This week JJ talks with New York Times bestselling author Beth Revis about her publishing journey, revision, how she learned to revise and critique, and what she’s reading and enjoying!
BETH REVIS is the New York Times bestselling author of the Across the Universe trilogy, as well as The Body Electric, Paper Hearts, and the forthcoming A World Without You. She lives in the Appalachian mountains with her boys: one husband, one son, and two very large dogs. You can find out more on Facebook, Twitter, or online. If you never want to miss a thing and also get exclusive insider opportunities, sign up for her newsletter here.
Show Notes
Our previous podcast episode about revision, as well as all the articles we've ever written about Revision on PubCrawl!
The podcast episode where we discuss the vagaries of The New York Timesbestselling lists
Learn to revise by editing! Beth learned to revise by practice, and by critique other people's work. JJ learned to revise by editing other people's manuscripts.
Creation vs. Discovery writers, or rethinking the Plotter vs. Pantser dynamic by JJ
Beth's method of revision
Approach your booze of choice.
Make up a list of all the changes that need to be made.
Take out all the compliments.
Work chronologically through the manuscript.
Beth uses the split screen function on Scrivener, with the old version on top and new on bottom.
Go through the list of changes and work page by page.
What We're Working On
Beth is working on the last Paper Hearts book and the revisions for the forthcoming A World Without You
JJ is working on her middle grade and waiting on cover concepts for Wintersong
[box type="alert"]Just to let you guys know, both JJ and Kelly will be doing an AMA at the /r/YAwriters subreddit on MONDAY, JANUARY 25TH. Come and ask us questions about publishing, revision, and whatever else might cross your mind![/box]
What We're Reading
Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman
I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen
Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera
Silver in the Blood by Jessica Day George
The Witches: Salem 1692 by Stacy Schiff (yep, still!)
The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay
Off Menu Recommendations
Jessica Jones (TV show)
Daredevil (TV show)
Bojack Horseman (TV show)
We Bare Bears (TV show)
Steven Universe (TV show)
Adventure Time (TV show)
Paper Hearts: Some Writing Advice
Your enemy is the blank page. When it comes to writing, there’s no wrong way to get words on paper. But it’s not always easy to make the ink flow. Paper Hearts: Some Writing Advice won’t make writing any simpler, but it may help spark your imagination and get your hands back on the keyboard.
Practical Advice Meets Real Experience
With information that takes you from common mistakes in grammar to detailed charts on story structure, Paper Hearts describes:
How to Develop Character, Plot, and World
What Common Advice You Should Ignore
What Advice Actually Helps
How to Develop a Novel
The Basics of Grammar, Style, and Tone
Four Practical Methods of Charting Story Structure
How to Get Critiques and Revise Your Novel
How to Deal with Failure
And much more!
That's all for this week! Next week we return to our regularly scheduled PubCrawl podcast posts and discuss X MEETS Y, or THE HIGH CONCEPT IDEA.
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