Revising Plot–Scene by Scene

Two weeks ago when we were talking about the “big picture” Jordan Rosenfeld talked about taking a plot inventory to get a handle on what you have written. So I made a chart using headings that I’ve gathered from a bunch of sources:

(Set your page to horizontal and write these headings at the top of the columns.)

Scene #
Chapter #
 # of pages (or words)
Date /Time
What happened
Place
Purpose (question raised or answered)
Emotional affect on reader

You can make this chart even fancier by using the shading tool to shade the rows which indicated the various turning points, dark moment, etc. that goes into that big picture overview.

Once you’ve got a handle on the big picture, having a chart like this really helps as you examine plot at the scene level. Revising the entire manuscript is daunting, but taking it scene by scene seems doable. A chart like this even makes it easy to plan your day. Just decide how many scenes you are going to revise and work your way through it.

After doing my own plot inventory I think I’ve found a new way of looking at my short first drafts (gotta try this a few more times to test out my theory). I am a minimalist when it comes to a first draft. I basically write: this happens, and then this, and then this, and this is how it ends. Then I go back and beef everything up, usually doubling the size of the manuscript.

The WIP I’m wrapping up now started out as an unofficial NaNoWriMo novel in 2007. Kitty and Stephanie had signed up for NaNo but I didn’t think I could do it. So I wrote along with them for fun and ended up with a middle grade novel in 60 pages. Yeah. Minimalist.

Through multiple revisions I’ve changed the plot a little to make life more complicated for my protagonist. I’ve added descriptions and more dialogue so the reader can hopefully see what I’m seeing in my head. Since that initial draft I’ve added 100 pages. But, I don’t believe I have any extra scenes. No rabbit trails. All dominos. My new mantra.