At this point I've worked with enough creative writing students to know something about what it takes to finish revising a novel. There are many elements involved in revising a novel when it comes to writing craft, but today's post is mostly about rallying the energy and motivation to finish revisions.
This post is coming out of a gut reaction I have with my students and thinking--OMG: what inner strength does it take to finish a book? It’s like watching a race where you know one part near the end has a thick and deep muddy stretch. You cringe watching the runners racing along, knowing they’re going so fast and are doing well--but they are just about to face a sucking bog. Who will strain to move forward inch by inch and make their way past this obstacle? Who will come to a complete halt, their feet glued in the mud? Who will stop at the edge and not even leap in?
First of all – revising your book, for me, and for most people, is very challenging. Yes, there’s that odd duck (I’m looking at you, James Patterson) who likes revising more than drafting. Knowing you have to revise your book is enough to make almost all of us groan out loud. For most of us, just writing the book is hard enough--but it's downright delightful compared to facing a lot of finicky detailed edits and uncertainties that come with revisions.
Most teens can plow into a story, and a lot of teens can even create a sustained narrative. That said, finishing and revising a sustained narrative is another beast entirely. Most students can’t do it on their own without guidance. Many adults can’t either. It’s hard. While so many people write books these days, many, many more people start books and never finish them. It’s not a problem unique to children and teens. It is however, definitely a problem. ***
I think out of the group of teens that I’ve worked with for three years or more, all of them have finished a full length novel manuscript. I cheer this fact—they worked so very hard and they deserve plenty of cheers. They are a cut above the rest.
Editing and revising can be such a slog. It requires a very different skill set from the skills needed to create a manuscript. And here's where some of my students drop out. They can't face it. Others are deeply trepidatious.
Revising your book involves not only knowing craft and being able to look at your work objectively (or having a coach like me on hand to help), it also involves managing your emotions and energy. I try to rally motivation and energy with my students in a few key ways:
1) Try to double down by diving into the revisions fast, fast, fast. There’s a sense of momentum when you work hard and fast on a project. That momentum can increase one’s feelings of motivation and drive. This means more sessions, and double sessions of work. Summer is a great time to do this for most teens, but also for some adults.
2) Do you like to dream about the future? Set up an author website, or researching possible agents that might like the book. It’s important to do this on the side without slowing down your revising progress. For some people casting into the future for the next phase of being a publishing author can create a lot of energy. They are creating a mental scaffolding where they see the revising as a temporary process, one that will soon unfold into the next phase of their journey: querying.
3) I often focus on praising the writer for her hard work and tenacity. By diving into revisions with determination, she’s shown grit and an excellent worth ethic that is translatable to other contexts (like college). Praise yourself and feel the strength of your skills!
4) Measurables! Measure your progress as you go. How many pages can you edit in a day? A week? How many are left to go? Remember, you're tracking how many pages of the original manuscript out of how many are left. What do you find more exciting--a number? (65 out of 200 pages edited) a percentage (30% done), or a visual stack of paper that dwindles? Some might celebrate regularity, noting with an inner cheer every fifty pages revised.
4) Finally, I’ll ask the student to go back and re-read what they originally wrote and then read the revised version that work. It’s highly motivating to see how much better it is—how much more of a pleasure it is to read the work. It’s really starting to feel like a book! Many writers forget what their writing was like originally—so rereading older work can help you see the progress you’ve made and can spur you forward.
For students and adults who are not yet at the stage where they are ready to enter into the realm of serious revising, I try to be gentle. I myself can be intense and tenacious when it comes to the steps of a writing career. You may not be ready (or when it comes to kids and teens--developmentally ready) to finish a work, and get it out into the world one way or another. That’s okay! Nor is it failure. It’s a pause; it’s a resting place. Unlike, say, athletics, or ballet, you don’t really age out of writing. You’ve come a long way in attempting to write a book. You've built up mad skills while doing so. Even if you never write another book, I applaud how far you’ve gotten, because I know it’s not easy.
Ask yourself this about your own book project: what are the key elements that keep you feeling energized about finishing the manuscript draft? What concepts help motivate you through each chunk? (I often share with students cheering true thoughts to focus on: You've made a good start! You're past the half way point. You're almost at the end. You're at the end! It sounds almost silly right?--but to often remind yourself of where you're at and that the place your at is changing is helpful for some.)
Will connecting and communicating with other authors help rally your energy? Will measuring and tracking your progress through revisions help? Will re-reading your work and seeing that it’s much better than it was before motivate you to finish?
Make a list. Post it somewhere as a reminder. Go back to it and make sure you’re engaging in those things that give you energy. And if the items on the list aren't working, go search for more. Keep working. Watch out for writing what I call 'equivalent drafts'. (More on that later.) Contact a professional if needed. Good luck!
As always, if you or someone you’re raising is interested in writing a big project, you can let me know in the contact form and we can chat about you/your learner and the project to see if I can help.
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