Writer Unboxed

Last week I blogged about being under the gun with an editorial deadline for CLASS PRESIDENT, a YA novel to be released fall 2009 by HarperCollins, and the panic I felt at the three-week turnaround. Some of the editorial comments were asking for fairly detailed revisions; I had three new scenes to write, and plenty of tiny nits, clarifications and pacing issues to work out.

So I was freaking.

Luckily, my day job as an editor stood me in good stead (though I’m sure the ghods of Karma are laughing at me now that the shoe is on the other foot) because I knew how to approach the revision process for maximum efficiency. Instead of taking three weeks, I was able to finish the revisions in less than two (and I’d lost a couple days due to asking for clarification on a few points.)

Here’s how I did it:

1. Tackle the work right away. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in this business, it’s that it takes longer to write than you think it will. Now granted, sometimes the flow is with you and you’re able to crank it out quickly. Then there’s the other 95% of the time when you have to slog and you’re regretting blowing off a work session to watch a movie. Discipline is the watchword when you’re on a deadline.

2. Pencil edit through the first read-through. I took two days to read the entire manuscript and wrote the revisions down as I moved through the pages, scribbling in margins and on post-its. The only exception I made was for the three new scenes. It’s important to figure out how you’re going to handle the relatively minor stuff first, and preserve your mental energy for the bigger revisions.

3. Once you’ve done the pencil-edit, give yourself a daily page-count goal. Initially, I thought 25-30 pages a day would be doable. But I found that the pencil edits made this part of the process go much faster, so I was able to kick up the daily goal to 50 pages a day. Essentially, I was hitting a revision twice, which enabled me to improve on the pencil-edit where necessary.

4. Write new scenes quickly, then go back and pencil-edit for consistency. You know how it is. Sometimes you whip out a scene and you think it’s great. Then you sleep on it, and realize the next day that it needs help . . . sometimes a lotta help. Give yourself time to improve on what’s essentially a first-draft scene.

5. Let it jell a day, if possible. You’ll be able to go back to problem areas with a fresh eye.

6. When in doubt, contact the editor. I wrote a lengthy e-mail asking for clarification on certain areas before doing anything. I didn’t want to work on anything twice — I wanted to get it right the first time even if it meant waiting a day or so for the clarification.

7. When you’re done working for the day, you’re done working. No one works at their best when exhausted. What good does a revision that needs revising do anyone? Having a doable goal and meeting it will give you a sense of accomplishment and alleviate the guilt of not working every spare second of the day on the manuscript.

And there it is: my tips for efficient editing.

Because there are a million ways to do anything well, I’m interested in hearing how others have tackled editing issues on a deadline. I’m always looking for tips and tricks to improve the process. Hopefully we can pool our collective knowledge and make this even easier for all of us.
Image by jaaneintoxicatedso.

Kathleen Bolton is co-founder of Writer Unboxed. She has written two novels under the pseudonym Cassidy Calloway: Confessions of a First Daughter, and Secrets of a First Daughter--both books in a YA series about the misadventures of the U.S. President's teen-aged daughter, published by HarperCollins.

Kathleen Bolton

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