by Rieko Mendez

Editor’s Note: This is the third and final installment on What to Take on Your Writer’s Journey. 

Now that you are prioritizing feedback with your community of writers and hopefully scratching the surface on — if not digging to the core of — answering the question “why must you write this book?” from my earlier articles, let’s talk about the most important step in being a writer: revisions, many revisions.

I’ve been seriously writing for about five years and my real writing work started when I began revisions. I now understand what experienced authors mean when they say they’ve worked on their book for years, or completed over ten or even twenty revisions, before publishing. 

Agents want to know how well you work with feedback because that’s what’s involved in revisions and ultimately achieving publication. So, what does revision involve?

Revision requires stepping back to see the big picture. There are different approaches to help consider the whole story, such as the Aristotelian plot checklist from Cheryl Klein’s The Magic Words, or the nine essential questions from Sandy Asher’s Writing It Right. Then, there are tactical tools using color codes to help us focus on the bigger holistic issues like structure and character agency before tackling the smaller issues.

Here I want to share the difficult but necessary part of revision. Be ready to nix your darlings. 

As writers, we often get attached to our words, phrases, and scenes. As we revise, we have to be ready to let go of them to make it a better book. One of my YA fantasies started with a strong action scene. My critique partners liked its pacing and unfolding action. And I really liked my first chapter, which I had revised a lot.

I also received feedback that first chapters present the protagonist and the world she comes from. In response, I added more about her but it sounded like too much backstory and interrupted the action in the scene. I held onto my first chapter because of all the work I had put into it. Yet, I knew something wasn’t working. Have you had those head banging on the wall moments?

Fortunately, I decided to listen to a writing friend’s sage feedback to start a few days or few hours before the action scene: a chapter that establishes the protagonist’s current world, her wants and stakes. In other words, I had to nix my original first chapter and write a completely new one.

Sigh…

I had to sit with that thought for a night or maybe it was a couple of nights. The next morning, I grabbed a stack of my favorite YA fantasies and read their first chapters. Amazingly, the majority established a clear picture of the protagonist, their current world, and the subtle makings of their wants and related stakes.

It’s the revised, new first chapter of my YA fantasy that went ahead and received Special Mention at SCBWI-L.A. Writer’s Day 2021. My new beginning worked and made my book better.

But, it doesn’t end there. I’ve had to nix many delicious lines in that new first chapter to improve it even more.

It’s not easy to cut or delete our creations, whether a line, or a paragraph, or a chapter, or a whole character. So I have this trick where I save them in a “darling scenes” folder. That way they’re there if I ever need them. More than anything, it eases my heart before moving on.

As you face these revision decisions, remember that as writers, our well of creation is limitless. When we nix our darlings, it only means we have so much more amazing writing to create.

Now I’m off to nix my ending and write a new one.

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Rieko Mendez, a SCBWI member, received special mention for her YA contemporary fantasy at SCBWI-L.A. Writers Day 2021. She mentors teen girls in underserved communities on writing through WriteGirl, an organization that promotes creativity and self-expression to empower girls. As board chair for Ready, Set, Read, a local literacy nonprofit, she co-authored articles for the 2020 LA Times Reading by 9 Guide. She is a graduate of Stanford University. http://www.riekomendez.com

Header image provided by author.