During April, I achieved my Camp NaNoWriMo goal of drafting the remaining scenes of “Forever After.” Now, after a short break, the revision begins in earnest.
I used to think authors who preferred revising over writing the initial draft were crazy. But now, in my euphoric state of being done with the first draft, I can understand. All the basic bones of the scenes are on paper (digitally), although in places the draft is very rough. (I channel Rodney Dangerfield at times like this. ‘My draft is so rough, I got splinters the size of telephone poles.’)
Writing a book is a multi-step process: draft the story; wait to gain a fresh perspective; read it through, making notes on what works and doesn’t work; revise the story; then repeat the read / revise cycle until the story is perfected. The final step is editing to make the prose sing.
Although many people write the entire draft before revising, I prefer to write a bit, then revise and polish what I wrote. And repeat ad nauseum. "Circling the drain" is how I describe my writing style. It works for me, but it’s not the fastest way from start to finish.
