The Revision Process

One of the most important skills a writer must learn is revision. It has been said that the hardest thing for the beginning writer to learn is that once words have been put down on the page, you are not finished. All creative writing must be revised.

Revise, revise, revise! This is one of the professional writer's most important skills. Only published writers know how many times the manuscript was rewritten, how many times precious prose was discarded.

But what is revision? What does the word mean? The word revision, in fiction writing, refers simple to changing what you have previously written. You can revise by editing the original copy by hand (with a pencil) or by directly changing the text in your word processing file (best to keep a copy of the original, in case you change your mind later). Revising can mean condensing, eliminating some of the text to make the story shorter (often shorter means more effective). Or, revising can mean just the opposite, adding more text. Or revising can mean inserting new text into the story, maybe to add more description, or even to add new scenes or new characters. Basically, revision means changing things once they are written.

Usually the toughest kind of revision is getting rid of something you have created. Once written, the words can take on their own identity. For example, once you have developed your characters and you have started them acting, their actions can become sacred. If you have your character fall in love, or commit murder, or just walk down the street, it can seem almost sacrilegious to change things and have that character do otherwise. But, after analysis, maybe you realize that it is not yet time for your character to fall in love. Maybe the character you have killed off needs to come back to life, for at least one more important scene. Only a writer can undo history - at least in fiction.

Bergen Evans says "Revision is important to a writer because it is really a part of the writing process. Many pieces are unsatisfactory not because they are badly conceived, but because their possibilities aren't realized."

Some have defined revision as changing your text to insure you are actually carrying out your purpose. But revision need not refer to the recapturing of your original purpose, because your purpose can change as your document grows.

Most creative writing teachers suggest that you leave the manuscript sit for a while before starting the revision, but this varies from writer to writer. Next, writing teachers suggest you begin the revision process by sitting back and asking yourself, "what was the author of this manuscript trying to do?" As if you were not the writer. It is hard to be objective, but you should try. After that, the revision process is mostly the hard process of rewriting to make sure that goal was accomplished. As you revise your manuscript, ask yourself if each aspect of the work is effective, if it could be stated more simply (or even if that aspect is necessary at all).

In addition, nearly all first drafts, even those of skilled writers, are verbose. Ideas may emerge during the writing for which the foundation has not been properly laid. Ideas introduced early on may have been forgotten, leaving the reader hanging. All this must be caught and corrected during the revision process.

Even the writing style itself may have to be revised: when writing first drafts, the writer may be focusing on character development and simply moving the plot along. This can lead to terse sentences that get the job done, but may not be all that enjoyable to read. This is another aspect of the revision process: once you have successfully mastered the plot and have all of your characters properly described and moving in the right direction, you will probably have to go back and revise the language you used to accomplish it. Someone said a first draft is like the slow emerging of a statue from a block of stone. The rough shape of the work after the initial draft can be discouraging, but after smoothing and polishing it will look very different.

One more thing especially important for members of a writer's group. Revisions SHOULD NOT be done just to satisfy the demands of readers who have access to your document before it is published. Writers groups can be very valuable, but only if you treat their feedback as ADVICE, as SUGGESTIONS. Writer's groups provide an opportunity to put your writing in front of an audience to see how they react to your writing (in general). Many writers bring their writing to workshops to have others tell them what to do. But they find that readers (even experienced writers) are capricious: they provide feedback on how they felt about the manuscript at the moment they first read it. Unlike you, the writer, they are not married to the manuscript. As their mood changes, their feedback can change. Or they may have personal biases about how they think that particular type of writing should be done. Basing your revisions directly on reader feedback is like writing by committee; your writing will lose its individuality, its "voice."

All of the above shows why revising is so hard. How do you decide what to revise? And then how do you do it without losing the flow and "melody" of your writing that you worked so hard to put into it during the initial writing process? It is not easy, but revision is an important writing skill; it is truly part of the writing process, a crucial aspect of a writer's method.

Revision: Getting Started

Many writing teachers recommend setting aside a manuscript before beginning the revision process. However, some recommend starting the CORRECTION process right away; that is, looking for typos, errors of spelling, and verb tense - that kind of thing. But you may find that if you start looking for corrections, you may also start noticing other things that need fixing, things like awkward or overlong sentences. So I guess the decision about when to start revising depends on the individual writer. It is more of a process than a specific method.

The first round of revision might be called "looking for problems." But what kind of problems should you be looking for? Well, just about anything that stands out. For example, in scanning your manuscript do you see long passages without any dialog? Readers might grow impatient if you are doing too much describing, instead of letting your characters act. Or maybe you will notice too much description. In the past, writers used to set each new scene with lots of description. Here is an example from Dickens' "Great Expectations."

"I sat down in the cliental chair placed over against Mr. Jagger's chair, and soon became fascinated by the dismal atmosphere of the place. I called to mind that the clerk has the same air of knowing something to everybody else's disadvantage as his master had. I wondered how many other clerks were upstairs, and whether they all claimed to have the same detrimental mastery of their fellow creatures. I wondered what was the history of all the odd litter about the room, and how it came there. I wondered whether the two swollen faces were of Mr. Jagger's family, and if he were so unfortunate as to have had a pair of such ill looking relations, why he stuck them on that dusty perch for the blacks and flies to settle on, instead of giving them a place at home. Of course I had no experience of a London summer day, and my spirits may have been oppressed by the hot exhausted air, and by the dust and grit that lay thick on everything. But I sat wondering and waiting in Mr. Jagger's close room, until I really could not bear the two casts on the shelf above Mr. Jagger's chair, and got up and went out."

