Diving Blind Into the Revision

So last week I decided it was time to revise.  I've done my requisite homework, reading revision article after revision article (here's a good one that I read today: 7 Tasks to Bridge Your First and Second Drafts) and getting ready to dive in, whether the pool is full or not.  After all, I have decided to revise a draft that has been shelved for a couple of YEARS now with only a couple of moderate stabs at revision.

So, it starts now (we'll see how far it gets).  So far, so good.

Late last week, after selecting which novel I felt I could spend the next (insert random number between six and four-thousand) several months (or years) on, I decided that I wanted to get a copy that I could HOLD to help me read through.  So I hopped over to FedEx Kinko's print-online service, and set up a basic print job that would get me a single copy of my work, spiral bound, double-sided pages.  The whole deal cost me about $12.00, and a couple of hours later on my way home I was able to pick it up, pre-paid at the local store.  Pretty nice, actually, and I had a good experience with them (they called me immediately on the phone to verify the order and didn't have all the options I had selected, which somewhat reduces the value of setting all the options online in my mind, but whatever).  I had a nice spiral copy of the book.  And you would be amazed at how tiny a 51000 word draft is when double-sided on 8 1/2 x 11" paper with 1 inch margins, single spaced and spiral bound.

Anyway, then I proceeded to let the book sit even longer over the weekend in a chair.  You know, to let it cool from the "presses."

And then I started to read.  I immediately stopped reading and decided that I would try to capture a high level scene outline as I went along, so I grabbed a pen and notepad.  Then I continued.

That said, here is the high level process that I plan for this read through and first round of revisions:

1. Read through the entire novel, noting the following on my notepad:  Chapter #, Scene #, and Scene Description.  In some instances, I have already found that I have some "micro-scenes" or paragraphs that really "tell" something happening that in a rewrite I would want to expand to actual scenes that would "show" the action occurring, and then decide whether or not the scene needs to stay at all, in a later revision.  For those, I put a little "m" next to the scene #.  I don't think expanding these scenes will necessarily be part of the first draft revision, but as I see need to weave in plot points for a subplot or tie some things together or further develop my minor characters, this should provide some good fodder for areas of opportunity with adding those things in.
2. Once I'm done with this read-through (we will see how long this takes), I should have a scene-by-scene outline of this first draft.  At that point, I can put the spiral-bound draft copy in a place of honor, not to be touched, because I'll probably have six more of them before anything happens with the novel, but it was nice to have as a way to read it (not on a screen) and keep it organized (instead of hundreds of loose-leaf pages).
3. Then it's time to storyboard.  I am not sure yet whether I want to use yWriter (which has some good storyboarding/timeline options with character lines) or Scrivener for Windows (which I am one of the beta testers for and have found its multi-level organization with folders and files on a notecard/corkboard to be awesome).  Either way, I don't intend to import the file or anything just yet.  I just want to get a high level outline together.
4. Next up, it's analysis time.  I will be looking for things like plot, subplot, resolutions, overall size and pace of the beginning/middle/end, and huge gaping things that need to be fixed (add a subplot, drop/add a character, insert an entirely new plot twist, etc.).  As I go, I'll probably try to elaborate here on what I find.
5. Then I suppose it comes to time to DO those things.  That's the scary (but also exciting, I guess) part.

The nice thing I have found in this read-through so far (I'm just a couple of chapters in), is that it is (surprisingly) a readable story so far.  Sure, I know (vaguely) what happens in the end, but I am actually interested in finding ways to make this story better.  I think that shows I picked the right novel (for this go-around).

So, onward we go.  I will, as usual, continue to try to post an update on the progress and what I am finding here on Wednesdays, but expect a couple interjection posts about poetry and whatnot (since there's also some of that going on and the novel revision is going to probably take me a while).

Also - quick thanks to everyone that a) subscribed in the past week to the site (makes me want to keep posts coming), b) left comments on last week's plea for assistance post (which all helped), and c) are reading this today and not bored (appreciate it).  It is always nice to see some feedback, results, comments, whatever, and just know that people are interested in the discussion.

Anyone else jumping in the revision wagon this week?  Any tips to share on your process?  Any other good articles to read on the high-level stuff?