For an architect, should a book be written as a complete work, which you then break into chapters? Or should I be focusing on writing chapter by chapter from the start?
Also, what order should revision be done in, what do you work on first? Punctuation and grammar, trimming, pacing, characters? What do you find usually gives the biggest pay-off first?
1) Both methods have worked for me in the past, so I don’t know if there is a “Should” here. I think that early on, visualizing the book as a sequence of chapters which achieve certain goals is a useful way to finish your first few novels. It helps with the step-by-step method of getting it done. I use something more organic now, however.
2) My method is this:
Revision One: Fix continuity, big problems.
Revision Two: Make the language more active, get rid of repetition.
Revision Three: Fix problems mentioned by alpha readers (so long as I agree with them.)
Revision Four: Cut 15%
Revisions 5-7: Beta reader issues, more editorial fixes, more of all above.
However, in those early chapters, the biggest payoff is going to come from making certain character voice is solid and that the language isn’t dull. (Trim info-dumps, get rid of passive constructions, that sort of thing.)
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