Revising, Revising, and More Revising
Yup, that’s what I’m up to! Lots of revising. It’s a long process, but dearly needed (and generally enjoyable).
When I finished Draft 8, I printed it off and gave it to my very first beta reader (not counting my husband, who read Draft 6). What is a beta reader, you may ask? A beta reader is simply someone who regularly reads your genre of book and can provide you the type of feedback an average reader would (so, not a professional editor). Beta reader feedback is so valuable simply because it tells you what an average reader would think and feel and the kind of questions they would ask. It was a really neat experience for me to 1) share this story with someone wholly unconnected to it, and 2) get all the feedback on it. And there was lots!
My first beta reader was one of my brothers, and I particularly wanted him to read it because of his logical, analytical, and attentive mind; I knew he would catch plot holes and ask sensible questions. Much of his feedback I knew already subconsciously, but he caught a lot of little things and asked a lot of smart questions that I didn’t have answers to. So accounting for his feedback, I am now halfway through revising Draft 9. (I had two big hurdles to overcome in this draft, including rewriting an entire chapter, and as of today I have overcome them both! Hooray!)
I don’t know how long it will take me to finish revising this draft. A few weeks? (Whatever that means.) After this draft is finished, I’m planning on printing it out and giving it to a writer friend of mine to get her feedback before revising yet again and potentially then sending it out to an editor. Isn’t that incredible? Most people who want to write a book never finish, but here I am, finished and contemplating editing. This is great.
(Oh yes, and my husband gets to read Draft 9 when it’s finished too, since the draft he read still contained lines like “describe the meal” and “is this character even necessary?” Not to mention an entire chapter that was in point form.)
