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The general trajectory of the Revision course is to take some weeks off from the book you’ve just written in order to gain the perspective that only time can give you. We call this “Marinating.” In the meanwhile, you explore
Your Questions About Craft and Structure.
If you completed the Book Planning Course, you have made a list of what you love in a book—drawn partly from books you love and partly from what you imagined about your own book before you wrote it. If you have that list, you might want to get it now.
If you don’t have it or you’d like to refresh it, take a moment and answer the following questions: What thrills you in a book? What involves you in a story? What makes you fall in love with a character? Do some specific books come to mind that you cherish? What do you wish you could find in a book but never have?
Okay, put that list aside for a few moments. We’re going to make another list. You’ve been writing so much, stumbling in the dark, writing nearly asleep, sometimes, or springing along at other times, galloping forward with perhaps a lopsided gate. What craft questions arose for you during the writing? Did you find yourself wondering about creating suspense? About writing strong dialog? About weaving points of view together? Make a list of your craft and structure questions regarding your own book.
The object of our final exercise is to use these two lists—your “what you love in a book” list and your craft and structures questions list–in order to come up with a reading list for this marinating period. This reading list is made up of books that you think might contain inspiring or useful answers to your questions. This list may have two books on it or ten—you know your own pace and schedule.
The point, however, is to read as a writer—to read for inspiration, for craft tips and technique boosts, for insight into the workings of a book. It’s as if you’ve built a rough model of a car and now you are looking at cars differently for the first time—you are looking under the hood, you are testing the smoothness of the drive, you are noticing how the thing is put together and where the screws are fitted.
The answers to your craft and structure questions are in the books you love.
2) your craft/ structure questions and
3) a tentative reading list.
These will evolve, of course, as you go—for each book your read will create new questions and may turn you in a different direction. One hint: your reading list should feel exciting to you, should feel like the working vacation that it is meant to be.
Happy Reading and Writing!