Four Ways to Revise

Revising is more important to good writing than any other part. No matter how awkward your first draft, with enough revision and rewriting, it can become great. If the key to writing a book in a month is to get the words down fast, regardless of quality, then the key to great revisions is to not try to do it all in one pass.

It's not uncommon for me to make ten revision passes over material. Most people's editing has two related problems. First, they try to do everything at once. This is like trying to write a final book with your first draft. Its too inhibiting. Second, most people edit "artistically." They just have a general goal of trying to make the material "sound better." One of my secrets as an editor is to focus on one thing at a time. In each pass, I only try to take care of one specific aspect, such as cutting material, sentence length and rhythm, or adding material. This makes it easier to catch all examples of each problem area. And by having rules to follow, it simplifies your editing, and gives patience to realize that you don't have to fix everything at once.

1. "Hand" Editing

The most common way to revise is still to go over your material and make changes directly on it. This is still commonly done with a pencil or red pen. Double space for convenience. Simple revisions can be done on the computer screen. But when material has to be moved between pages, it is harder to work directly on the computer because you only see one page at a time.

2. Rewriting from a fresh start

The second major type of revision is rewriting from a fresh start. Parts of your book may have to be totally changed. You benefit from the first draft in this case more by doing it differently than by using what you wrote. Its much easier to write from something than from a blank page, even if your first draft is completely wrong. When you know it's wrong, it tells you what you think would be right.

3. Revising by condensation

If your material isn't too long, you probably haven't written enough. Sometimes phrases or whole paragraphs you cut now may be useful in something else, or later in the same material. It's very helpful to write a long, rambling first draft. You don't inhibit yourself in anything that comes to mind. Just free associate and spit out everything you think of.

4. Revising by expansion

On the other hand, sometimes your first draft has obvious gaps. Rather than hold up your writing until you have the material to fill gaps, it's better to make a note and go back later. Often you expand by completely rewriting, literally using new material for filling the holes that were left open in the original.

Summary

The nice thing about patient editing is that each time you go over your book you can see real progress. On my rough drafts, the first edit is often hard because the material is so rough. Each subsequent edit will make small improvements, but after 5-10 editing passes, it is surprising how much better the writing can be. I'd estimate that my fast dictated writing gets 5 times better after 10 edits. Be patient and you may see the same improvements. Sometimes you feel like your could keep revising forever. There will be times when you edit something one way and then put it back the way it was. However, there will come a point when you know that it's about as right as you can make it. If you can enjoy the incremental changes while youre editing, you should find that the editing is much easier than the original writing. And if you need a fresh perspective, there are writer's groups and editors available. You've accomplished something by writing the first draft. If you think your book has potential, rewriting/editing can polish your work. Try it, youll like it!