I’m starting my second round of revisions for May the Best Player Win, my middle grade (MG) novel about a chess prodigy who plays the biggest competition of her life against a sexist teammate. And I’ve come to realize that my writing process and mindset are very different depending on whether I’m drafting or revising.
Most people don’t know this but May was originally written as a young adult (YA) book. However, in my first call with my now-editor (before the book was officially acquired), he suggested aging it down to MG for various reasons. I sat on his suggestion for a long time but ultimately saw the brilliance in what he said.
The Big Rewrite
That said, changing it from YA to MG requires making some radical overhauls. While the heart of the story remains the same, the changes I have planned are so extensive that I’m basically rewriting the book from scratch. What I think will be the trickiest change is getting the tone right. I’m exploring some pretty heavy subjects in my book—mental health, sexism, racism—but they have to be written from the perspective of a child, so there’s some delicate and nuanced balancing required.
So far, I’ve already cut two characters (I always say that I don’t feel like I’m really revising until I’ve removed one entire character, so I’m ahead on that front 😜). For better or for worse, I rarely feel emotionally tied to any plot point or character, so I can “kill my darlings” without too much fuss. However, before I started revising May, I was drafting my second adult novel as part of my two-book deal with Berkley (I hit 15k words on that before I had to set it aside for the time being), so I was able to compare how I draft versus how I revise. And I think my drafting style is what helps me be so brutal when revising.
Just wanted to share this amazing, amazing chess set my friend and fellow writer, Jen (@mouthyjen on Twitter) got me! The glossy dark red color is SO gorgeous and inspired a new scene in May the Best Player Win 2.0.
Drafting
I very consciously curate a headspace that takes the pressure off me to get my story right in the first draft. I don’t even call my first draft a draft; instead, the document is titled Snippets—for some reason, calling it by such an irreverent name reminds me that none of what I write is permanent and that I can always change it in the future. The document is saved in a folder titled Playground, because I treat drafting like playing around. (Corny, I know.) I also use an “unofficial” typography (Calibri 11, 1.0 line spacing)—essentially, the less it resembles an actual manuscript, the easier it is for me to allow myself to experiment and make mistakes. Dumping everything in my brain onto my screen helps me figure out my characters and the direction I want my story to head in, as well as how I don’t want them to be.
Revising
Because my drafting style is so all over the place, there’s plenty of unnecessary material by the time I get to the end. That’s when my Mr. Hyde mode is activated: I’ve had my fun, so time to get down to business. My rule for revising is: every scene should tackle at least two themes and/or subplots. If it doesn’t, it can be deleted or combined with something else. And that’s when all the snipping and chopping happens. I think the struggle with killing your darlings is the sunken cost fallacy: it’s very valid to think, Oh I spent so much time and effort crafting this interesting character/plot/scene/dialogue and it would be such a waste if I just deleted it.
When I realize I’m thinking along those lines, I ask myself: Do you want to hold on to your past effort, or do you want to give your book has its strongest shot at getting agented/published/loved in the future?
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