Congrats Kristin! I'm impressed by you AND your agent for finding ways to keep revising together. All novels need revision, but your post confirms my personal belief that suspense requires even MORE revision. Like Deborah below, I'd be curious if you have any other thoughts about how you knew you were on track or off track after so many edits? I call it "draft blindness" when I can no longer see clearly and it happens at some point with every book, so always eager to hear others' anecdotes.
Thank you for this, Andromeda! Oh man, draft blindness is so real. I feel like the only way I can ever tell if I'm going off the rails is to zoom out and get a bird's eye view of the story, scene by scene. I use a plot planner on the wall sometimes or summarize each scene in a spreadsheet to understand where the story might be getting away from me. I don't usually know exactly how my books end in early drafts, so sometimes the draft blindness resolves itself once I know where the story will end up.
But I agree, I think suspense/thrillers require extra finessing to feel exactly right. I'm so glad I'm not alone in feeling that way!
Kristin, I loved this post, and your entire story about all the revision. I've been there--too many times. But a huge congrats on being done-done. And the memes in this one are fantastic. I was laughing and laughing. Thank you for brightening my day! (And Hi Caitlin and Andromeda!!)
Donna! Thank you so much! This comment means so much to me. And I'm glad the memes made you laugh, too. I was having fun choosing the perfect ones to represent the specific experience of revising a million times haha
Omg hi hello I'm the problem it's me. I love this essay because I am *still* revising a novel omg so many times. . . not yet agented but have had lots of requests for full manuscripts, so with each "gosh the voice doesn't resonate," I think & re-think. Here's a practical question: how did you not lose your way (or maybe you did) when you were deep in revision # 456?
Hi Deborah! Congrats on all the full requests! I know how tough querying is but the fact that you're getting those bites is such a good sign. In general, I ignored feedback about "not connecting" with the voice or story because there's no way to address that in revision. I just find that kind of feedback unhelpful. I wouldn't revise a book based on that alone, but if someone gave more specific feedback with it, I might consider it.
And I definitely did lose my way a few times--for example, I added so many extra suspense/thriller elements in the first revision with my agent that it no longer felt like the same book (and not in a good way). It's so easy to feel lost while working on a novel!
I find that when I feel truly lost, it helps to talk it out with my agent or a trusted writer friend and see if we can identify where things went off the rails so we can then brainstorm how to get the story back on the right track. I also have had success using either a plot planner (learned this from the Plot Whisperer book by Martha Alderson) and/or summarizing every scene in a spreadsheet so I can get a bird's eye view of the book. Sometimes the feeling of being lost comes from being so in the weeds that it's hard to see where we are/what we are doing. When I zoom out and look at the individual parts of the story, I find it a little easier to navigate around and find my footing again.
I hope this helps! Good luck and I hope you find the perfect agent very soon! Keep me posted.
Love this! I just started draft 5 of my novel, and while part of me just wants to be finished already, a bigger part is excited because I finally feel like I have figured out what my book is really about!
I can relate so much to the feeling of wanting to be finished but also realizing that you're just beginning to understand the story. I'm not naturally patient, so it was tough to wrangle the desire to be done when I could see that the book was getting better with each pass. Congrats on all the work you've done on your novel! I have no doubt it's totally worth it!
Yeah. I feel you. My debut YA punk rock novel (Basketball Diaries meets Sex Pistols meets Dostoevsky) took me about 15 years (on and off, of course) and I don't even know how many revisions; 100? 150? I mean it was endless. I basically learned how to write a novel in the process. But it's done well and has a blurb from an editor at the US Review of Books and won two awards, so I guess the work did its job!
I guess the rule is: Keep revising until it feels right. And then revise some more.
That's exactly right! Each time I thought I was done revising, I'd need to do another round, but the book is better for it. Your story is an amazing testament to persevering through as many revisions as it takes to get it right!
You’re so close!! So impressed by this level of revision! I’m about to finish the first draft of my novel but I know I’ve got at least a year of revision after that 😩
I think I have an IG post from a couple summers ago where I talked about those books! But honestly, I’ve been doing so much suspense reading since then, I’d need to update the list to be more accurate haha
As a copyeditor, I'm impressed by how many times you went through your book--I find it difficult to see an ms more than once or twice! Mind you, developmental editing is a very different animal, and admittedly not my forte.
Knowing all the heart and soul and skill you've put into the novel since you first began, when I loved the first draft, even, has made me count down the days...
I'm so proud of you!!
PS. So many people work on a book, and so hard, and it's why I never kind paying full price for one.
Congrats Kristin! I'm impressed by you AND your agent for finding ways to keep revising together. All novels need revision, but your post confirms my personal belief that suspense requires even MORE revision. Like Deborah below, I'd be curious if you have any other thoughts about how you knew you were on track or off track after so many edits? I call it "draft blindness" when I can no longer see clearly and it happens at some point with every book, so always eager to hear others' anecdotes.
