Episode Eight: Revision Isn’t the Icing, It’s the Whole Cake
In this super short episode of the Better Writer Podcast, I'm reading an email I sent to my email list a couple months ago. You may have heard other writers/writing teachers compare writing to the process of baking a cake. It's true. They're both complicated processes, hard to master if you're a beginner, and totally worth the hard work. Writers often think revision is the icing in this process. It's not. It's the whole cake.
You can listen to the full epsiode here. Or, watch here.
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Transcript
Please Note: This is an automatically generated transcript that has not been edited.
Olivia Bedford (00:00)
Hello, and welcome to episode number eight of the Better Writer podcast.
Before we dive into the content, I just want to give you a quick warning. I am currently on the road staying at a lovely little hotel with a room overlooking a busy road.
out most of that noise, but if you hear any loud sounds come through, that is why, and I am very, very sorry that the audio quality is not as good as it usually is.
If you are a YouTube watcher slash listener, I also apologize there is no video due to a camera issue, but hopefully I will be back on your screens next week.
Alright, I'm gonna keep this episode short because like I said, I'm not at home,
But I couldn't miss this episode because it's number eight and I'm on a roll.
So I'm actually going to share an email I sent out to my newsletter a couple months ago, all about revision and cake. Here it is.
Writing a novel is a lot like baking a cake. Complicated, prone to errors, but so worth it in the end. I'm not the first to make this connection, but I see a lot of writers getting this analogy wrong. Often, writers think of revision as the icing on the cake, the decorative, sugar-sweet coating that makes your cake look beautiful after it's baked and cooled during the drafting process. They're wrong. Revision isn't the icing. It makes the whole damn cake. Revision is tasting the batter and making sure you have enough salt
sugar, vanilla extract, or cinnamon. Revision is tasting the batter and realizing you used salt instead of sugar and need to dump out the whole thing and restart. Revision is deciding midway through that you actually want to make a chocolate cake and running to the store for cocoa powder. Revision is coating the pans with butter and flour to make sure your cakes slide out effortlessly later. Revision is realizing you forgot to set a timer and trimming off all those crispy little edges or, sadly, tossing the whole blackened thing and starting over.
so that they're level and stackable. Revision is carving your cake into a new shape because you're feeling fancy and ambitious that day. Revision is adding just enough filling between your layers to make sure the cake flavor isn't overpowered or destabilized by what's inside.
Revision is all-encompassing and pervasive.
Revision means re-evaluating every single part of your novel and being willing to edit or omit or change anything that isn't serving your story. Revision is being willing to do the hard thing, the thing that will make your finished novel so unbelievably tasty that your future readers can't put it down. Revision is ruthless, but worth it.
Now, if you're not a baker and these cake metaphors have your head spinning, here are three simple strategies for treating your revisions like the whole cake.
Number one, be willing to toss the whole bowl. I fully subscribed to the Terry Brooks philosophy that the first draft is just you telling yourself the story, but revision is about your future readers. That means you need to be willing to do anything and everything to make sure your story works for them. If a subplot creates confusion, cut it. If a character feels random and steals the stage from your protagonist, save them for another story. A pretty chapter that doesn't do anything
needs to be rewritten so it is relevant or banished from your manuscript. And if you find a problem that fundamentally destroys your premise, you may need to be willing to rewrite the whole entire thing.
Number two, prioritize effectively. Just like baking, writing a novel has a set order of operations. You can't trim the top of a cake that hasn't been baked yet, and you can't polish a novel that hasn't been drafted. On a less extreme level, we have to be careful to work through our revisions in the right order. Don't jump to line or copy editing before you're 100 % certain that your plot works, your character arcs are well-developed, and your world makes logical sense, among other high-level concerns.
This is not an exhaustive list. The alternative is to waste time polishing paragraphs that may never make it to the final version of your book, or to get so attached to the way you wrote something that you lose sight of why you wrote it and what purpose it's supposed to be serving in your novel, which will make it 10 times harder to cut the sections that aren't pulling their weight.
Number three, remember that the batter isn't the end game. Cake batter is delicious, and I will always sneak a taste, but that doesn't mean I'm going to stop there. Eventually, the cake goes into the oven. Eventually, it will be cooled and frosted and shared. Every hard, messy step along the way serves the true end goal, creating something you're proud of and excited to share with the world. Your job isn't to write the first draft or even the second.
your job is to create something that your future readers will enjoy as much as you hope they do. That also means making decisions with that reader in mind. For example, if your entire family loves chocolate cake and hates strawberry, you either need to bake your strawberry cake for someone else looking for.
It'll be worth it when they come back asking you for a second slice and tell everyone else they know about your amazing recipe.
Alright, that is it for episode number eight of the Better Writer podcast.
I hope you enjoyed that little sneak peek of what my email newsletters are like. If you enjoyed it, you can subscribe. There is a link wherever you are watching or listening to this show, and I would love to have you as a subscriber.
if all these baking metaphors have you craving cake, I will do the same thing I did when I originally sent out this email and link to one of my favorite cake recipes. It is a chocolate orange cake that I often make around the holidays. It is absolutely delicious. I hope your family enjoys it as much as mine did.
All right, have a wonderful week. Thank you so much for listening to this show. If this episode resonated with you, please share it with another writer who can use it, post about it on social media. Anything you can do to help me spread the word about this podcast is so very much appreciated.
thank you again for listening. Have a wonderful week. Keep writing and keep getting better one word at a time. See ya!
