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I made sure to be clear in this post’s title that today’s blog post will be about my experience with revisions for my first novel. Because I am so new to the fiction novel-writing process myself, I’m constantly learning about what works best for my story. I have learned that while there are general best practices for anything regarding fiction writing, I have had to feel what works best for my story. It’s intuitive for me, and that feels right.
So, I had written the first draft of my novel in the first-person point of view. I had started out wanting to tell a detective story from the point of view of a mousy copyeditor. My idea was that as my main character observed the world around her, her fine sense of detail and observation would be invaluable in helping her solve a mysterious murder.
Of course, my draft went off the rails rather rapidly, and it no longer was a detective story. The focus of my narrative was not about solving a mysterious crime, but rather it became about the fantastical things that happened to my main character and the exploration of a small town and its inhabitants throughout time.
When I finished that first draft and began doing my revisions, I thought, maybe because it was no longer a detective novel, maybe it would be better to revise the story into the third-person limited point of view. In this revision, I would have a bit more freedom in how I described the different characters (my descriptions would no longer be limited to what my main character saw) and environments, but I would still keep the narration focused on my main character. I certainly wasn’t experienced or confident enough to include more than one point of view in this story.
But, as I continued my revision, painstakingly making it more than a third of the way through my 50,000-plus words, I realized that the crux of my story was the journey that my main character was taking. It was her journey from helpless pawn to fearless agent that was the focus of my story.
Oh no, I thought. Would I need to go through from the beginning and revise my revisions? I’d put so much work into those revisions already, though. Maybe it was good enough?
But this was my novel. My story. No, it was not good enough. I was not going to fall for the sunk cost fallacy.
It was going to take time, but I would go back and revise my revision.
I’ve written about the glories of being a pantser and writing without reins. And that wild abandon has allowed me to crack open a story and let the characters dance through exciting and unexpected scenarios. But I’ve now learned that I will probably think long and heard about point of view before starting my next story. It’s such an important framework that shapes everything you describe and write.
How about you? What are the lessons that you’ve learned about writing that will shape your next stories? Share them in the comments below.
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