Revising

[caecilia]

Sorry if this is too rambly. I'm in a university Fiction workshop, and I have absolutely loathed my story from day one. My biggest problem is that it has no plot. I've always felt that if I'm not feeling something, I turn the page in my notebook open a new tab in Scrivener and start from square one. I usually do this several times when I'm starting a story (and in fact, the "first draft" that I submitted is technically a third draft). But for the purposes of this class, my story has to very clearly be a revised version of the first draft, and not an "entirely unrelated" story. Personally, I'm not sure how anyone can tell that, since little changes add up and the story is meant to evolve. For my second draft, I started from the beginning and wrote basically the same thing but with a change in tone and style. I was thinking for my third draft, I could start with putting my characters in a different situation and have something happen to them, but now I'm not sure if that will be "too different".

My professor's comments on my second draft say that I need to flesh it out, but I'm struggling with how to go about this (and it's not my prof's job to walk me through it), and honestly my workshop group is really unhelpful.

So, I'm turning to you guys (as well as e-mailing the prof). What is your revising process like? When a story just isn't working, is there any way to revive it without doing a complete re-write? Do you always have to start from scratch like I do, or is there a better process for going through piece by piece and transforming the story? Specifically, have you ever written something completely void of action and had to somehow inject the plot into what you already wrote? I often go back while I'm writing and tweak/add/move little details around, but I'm at a loss at how to do this with something that's been sitting for a while, without, y'know. Starting over.

Comments

[caecilia]

This one works, thanks!

Honestly, in both drafts, they don't really learn anything either. But I'll keep that in mind as something I can have happen in my next draft, which right now is looking like it is going to be another drastically different re-write. I'm just not sure how to change one important thing without having to rebuild everything! Ugh, sorry if I sound like I'm all over the place right now. I'm thankful for the advice and I think I'll be referring back to this post's comments as I work, as a guideline for what to focus on.

[inkdust]

I think you might try focusing on this point. If your main issue is that the story feels passive, as you said, and your characters are too reactionary, then one of the things that they're reacting to needs to change them.

I used to fall into the trap of starting over and rewriting, but I know that tactic will only ever give me another rough draft. I'm currently doing major revisions, and I'm basically looking at every scene and plot point and asking myself, "Is this the best thing to have happen here, for the overarching plot?" and then, "Is this the best way to have this thing happen?" Sometimes it feels like I'm turning my brain inside out trying to look at it a different way, but I already know this draft is so much stronger.

If you're struggling because there are more interesting stories you'd rather write, tell yourself you'll get to those later. Once you work this one out you can move on, and I bet you'll learn some good stuff from doing it.