Revive Your Work-In-Progress - Sure-fire Remedies for a Lackluster Manuscript

By Lucia Zimmitti

Is your work-in-progress feeling blah? Tired? Dishwater dull? Read on to discover practical tips for injecting your work with excitement and electricity -- the antidote to manuscript malaise.

5 pick-me-ups for a so-so manuscript:

Boost the pacing.

Delete all the boring parts (which includes anything that's not absolutely necessary).

If you don't have a deadline nipping at your heels, put the work away for as long as you can. That imposed distance will help you approach your work with a fresher perspective and spot things that can be plucked out. Remember, just because it pains you to lift out a sentence or paragraph or even a whole scene, your reader will never miss it.

If you're one of those people who'd rather watch a cow become steak than choose what needs to be axed in your own work, approach a trusted reader (someone who will give you the real truth, even if it makes you squirm) and ask him/her to note areas where the mind wandered. Listen to the feedback without commenting. Bite back the urge to blurt, "That sentence took me four hours to write: what do you mean it's not absolutely necessary?"

Stretch instead of wrap up.

Ratchet up suspense by knowing where to end your chapters.

Because we've had the five-paragraph essay drummed into our heads (the framework where everything is neatly tied up at the end of each paragraph), many writers apply the same ideology to their own work, thereby missing out on the opportunity to create suspense.

Look at where you're ending your chapters: do you end at a suspenseful place (high point), a place that makes the readers want to see how things will play out, or are you wrapping things up as Mrs. McGillicuddy taught you in eighth-grade English, ending on a low point, where things are settled so that the reader can choose to go on or put the book down?

Give your reader burning questions to answer at the end of each chapter. Wrap little things up along the way when you need to, but leave the final wrap-up for the end, when you decide to stop writing.

Keep conflict/tension high (don't be afraid to show people at their worst).

Whether they're reading non-fiction or fiction, readers don't want to read about people getting along beautifully, swimming in an endless sea of serenity. (Unless you're reading a how-to book on meditation, which I suppose shouldn't be filled with strife.) Most of us want to experience peace and harmony in our own lives, but reading about situations that are running smoothly is dull, dull, dull. So don't be afraid to show the ugly side of humanity, even when it's tough to write and involves people behaving as you never would.

When writers base their stories on something they experienced, I often hear, "But I can't change it -- this is how it really happened." Unless you're writing a memoir that needs to stand up to Oprah's scrutiny, people don't want to hear about how it really happened unless it was exciting. And that means you need tension, discomfort, trouble. Tension often (but not always) involves forces in diametric opposition, each working to get what they want and in the process foiling the efforts of the other.

Add texture and dimension when you revise.

When you're grappling with an idea, let yourself write it any way it comes to you the first time around. Because new ideas are often fragile and elusive, you shouldn't distract yourself with the machinations of polishing while you're focusing all your attention on the burgeoning, squirmy idea itself.

But then, once you trap a first draft on the page (and first drafts should be lousy, so don't worry), go back and reshape and revise.

Make your manuscript memorable:

~Use specifics instead of generalities whenever it makes the writing fresher.

~Weave choice details in (without overloading your manuscript so that it feels listy).

~Remember that adjectives and adverbs don't count as details, so cut down on those and replace them with powerful, specific verbs.

~Find ideas that you only glossed over in the first draft and expand some into full-fledged scenes that show instead of paragraphs that tell.

~Craft dialogue that crackles off the page instead of sentences where people don't mumble much more than "um" or "okay" or blasé conversation-filler.

READ, READ, READ.

It may sound like impossible nonsense, similar to, "In order to keep your gums healthy, watch someone else floss," but it really works (the reading, not the flossing).

Writers often mistakenly think they shouldn't read while they're working on something for fear that they'll be "influenced" by what they're reading. Toss that worry aside, because reading often and widely can actually help you unstick yourself when you feel the most stuck.

When you're grappling with a problem in your work and you shift your attention to reading, you'll be open to solutions and can identify techniques other authors used to deal with similar issues. It will inspire you to press on and finish a book that someday other writers will pick up when they're seeking creative encouragement.

To discover more ways to improve your writing and have more fun in the process, visit http://ManuscriptRx.com and sign up for "Write Through It," a free, monthly e-newsletter that offers tips on writing more creatively, clearly and effectively.

Lucia Zimmitti, a writing coach and independent editor, is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators and the Editorial Freelancers Association. Her fiction and poetry have been published in various national literary journals, and she has taught writing at the high school and college levels.

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