Revisions and Writing Resources

Volume I: The Dream of the Sphere is finished and there’s a light at the end of the tunnel on revisions at long last. After a very long haul, working through my lessons from Dave Farland’s Rewriting to Greatness, I’m finally on the last few passes, completing line-editing.

The first 7 chapters are complete out of 23. I’m pleased so far with my creation, and I can definitely say I have a better, stronger book now. With the help of a few readers and their input I’ve made several changes for the better. One major character was totally revamped from the ground up and I’m much happier with that character now. I added at least 10,000 words in revisions, several new characters sprang forth and I feel like my world is fuller and more detailed.

Throughout the process I’ve read, and reread several excellent books which have been invaluable and I would highly recommend to anyone:

• Million Dollar Outlines by David Farland
• Drawing on the Power of Resonance in Writing by David Farland
• Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King
• Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass

I definitely prefer the actual writing process of building worlds, and crafting story to revisions and rewriting, but in the end, the revision process is crucial in making it all come together and I’ve learned a lot that I think will help me streamline the process in the future.

For now, I’m looking forward to putting the finishing touches on Dream of the Sphere, forwarding it to Dave Farland for his input and critique and moving toward submitting it to a publisher. Most of all, I’m looking forward to writing again, free from the yolk of revisions.