to SIGN UP<\/a>!<\/p>\n

    Also, feel free to ask me questions along the way as well!<\/p>\n

    If you don’t decide to take the course, I highly recommend any of her other courses or books. You’ll be surprised how much you can learn. If you put even one or two techniques into each of your future projects, you’ll find your writing (and your reviews and sales) improving with every new release.<\/p>\n

    This is going to be so much FUN.<\/p>\n

    So Here\u2019s Holly’s Guarantee\"Satisfaction<\/h2>\n
      \n
    • Every single lesson of this course will be worth your time<\/strong>, will help you reach your writing goals, and will get you closer to writing the books you want to write, rather than the books you just end up with.<\/li>\n
    • You will have every resource you need<\/strong>\u00a0to understand what\u2019s going on, and to understand what you need to do each step of the way.<\/li>\n
    • If at any point during the first four months<\/strong>\u00a0of the course,\u00a0you are dissatisfied with what you\u2019re learning<\/strong>, contact Holly at Student Support (the HELP DESK on every page of your classroom) and let her know you want to quit, and tell her you want a refund on your last lesson. If you had more lessons due that month, she’ll include a pro rata refund for the lessons you didn\u2019t receive that month as well. (Don\u2019t worry.\u00a0Every student has direct access to Holly<\/strong>. No intermediaries. No run-around.)<\/li>\n
    • She\u2019ll give you your lesson refund, no questions asked<\/strong>, and cancel your course immediately so you won\u2019t be charged again.<\/li>\n
    • You\u2019ll have one full week to decide on any lesson you receive,<\/strong>\u00a0right up to the day and time your next lesson appears in your classroom.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

       <\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      I used to absolutely detest, abhor, loathe, despise (fill in thesaurus gem of your own) rewriting and revising. I’d put some cosmetic touches, get rid of half the “thats” and call it done. But the more I write, the more I have discovered that it takes 2-3 passes on a novel before you can add in all the layers and nuance, and develop the subplots or tweak them so they better support the theme and main plot line. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":5367,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[587,374,17,237],"tags":[414,980,18,936,954,636],"class_list":["post-5366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature-article","category-nanowrimo","category-writing","category-writing-tips","tag-holly-lisle","tag-htryn","tag-nano","tag-nanowrimo","tag-revising","tag-rewriting"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/HTRYN-FLAT-Course-Advert-300.png?fit=225%2C300","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pzLgx-1oy","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/63"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5366"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5366\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5379,"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5366\/revisions\/5379"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}