Thank you for this, Andromeda! Oh man, draft blindness is so real. I feel like the only way I can ever tell if I'm going off the rails is to zoom out and get a bird's eye view of the story, scene by scene. I use a plot planner on the wall sometimes or summarize each scene in a spreadsheet to understand where the story might be getting away from me. I don't usually know exactly how my books end in early drafts, so sometimes the draft blindness resolves itself once I know where the story will end up.
But I agree, I think suspense/thrillers require extra finessing to feel exactly right. I'm so glad I'm not alone in feeling that way!
Kristin, I loved this post, and your entire story about all the revision. I've been there--too many times. But a huge congrats on being done-done. And the memes in this one are fantastic. I was laughing and laughing. Thank you for brightening my day! (And Hi Caitlin and Andromeda!!)
Donna! Thank you so much! This comment means so much to me. And I'm glad the memes made you laugh, too. I was having fun choosing the perfect ones to represent the specific experience of revising a million times haha
Kirstin, I'm excited to read your book when it's out! (I loved your notion of 20% more suspense . . . )
Omg hi hello I'm the problem it's me. I love this essay because I am *still* revising a novel omg so many times. . . not yet agented but have had lots of requests for full manuscripts, so with each "gosh the voice doesn't resonate," I think & re-think. Here's a practical question: how did you not lose your way (or maybe you did) when you were deep in revision # 456?
Hi Deborah! Congrats on all the full requests! I know how tough querying is but the fact that you're getting those bites is such a good sign. In general, I ignored feedback about "not connecting" with the voice or story because there's no way to address that in revision. I just find that kind of feedback unhelpful. I wouldn't revise a book based on that alone, but if someone gave more specific feedback with it, I might consider it.
And I definitely did lose my way a few times--for example, I added so many extra suspense/thriller elements in the first revision with my agent that it no longer felt like the same book (and not in a good way). It's so easy to feel lost while working on a novel!
I find that when I feel truly lost, it helps to talk it out with my agent or a trusted writer friend and see if we can identify where things went off the rails so we can then brainstorm how to get the story back on the right track. I also have had success using either a plot planner (learned this from the Plot Whisperer book by Martha Alderson) and/or summarizing every scene in a spreadsheet so I can get a bird's eye view of the book. Sometimes the feeling of being lost comes from being so in the weeds that it's hard to see where we are/what we are doing. When I zoom out and look at the individual parts of the story, I find it a little easier to navigate around and find my footing again.
I hope this helps! Good luck and I hope you find the perfect agent very soon! Keep me posted.
Love this! I just started draft 5 of my novel, and while part of me just wants to be finished already, a bigger part is excited because I finally feel like I have figured out what my book is really about!
I can relate so much to the feeling of wanting to be finished but also realizing that you're just beginning to understand the story. I'm not naturally patient, so it was tough to wrangle the desire to be done when I could see that the book was getting better with each pass. Congrats on all the work you've done on your novel! I have no doubt it's totally worth it!
Yeah. I feel you. My debut YA punk rock novel (Basketball Diaries meets Sex Pistols meets Dostoevsky) took me about 15 years (on and off, of course) and I don't even know how many revisions; 100? 150? I mean it was endless. I basically learned how to write a novel in the process. But it's done well and has a blurb from an editor at the US Review of Books and won two awards, so I guess the work did its job!
I guess the rule is: Keep revising until it feels right. And then revise some more.
Michael Mohr
That's exactly right! Each time I thought I was done revising, I'd need to do another round, but the book is better for it. Your story is an amazing testament to persevering through as many revisions as it takes to get it right!
You’re so close!! So impressed by this level of revision! I’m about to finish the first draft of my novel but I know I’ve got at least a year of revision after that 😩
Congrats on your draft!! I hope your revisions are smoother and shorter than mine haha 🤗
Hahha, I felt this in my bones!
Thanks so much for reading!! I’m so glad it resonated!
The ugly truth about writing: it’s never over until it’s over. It tests your confidence and endurance.
I agree. It’s a cliche to compare writing to running a marathon, but it does require a type of endurance to keep going!
Love this post! Congrats on your debut!
Thank you so much, Kristine!!
I love everything about this. And I think I need the Summer of Suspense reading list!
I think I have an IG post from a couple summers ago where I talked about those books! But honestly, I’ve been doing so much suspense reading since then, I’d need to update the list to be more accurate haha
As a copyeditor, I'm impressed by how many times you went through your book--I find it difficult to see an ms more than once or twice! Mind you, developmental editing is a very different animal, and admittedly not my forte.
Knowing all the heart and soul and skill you've put into the novel since you first began, when I loved the first draft, even, has made me count down the days...
I'm so proud of you!!
PS. So many people work on a book, and so hard, and it's why I never kind paying full price for one.
Thank you always, my friend! ❤️❤️
Congratulations, Kristin! Thanks for sharing your backstory. I completely relate to it. Cheers to not giving up when the revisions keep on coming! :)
Thanks so much, Liz! I’m so glad it resonated! ❤️