Six Steps to Make Radical Changes in Your Manuscript

When you get to a point in a book manuscript where you’re ready for beta reader feedback, it’s a welcome and frightening feeling. You hope for cheers. Nothing too strenuous. Small edits, character tweaks. The bigger problems in plot, you hope, will remain untouched.

I am working through feedback from my excellent beta team on my short-story manuscript. They are such great readers and I love their comments—but some of the suggestions require radical revamping.

Should I go for it? I know these radical changes will create some literary earthquakes. Other stuff would have to be changed, if I follow them.

But they would also solve big problems I haven’t yet known how to address.

How do I get myself in a state of mind, of acceptance, that allows me to play with the changes?

This week, I want to share my six steps. I’ve used them before, and I’ve survived beta reader feedback on three novels. In case you are grappling with radical critique—the kind of changes you know are worth it but will twist your book into a new shape—try one or all of my steps below.

Step 1: triage

First, I need to triage. By that I mean sorting out the main suggestions from the smaller ones.

I usually need to print out the feedback. I always debate about this—and other writers create a Word tracking doc with different colored notes from each person. I do best with pages, and I use scrap paper (printed one side and bound for recycling) to make it more palatable.

I read through each person’s comments and underline the main suggestions.

When two readers repeat the same suggestion, I star these (more than one person mentioning the same problem means it’s a big problem, usually).

Step 2: list the changes to consider

It takes me some hours to get the highlighted suggestions. From these, I made a Changes to Consider list.

I hand write this. I find it’s too easy to space out (for me at least) on the keyboard and miss something, or—worse!—begin editing. Important to not do that yet.

I end up with a list of the major changes. Most times, these are fewer than I expect. This time, I had four of these radical changes to think about ( the rest were small or already dealt with).

Step 3: the index cards

I learned this idea from another writer. It really works for me, although it seems like an unnecessary step.

I write each suggestion on the top of its own blank 4 x 6 inch index card.

Then I brainstorm questions:

If I make this change, what will I do with . . . (fill in the blank) and what about . . . . (fill in the blank)?

This takes a few days of concentrated effort, spacey thinking, revisiting chapters, and some desperation.

After two days, each card has a list of small and large questions that I need to solve for the radical changes to work.

Step 4: take a break and get support

Because of the desperation and heightened Inner Critic activity at this point, I send a long, stream-of-consciousness email to a writing friend who knows my work intimately.

I can also do this step with certain beta readers.

Complaints, wailing, and questioning the ideas allow new solutions to come in. I also sleep on it. Before I go to sleep I go over the major questions again.

It takes a few days and nights, but I usually get some good solutions to try.

Step 5: read through

We’re about a week into the work now. I am ready to read through the manuscript by chapter.

I work in Scrivener, so my book is easily viewed by story. (Remember, I’m working on a short-story collection. I’ll use the word chapter below, so it applies to book writers of novels, memoirs, or nonfiction too.) You can do the same in Pages or Word or whatever you use.

Now I list changes each chapter or story would require. I usually discover that—to my great relief—many in the first half of the manuscript are fine as is, even if I do the radical changes. Towards the end, where all the themes (in my collection) or plot lines (in a novel or memoir) or theories and examples (in nonfiction) come together, I’ll need more rewriting because a scene or idea or a larger message no longer makes sense, with the larger manuscript change.

My read through provides this. I make notes for each as I go.

Step 6: to-do list

From my notes, I make a to-do list. Organized by story or chapter, it’s a clear roadmap to revision. And very valuable because it feels manageable.

I don’t have to revamp the entire manuscript, just certain parts.

Now I can begin reworking those parts that need it, in order of appearance, following my map. As I revise, I send the new work to myself via email, upload on my e-reader, and read for problems. Very few.

A roadmap

I believe most of us get stuck when we get major revision feedback because we have no roadmap. Even if the changes seem good, how do we start?

The process of these six steps broke everything down into manageable bits. It’s worked well for me every time. Each step can be achieved in several hours to several days.

I gain confidence in the new plan, and now that the changes are getting in place, I can see that my readers were so right. Once again. The new version is incredibly stronger.

Perhaps you’ll use this technique sometime, when a rewriting task looms large. It sure works for me.

Your weekly writing exercise

Try these six steps if you’re facing radical manuscript changes. Or one or two of them if you’ve already starting revising. What do you notice? Learn? Do differently?Photo by Utopia By Cho on Unsplash