Compare those detailed observations of a new scene as desribed by a first-person narrator with the following, also a first-person introduction of a new scene by Jane Anne Phillips in the title story "Fast Lanes" from her book of stories by the same name.

"I went into the living room and pushed the furniture against the walls. There were only three pieces: the black couch and chair and the Formica table. They all seemed weightless, like cardboard. I lay down in the middle of the carpeted floor with my arms out and my feet together, counting each breath, counting with the hum of the air-conditioner."

Today's stories and novels often summarize description, giving the reader a quick overview of the scene and then getting on with the action. Some may see that approach as the proper one, moving the plot forward with dialog and action, thereby avoiding the temptation to fill out the reader's awareness of a scene that may not be all that important to the story line. Others may see that approach as "cardboard description," throw away phrases of taut description that are like the meaningless furniture props in Phillips' story (actually, her brief description seems to work in this instance because she seems to be showing how modern cheap furniture is one more aspect that is leading to the feeling of meaninglessness felt by her main character).

But you may want to use description to "place" the reader in the situation because you think it is important to understanding the motivation of the character who is to act within that scene. Therefore it may be important to you to provide the reader with detailed descriptions of the environment in which the action takes place. It is up to you. But once you have made these kinds of decisions, it is during your revision process that you have to decide if your writing has been successful in accomplishing your goals.

Other things to watch for during the first stage of revision include any scenes that do not move the plot forward. These need to be eliminated or cut way down. Also some characters may not be adequately described for the reader to understand their motives and actions. They therefore become "cardboard" characters - your readers will not believe in them. (This is often due to your knowing the character too well and failing to show the reader what is in your head.) Or your characters may be described in too much detail (again, because you know them so well), leading the reader to believe they will be important later in the story. Characters that are described in detail are usually a clue to the reader that they will be important.

For some writers, the revision process IS the writing process. These writers use a fast writing method that leaves the details for later, during the revision process. For example, using fast writing (which could be written using voice recognition software) the revision process is a second draft, but it is actually more like a first draft, with the fast-writing first draft used as an outline.

Using this type of rewriting process, the writer first works out the scene and the actions of the characters and then goes back later to fill in the details.

Some writers try to be more rigorous during the revision and rewriting process by using a checklist of problems to look for. Below are some example revision questions.

Is my story clear?

What is clear to you may not be so clear to the reader. As hard as it is, you should try to look at your manuscript as if is was someone else's. (This is another reason to put is aside for a while before beginning the revision process.) Will it be clear to a reader who knows nothing about your story? Is each new scene carefully described? Is it clear why each character acts the way they do? Does the reader have access to all the information they need to understand where the story is taking them?

Are there stereotyped characters or scenes?

Even if your story is original, your descriptions may not be. Characters who are "hard-bitten" or "deeply caring" or "as honest-as-the-day-is-long" may be recognizable, but made of cardboard. What makes them "hard-bitten" or honest? Describe those traits instead of using the cliché to describe them. Also look for clichés in descriptions: a house that is "dilapidated" or "spotless" can be described in many interesting ways without using the cliché.

What is the story about? Does each section contribute to that?

This question forces you to look at each section in terms of the overall story line. Sections (and characters) that do not carry the story forward may have to be deleted (unless they contribute to mood or scene setting). Plot is carried forward by the sequence of changes that take place in the story, changes from scene to scene, or by actions instigated by the characters. Scenes that take the story in some other direction should be rewritten or eliminated. Look for irrelevant scenes and characters that introduce thoughts or ideas that do not lead in the planned direction.

Why should the reader want to read this story? Why should they want to turn to the next page?

This is the toughest question of them all. You, as the writer, are interested in the story and the characters in it. But will a reader who doesn't know you be as interested? It has been said that the number one reason stories and novels are rejected is simple: they are not interesting. That means a lot of writers are spending a lot of time writing things other people are not interested in. Look at each aspect of your manuscript as if you were a disinterested reader. Can you pique that reader's interest? Now, it does not mean you have to write something that would interest every reader on earth; you just have to keep it interesting to "your" readers. If you are writing a gritty crime novel, you have to satisfy the type of readers who want to read that type of novel. But if you are writing a story of how a family overcame the loss of a child, you will be "speaking" to a different reader; you have to make it interesting to a reader who wants to understand that family's struggle.

In the end, the revision process is not all that different from the writing process. Rather than a separate phase of writing, it is actually an EXTENSION of the writing process. In fact, many professional writers see revision as THE writing process. They see the first draft as an instrument for working out the story line and the characters and scenes that will be necessary to carry that story forward. They see revision as the actual "writing" of the story. And they may see those who do not like revision as "amateurs." While there is nothing wrong with being an amateur writer (in other words, someone who just enjoys writing, someone who may not ever plan to have others read their work), the revision process can also be an interesting writing skill to develop. Whatever your revision method, it should be seen as one of the crucial aspects of preparing a manuscript to be read by others.

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