April #InkRipples - Workshop on Revision

Welcome back for another week of #InkRipples revision workshop. I thought it would be fun to not only offer revision tips throughout the month, but to also stage some revision exercises. If you missed the last two week’s tips and exercises, be sure to hop on over when you’re done here.


Revision Tip #5

Read backward. Start at the last chapter, revise it. Go to second last, revise it…etc. Don’t actually start at the last word and work your way to the first. Too hard. However, by reading backward you will avoid getting caught up in the story making it easier to spot mistakes.


Revision Tip #6

During one of your revision passes: make a timeline. It is so distracting for a reader when your calendar doesn’t add up. If you mention that two weeks has passed and then the character refers to an event as having just happened yesterday, you lose your reader. If you have a pregnant character who is sporting a full belly after only a few months – problem. Timeline inconsistencies are easy for the author to lose track of, but really easy for the reader to spot. We get distracted by things like character consistency, not missing an ‘and’ or a ‘the,’ and trying to remember what season it is. But a reader doesn’t get buried in our story the sane way we do. The story unfolds for them as they go through. Of course they will spot inconsistencies easier – they didn’t see the previous six versions of the manuscript. They’ve only seen the one version and if you have a person training for the Olympics and they are in top form in six months – readers are gonna cry foul.

***
Okay let’s get to work.

I’m currently revising the blurb for my time travel romance, Again for Love, which is set to publish under my other pseudonym, LA Dragoni, later this year. I know my weakness is writing a tight blurb. So, how would you tighten this bad boy up?
 ***
A life must be lost. Who will make the ultimate sacrifice?

Lawson lives a simple life; a job at a brewery, basketball and hockey leagues, and an eccentric lifelong friend and roommate intent on discovering time travel.

Then life becomes complicated when Jory enters it. Lawson feels an immediate attraction to her from the first day she starts work at the brewery. Yet their first couple attempts at dating end with him thinking it just isn’t meant to be. Jory however, has a different opinion and continues to pursue him.

When one date ends tragically Lawson turns to his best friend to use the experimental time travel program he’s invented. Except when Lawson relives that fateful night it ends just as horrifically. Each time he resets time, it ends with a loss.

It’s clear a life must be lost and Lawson is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice. But he isn’t the only one playing with time. Will he save Jory by giving his own life or will someone beat him to it?
 ***


#Inkripples is a themed meme hosted by Mary Waibel, Katie L. Carroll, and Kai Strand posting on the first Monday of every month. To participate compose your own post regarding the theme of the month, and link back to the three host blogs. Feel free to post whenever you want during the month, but be sure to include #inkripples when you promote so readers can find you. The idea is that we toss a word or idea into the inkwell and each post is a new ripple. There is no wrong interpretation. Themes and images and more information can be found here.

Comments

  1. UnknownApril 17, 2017 at 10:57 AM

    I love making calendars and timelines for my mss.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kai Strand, AuthorApril 17, 2017 at 5:32 PM

      That's funny because I generally don't enjoy it at all. It's usually a chore for me.

      Delete
  2. Beverly Stowe McClureApril 17, 2017 at 12:17 PM

    More great tips, Kai. I've done #5 for my WIP. #6 has caused me to back up a time or two to check. A timeline would have helped. :)
    On your blurb:
    Then life becomes complicated when Jory enters it. Lawson feels an immediate attraction to her from the first day she starts work at the brewery. It isn’t meant to be, however. (I think you can leave off the last sentence.) The rest looks okay. Good luck.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kai Strand, AuthorApril 17, 2017 at 5:33 PM

      I do love calendars though, so maybe I should buy a new one for each book I write ;)

      Great rev on the blurb.

      Delete
  3. Crystal CollierApril 19, 2017 at 2:45 PM

    Yes! One of my editors was explaining how she uses the backwards technique. It's a great one if you ask me. And YES, there totally has to be a time outline--especially when messing with time. Whew! Glad to be done with that one. Best of wishes to you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kai Strand, AuthorApril 22, 2017 at 7:24 AM

      Ha ha. My upcoming time travel isn't as complicated as most. I like to keep things simple ;) But even then I had to verify WHAT had happened to the characters up to THAT point in time.

      Delete

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