I haven’t spoken much about this lately, but I have been plugging away at the How To Revise Your Novel* course, and, thus, the revision of Polar Bear on the Loose.  I was bogged down for quite a while.  Then I made a burst of progress.  Now, I’m at another lesson that’s crucial for the novel revision.  That doesn’t sound right.  They’re all crucial, but some of the tasks on the last couple lessons were easier for me to do.

I am finally at Lesson 12 (out of 23).  Lesson 12 is where we refine our characters.  I thought I had 52 characters, but I had 15 that were “blinkies.”  They weren’t characters at all — merely window dressing in human (or bear) shape for the story.  They didn’t have lines.  They didn’t always even physically appear in the story.  They were just mentioned.  That brought me down to 37 characters.  Or, I thought I had 37 characters, but I’d made notes earlier in the process to the effect of, ‘Why is this person here?  What do they contribute?”  There were five of those.  I eliminated them.  If I discover they served a useful purpose, some other character will pick up that function.  That brought me down to 32 characters.    I managed to smoosh five more of them into other characters.  Yes, I downsized them.  The remaining characters will have to “do more with less.”  Which, if you’re keeping track at home, means I have 27 characters remaining, and some of them are on shaky ground.

The rest of this lesson has me going through my modified scene for revision  cards (all but five are red or orange, indicating major revision is required) and documenting each scene’s purpose and which characters make an appearance in that scene.   In some form or fashion, I have some notes to make on the manuscript regarding character changing, but I haven’t figured that out yet.

I do sense when I complete this lesson, I’ll have the foundation laid for the way ahead in the revision.  My not understanding how to get to this point is my whole reason for wanting this course — and if you struggle with knowing how to get to this point, I highly recommend How To Revise Your Novel* as a course you should consider.

Don’t let time concern you.  I’ve been working on this course for nearly a year and a half now — I am a member of the inaugural How To Revise Your Novel class.  I may be the slowest member of the class, but speed is not what the course is about.  Learning the process and getting the best book possible IS what the class is about.  If you can do that in 23 weeks (or less), that’s great.  I can’t. Not yet, anyway.  That, to me, is the beauty of Holly’s classes — the classes become available at one week intervals, whether you are ready for them or not, but once they are available, they are ALWAYS there.  You can work at your own pace.  You can go back and review (I have!).  You have the forum community available for encouragement, advice, and general interaction  — as much or as little as you like.

* Yes, both links to the course  go to my affiliate page.  All proceeds generated from someone signing up for the course through my links go directly to support Forward Motion for Writers.