Five Myths about Story Revision by Lynne Reeves Griffin

Five Myths about Story Revision

Lynne Reeves Griffin

There’s consensus among writers that while completing a first draft is a monumental accomplishment, it is by way of rigorous revision that the depth and heart of a story is revealed. Every writer struggles with the complexities of the process. It’s daunting to rewrite or add scenes. It can be time consuming and frustrating to reconsider what sits between the lines of your prose. Moving passages around, essentially changing what’s already on the page, can leave you utterly confused.

My experience writing (and rewriting) Dark Rivers to Cross entailed years of reimagining drafts, getting perspective on my efforts to structure the novel like a turbulent river, and then having the courage to reshape and refine the story further until it finally resembled my vision. Through my own evolution as a storyteller, and as a developmental editor regularly offering feedback to other writers, I’ve learned a lot about what gets in the way of responding to constructive feedback. Our facility with craft isn’t usually the enemy. It’s our attitudes toward narrative revision that can be immobilizing. 

Here are five myths that I’ve found wreak havoc on our ability to tackle revision with abandon. 

Myth 1

If your work needs editing, it isn’t very good.

Every writer needs a good editor, or three! From developmental edits about structure, character, and voice, to copy edits for consistent grammar and style, please open your mind to this: you will be edited. Before submitting your work for publication, be sure to find smart, savvy, trusted readers who will share honest appraisals of the state of the story. Your work will absolutely be better as a result of internalizing and executing on constructive feedback.

Myth 2

If you accept the editorial feedback, then the story isn’t yours.

Good editors believe that you are in the driver’s seat on making the final choices about what stays and goes, as well as what is deepened and strengthened in your piece. If you write to be published, then get set to embrace a team mentality when it comes to fine-tuning your work. In reality, your story will go through, not one, but rounds of developmental edits.

Myth 3

If there is too much editorial feedback, then the story probably isn’t worth revising.

Feedback on a first draft may well be overwhelming, but keep in mind most writers believe it is in revision that the real writing begins. There is no way I would show you my first draft for Dark Rivers to Cross, or any of my previous novels. My early drafts are for me. They point me in the direction of where my story can be found.

Myth 4

If an editor suggests that an aspect of your work is confusing, he or she doesn’t get what you were trying to do. 

Maybe so. Still, while you may have written something with clear intention, that doesn’t mean you did it to good effect. When one trusted reader says he doesn’t get it, and then another says the same, it’s time to listen. If experienced editors don’t understand something, likely readers won’t either. There is an art and a science to listening to feedback, and then of course to finding your authentic way to solve the narrative problems.

Myth 5

If your editor gives you feedback, that means he or she doesn’t like the work.

Simply because an editor points out flaws in an argument or weak plot lines doesn’t mean she doesn’t like your overall effort. It’s all too easy to take feedback personally, or focus on the constructive, not the positive. Without question, editors can be more objective about your work than you can, and therefore they often cut to the chase about edits. Remember, publishing is a business and it requires you to know when to put your armor on and get back to work.

Like anything in this journey toward living a literary life, it’s important to learn where you are in the process of accepting honest, constructive feedback. Though perspective taking is hard, it’s critical that you learn to do it. If you’re able to let go of mythical thinking and sort through the feedback you’ve received, only then will you be able to see what suggestions ring true and which ones don’t. You’ll be in a better position to execute changes that deepen the piece, and in the process become a better writer.

—

Lynne Reeves Griffin is an internationally recognized family counselor, public speaker, teacher and writer of fiction and non-fiction. Her work has been published in Parents, Psychology Today, Solstice Literary Magazine, Chautauqua Journal, Craft Literary, Fiction Writers Review, Brain, Child, Your Teen, and many other outlets. 

She’s a go-to expert to discuss contemporary family life and preventive mental health in the media, with appearances that include WBUR Radio’s Morning Edition and WCVB’s Chronicle.  

Writing as Lynne Griffin, she is the author of the family focused novels, Life without Summer (St. Martin’s Press), Sea Escape (Simon & Schuster), and Girl Sent Away (SixOneSeven Books). As Lynne Reeves, she writes novels of domestic suspense, including The Dangers of an Ordinary Night (Crooked Lane Books; November 2021), which The New York Times calls “a sensitive examination of a dysfunctional family and a full-of-secrets community that claims to be seeking the truth.” Her latest thriller, DARK RIVERS TO CROSS, will be published by Crooked Lane Books in November 2022.  

Lynne is a member of International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime National and Sisters in Crime New England. Visit her website: www.lynnegriffin.com,  Instagram: @lynnereevesgriffin, Twitter: @Lynne_Griffin.  

 

DARK RIVERS TO CROSS

For fans of Hannah Mary McKinnon and Kimberley Belle, this emotionally charged thriller explores long-buried family secrets and the deadly reckoning that often follows their explosive reveal.

For two decades, Lena Blackwell has kept her sons at her side, teaching them everything she knows about running their successful river lodge in Northern Maine. But what she really wants is to keep her boys in the dark about their tragic past.

Her son Luke is right where he belongs, working at the family inn sheltered by acres of pine forest that stretch along the Penobscot River. So when his adopted brother, Jonah, threatens to upend their peaceful life by searching for his biological parents, Luke refuses to help.

Lena is determined to thwart Jonah’s search to uncover his own history. But the unexpected arrival of old friends at the inn for a weekend off the grid throws her plans into disarray. Little does she know, Jonah has already gleaned enough information to set in motion a deadly reckoning.

Luke may not want to know anything about his family, but he’s caught between the hard truths his brother is determined to expose and the devastating secret his mother is desperate to keep—at any cost.

Dark Rivers to Cross sensitively explores inherited trauma and the stories we tell the ones we love. It’s about what one mother is willing to sacrifice for her children.

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