Mastering the Revision Process: Transforming Your First Draft into a Masterpiece

Welcome to Writing While Distracted, the podcast that helps you transform your scattered thoughts into literary brilliance. I'm your host, Brenda Murphy, your NeuroSpicy writing coach. In this episode, we dive deep into the first part of the revision and editing process after completing your rough draft.

We'll discuss the importance of creating a reverse outline to get a clear view of your story's structure, ensuring your novel has a coherent beginning, middle, and end. Learn how to identify missing scenes, combine scenes for better pacing, and ensure your character development aligns with your plot.

Discover techniques to maintain reader engagement through effective storytelling, character arcs, and plot development. Whether you're a pantser or work from a loose outline, this episode offers invaluable tips for refining your manuscript and making your story compelling and readable.

Join us as we explore the intricacies of the revision process and help you shape your wobbly first draft into a polished novel. Stay tuned, stay inspired, and keep writing!

Show notes WWD Season Two Episode Two

Sign up for my newsletter and get a free character workbook https://dl.bookfunnel.com/ofxxsx32dj

My podcast about revisions and editing:  Mastering Revisions: Turning Rough Drafts into Polished Gems https://www.podbean.com/eas/pb-xhk2p-167fa2b

Sandra Gerth’s fantastic book Show Don’t Tell:  https://www.amazon.com/Show-Dont-Tell-descriptions-characters-ebook/dp/B01LXFJ0AC/

 

Revisions and Editing Steps

To recap the process, I use to get my rough as hell draft to a finished product to send to an editor, publisher, or out on submission is:

• Round1: Revisions: structure, pacing, character arcs, genre conventions, continuity, and attending to items that require research.
• Round 2: Language: word choice, refining prose, pacing, dialogue, scene descriptions, character descriptions, continuity. *At this point I send it to my beta readers.
• Round 3: Proofing: Suggestions from Beta readers, grammar, spelling, punctuation, copy edits, line edits formatting for submission or publication. Copy edits, line edits.
• Round 4: Final proofing read through before submission or publishing.