Two weeks until the conference.
No big deal or anything, right?
I know I don’t have to have my first revision done before I go to the ACFW Conference. If I am lucky enough to get some interest, I will have a little time to get it finished. Still, it provides a handy deadline and incentive to get it done. I am one of those writers who works better under pressure.
Just as there are many helps out there for writers when plotting, I’m finding a lot of resources for revision. I’d like to pull together a post of links for helpful sites, but guess what? I’m on a deadline. 😉
I’ve been impressed with the American Christian Fiction Writers member resources. I signed up as a member a few years ago but I wasn’t as serious and didn’t take advantage of the services. Right now I have signed up for their novel editing loop on email. They run this every couple of months. They have you set a goal and report your pages edited to give accountability and encouragement. They also offer mini-lessons on editing basics. There are handy tidbits in there.
The one book I’ve fully read and used is James Scott Bell’s Revision and Self-Editing.This helpful guide gives an overview of Bell’s fiction teaching and applies the knowledge to the revision stage of writing. He is one of my favorite writing guides, so I’m happy to dig into it. I’ve also read the ubiquitous Self-Editing For Fiction Writers by King and Browne, but that was a long time ago.
Today Nathan Bransford had a helpful post about revision. When you get to the point that you hate your novel, that you can’t imagine another change – well, then you’re close to being ready. Go check the post out for yourself.
And in closing, if you didn’t see Bransford’s Publication Process in GIF form, then you missed one of the best posts for writers in a long, long time.
I’d say more, but those revisions aren’t happening by themselves. Back to the grindstone.
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Do you have any specific revision resources you like? Please share them in the comments below.
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