writerjenn

I'm done with the chapter-by-chapter revisions on my WIP.
Now I will begin a few editorial passes through the whole novel. I've worked over the individual scenes and chapters; now I step back and see if it all works together as a book.
My first pass will be what I call a "Lubar edit," named for David Lubar , who demonstrated this approach at a SCBWI workshop I once attended. I won't steal his thunder by going into details, but I will say that it involves knowing the motivations of your characters and making sure every scene counts. If you get a chance to take a revision workshop with him, I recommend it. Not only will you learn this technique, but you will probably get to laugh too, as he's an entertaining speaker.

In the journals they kept of their historic voyage across this continent, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark often used the phrase, "We proceeded on," to indicate their continued daily progress. They used this phrase so often that the magazine produced by the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation is called WE PROCEEDED ON. And I give you all this background so you will understand what I mean when I say, of my WIP, "I'm proceeding on."
Not that I expect my voyage to be as historic as Lewis and Clark's. And I have encountered plot problems and uncooperative characters rather than mosquitoes and grizzly bears. But my voyage certainly feels as long as theirs.
So here I go, proceeding on.