First Time in Revision Land

On the Playlist: How Many Kings - Downhere

I'll warn you in advance, this post gets rambly and self-indulgent. Sorry. That was not my intention. It's just one of those nights where I need to question everything.

I was a fanfiction writer before I wrote Building Forts. All I knew were first drafts. I’d write a chapter, edit it a little, post it, and continue that way until the story was finished. After I wrote the last chapter, I was done with the story, and ready to shift my focus to a different fanfic.

Now that I’m near the end of Building Forts (I know, I’ve been near the end for weeks now. You’ll see why), I want to follow the same pattern. But, of course, I won’t be anywhere near done with the story after I finish the last chapter. The problem is that when I think of all the work I still have to do to make it beta-ready, let alone query-ready, I can’t help but wonder if I’m wasting my time, if there’s even a chance that this novel could sell, if I’m just not that great of a writer yet and I should write (not revise) a few more novels for experience before querying.

It seems so easy to start over with a new WIP. It’s a chance for me to do everything I should’ve done with Building Forts: make a timeline (not quite an outline) so five scenes aren’t happening with the same characters at the exact same time, save it all in one document (seriously, this was a surprisingly big issue with BF), and actually finish scenes instead of saying, “Oh, I’ll fill in the spaces later” (it’s later, and I still don’t know how to fill in the spaces).

And, of course, I like this WIP. I feel like I understand the characters’ motivation a bit better than I did with BF, though it’s always a little murky at the beginning. I know exactly what’s at stake for the characters. It’s more of a romance than BF is, and I’ve really missed writing stories that are intense romances.

Honestly, when I started this post, I thought I’d be talking about why I need to revise BF before focusing on this new WIP. Now, I’m not so sure what I should do. I don’t know if it’s just fear of the unknown that makes me wary to start revisions, or if some of my above fears are valid. I’d definitely come back to it, but maybe what I need is some space. Then again, sometimes I open the document for BF and go, “Wow, I know exactly how to make this better.” Others, I open it and go, “Wow, this just sucks.”

I know this decision is mine to make, but I’m curious to know what your first time in Revision Land was like. Did you love it? Hate it? Take a thousand detours so you’d never actually get there (that would be me)? Let me know!