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Sep 26, 2012 
One of the hardest parts of both finishing and revising a novel is keeping the big picture in mind–juggling all the elements so that you end up with a story-shaped book that delivers the ending you promised at the start. I’ve tried different strategies over the years and this is the one that is working pretty well for me at the moment.
5 steps to seeing your novel as a whole
1. Shrink your text to 8 point type, remove space between chapters and make margins as narrow as possible so that the whole novel will fit on less than 50 pages. Print it out. Put it up on a wall or lay it out on a large table or bed.
- Observe the balance of dialog to description.
- Notice chapter lengths relative to each other.
2. Highlight setting descriptions
- Are they present throughout but not large?
3. Highlight physical intensity/action in a different color. Do the same for emotional intensity/tension and humor
- Is there balance? Some action in every chapter; some tension in every chapter?
- If it’s not a funny book, is humor providing a respite? If it’s a funny book, is the humor consistent throughout?
4. Use a post it notes to mark where each character is introduced.
- Does the main character appear in the first page or first 400 words of the book?
- Are all the major characters introduced in the first third of the book?
- Are there clumps of 3 or more characters introduced in a single scene?
5. Use post it notes to mark the major events of the plot
- Are setting and main character established in the 1st 500 words?
- Is the inciting incident in the first chapter?
- Does every chapter contain an obstacle, or a reversal, or an important plot point?
- Is there a single clear climax?
- Does the story resolve and end shortly after that climax?
Remember these are questions and not commandments. You may have additional questions to ask yourself or different aspects to highlight based on the type of story you are telling. It’s just a tool, so feel free to make it your own.
This is how big picture revision looks in my office.
This is a 45,000 word MG novel shrunk down to 34 pages. Setting details are in green, humor is pink, action is yellow, and emotional intensity is orange.
Over the top of the highlighting I used cross-hatching to indicate view point narration. I have two view point characters. One is indicated by right slanting red lines and the other is shown with left slanting green lines. Putting the alternating point of view up on the wall like this made it clear that in the middle, the POV character is not clear. I can also see that there is too much of the red characters POV and not enough of my green character’s POV in the final section.
I’d love to hear from you about what works for you when you are revising with the flow of the whole novel in mind. Leave your suggestions in the comments!
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