If you go to enough writing conferences or read enough books about writing, eventually someone will drop this nugget on you: the secret of writing is re-writing. It’s a nice phrase; it has a good rhythm to it; it would present well on a T-shirt; and it’s probably true. The problem I had when I was starting out was I had no idea what it meant.
I was good at sentences. After a few drafts to polish those sentences, they were lean, well-crafted subject-verb combinations packed with nuanced eloquence. Back then, I showed a short story I’d written to a colleague, who was an accomplished writer. He read it, handed it back to me, and said, “I commend you on your sentences.”
The backhand of that compliment stung. For that reader, my story fell flat, despite my clever word play. The characters did not resonate with him; the plot did not hook him; the theme did not awaken an inner dialogue. His takeaway was not that I was a good storyteller; he saw that I was good at sentences.
The lesson I learned from that experience was that if great writing is a product of great re-writing, there must be something in the revision process I missed. When I read a Kathleen Norris essay that portrayed the editing process as “re-vision,” or seeing the work through a new lens, I realized I’d been missing a crucial step. I took my editing time seriously, but I spent it on the wrong things. I was busy honing the story at the sentence level, but there was another layer of re-vision I had to do first: evaluating the story from a new perspective.
My process now is to evaluate my manuscript before editing. When I complete a project, I set it aside for a couple of weeks (as deadlines allow). When I open it again, I won’t correct any spelling errors or adjust any commas during my first read. Instead, I look for the elements that tell me if the words work as a story; there’s time to perfect the sentences later. Here are a few things I look for during that initial big-picture evaluation:
What’s at stake? The main character needs to stand to gain or lose something worthwhile as a result of their actions. Because I write mystery/thrillers, the stakes tend to raise as the story moves along, and I need to make sure that the characters’ actions are an appropriate response to the change in stakes. A common mistake is to have a character react to a minor slight or inconvenience in a way that is over-the-top unbelievable or inappropriate for the situation. Big reactions are big moments in stories; it’s important to earn them and make sure that the characters have sufficient motivations for their actions.
Show vs Tell. Some scenes don’t resonate with readers because the author is telling them what’s happening instead of showing it. If I find I’m telling my readers the protagonist is angry, I need to revise to show how she behaves when she’s angry, maybe clenching a fist, muttering under her breath, or breaking something. Then, I need to reread the scene and make sure I’ve set up the situation appropriately, so her action is clearly understood as anger. For a lot of writers, this is one of the trickiest parts of the craft to get right, and I spend a lot of time on it during re-vision.
Character arcs. The events in a story should be important enough to the main characters that they change as a result of their actions. It could be a small change in how they perceive the world around them, or it could be a big change in one of their dominant behaviors. The change needs to be noticeable to the reader. Often, when I find that my characters are the same people at the end of a story as they are at the beginning, I realize that the problems I’ve given them are too easy for them to solve, and I’ll go back and put additional pressure on them to trigger greater character development.
Conventions of the genre. I’m a big believer in the “contract with the reader.” Readers come to our stories willing to suspend disbelief and be entertained; in return, they expect certain things, which are largely driven by genre. In a cozy mystery, for example, the reader is looking for a murder, but without blood, gore, or on-stage violence, in a charming setting with a witty sleuth. A police procedural could have the same murder, but in much more graphic terms with a grim setting and a no-nonsense detective. I’m not saying you have to follow all of your genre’s rules, but you need to be aware of them, and if you’re breaking them, have a good reason. Your ability to attract and retain an audience will be based on if readers feel you held up your end of the contract, so it’s important to prepare them when the story they’re going to read isn’t typical for that genre.
Plot holes. In that first review of the manuscript, I’m also looking for plot holes, which could be inconsistencies in how something is portrayed (a shooting turning to a stabbing, maybe, or an uncle becoming a grandfather). Or, they could be ideas that are introduced early and never fully teased out, leaving the reader wondering.
All of those are examples of what I look for in my writing well before I ever start polishing my sentences. Your list might be different based on your writing style, but I encourage you to think about what it would take to see your manuscript through a new lens and develop an evaluation method, so you can dazzle your readers with your story beyond the quality of your sentences.
Photo by Ralf1403 at Pixabay
Travis Tougaw grew up in a military family. As a perpetual "new kid," he quickly learned the value of sharing stories to connect with others. Having settled down after his own stint in the Air Force, Travis stopped relocating, but he's never stopped telling stories. He's always on the lookout for characters and storylines that will grab readers' attention and keep them turning pages. Travis lives in Colorado with his wife and children. When he's not writing, he enjoys reading, outdoor activities, playing musical instruments, and trivia competitions. The first three books in his Marcotte/Collins investigative thriller series (Foxholes, Captives, Last Call, and Death Grip) are now available. Learn more about Travis and his books at https://travistougaw.com.