By Carrie Lofty

 *Note, this is part one of a three part post. CJE*

 So, you've finished a manuscript. You listened to Jenny Crusie when she said "write with your head down," and you took to heart Nora Roberts' advice that "you can't fix a blank page." But your result is no bestseller. It's terrible. Every thought you had during the writing process spilled onto the page, creating a murky, slobbering mess of a story. What to do?

I sat down throughout the summer of 2006 and typed. I wrote every fool thing that came into my head. At one point, I decided my heroine's father was a boring stick in the mud and stopped writing his character. Did I go back and delete him from previous chapters? No. I kept writing.

Whoa, was that first draft ugly.

But I had finished. That's where the magic starts. I get a magic zing when an idea first hits me--I must write this story--and I find it again in the revision process.

Now, friends of mine write emaciated first drafts and spend their revision time fattening every paragraph and putting meat on a strong skeleton. I'm just the opposite. I'm write ponderous first drafts. Come revision time, I know my story is in there--somewhere--but it's hidden beneath a layer of word blubber.

So I put my manuscripts on diets. Each and every one. And for each one, I've cut between 12-18% of the original word count. It can't be helped. That’s just how I work.

My actual revision process goes a little something like this, none of which is too bizarre or original. Depending on my proximity to a deadline, I give the manuscript a rest. I try to be gentle with my ideas, but by the end of that first draft, I'm completely sick of everything I've written. The momentary high of writing THE END gives way to thought exhaustion. So I take a mental holiday.

Then I print out the whole thing. It's not ecologically friendly, nor does the cost of ink do my budget any favors, but I need to see it on a printed page. I whip out a red pen and read it over, slowly, savoring and slicing in equal measure.

The first thing that jumps to my attention is technical: echo words. With one manuscript, I was in love with the word "circles." Everything had a darn circle. Circles of light, blood running circles. So I begin a list of echo words, and then do a search for each. I also search for overused words such as like, that, felt. The more of these I can eliminate, the fresher my writing sounds. I also use a trick I learned from editor Kelly Schaub: I begin a character list that includes everyone's physical features, clothing, ages--anything that might have changed as I wrote. This helps establish consistency as I head into the final draft.

During that first read-through, I live for the pleasant surprise that it doesn't suck as badly as I thought. I mark in red where it does, in fact, suck, and find my will to continue by highlighting places where it really sings. I also make notes of strange happenings...like villains who die twice. I wrote this after reading the manuscript for WHAT A SCOUNDREL WANTS (12/08; Kensington):

Robin Hood: I actually think I got him right, which shocked me. Back in June, I thought his character stank.

Sex: DANG. Somehow, in selfless devotion to my craft, I managed to write curtains-on-fire happiness.

Villains: five. Yes, five villains. Lots of happy deaths. One of them accidentally dies twice, of a broken neck and by burning--a goof I'll have to remedy.

Pages 1-30 and 150-THE END: Nice. Hardly any editing aside from the double-death villain and some typos.

Pages 31-149: Frankly shit.

So what was it about pages 31-149? Let's talk more tomorrow...

In the meantime, I love to hear how other authors operate. How do you go about your revisions? Do you put your manuscripts on a diet, or do you pump them full of protein to fatten them up?