Editing vs Revising

[Pamela Jo]

I agree structure should be fixed first. I wish I could fix in my head how that is done. Not that there aren't great suggestions etc. I just haven't had the breakthrough yet.

Please Don’t Revise Your Manuscript!

Hello, you brilliant author, you. Yes, you—who have set out to tell a story you dreamed of telling, and by damn you did it. You finished a manuscript. Whether you did it during NaNo or any other time, do you know what an accomplishment this is? All of us who write or exist in

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[Brayati]

Structure is easier if it's thought of as the character's big emo moments in the story, rather than the story's big emo moments.
MC opens with a need or emptiness or change imminent.
MC fights it with others, community, etc. but finally
MC makes a decision to DO something, whether it's run, or hide, or get out of town.
MC gets hit by the new world and everything it means (fun n games, thanks to Blake Snyder), new people, new ideas, etc.
MC sees the cost/consequence if the forward momentum is lost/given up.
MC hits a major milestone and confronts both self and purpose (midpoint). Are they who they think they are?
MC gets in big trouble with direct confrontation with the evil consequences - and they're worse than before, and it's big, big, danger
MC considers death, life, and what it takes to confront this problem, then
MC makes a decision - it's do or die now, and the purpose is clear: losing costs too much
MC confronts and battles the evil within and without, and answers the story question/fulfils the need/processes the final change.

One for each character makes it easier to see how one character interacts with others, but beware too many characters because if they don't play a part in the main story line, they're just bit players and might do no more than add words and complexity without purpose.

When the draft is finished, look for the MC midpoint, and then work in the other bits to fit their story, because it is their story, and everything else is part of their journey, lesson, purpose, question.

 

[Mel L]

I don't think there's a one-size-fits-all approach that works for everyone. I'm currently reading Intuitive Editing, and it really is brilliant. In parallel, working on revising my WiP, I find the process is iterative for me. I bounce back and forth between writer brain and reader/editor brain. It's good thing we must learn this writing thing on the job. If I'd had to go to school, I doubt I'd ever graduate!