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Before any manuscript should be submitted to an agent, an editor, or publisher, it should be as close to being perfect as possible. Therefore, revisions are a must, and not just one for grammatical problems or not just one for spelling or typos that need corrected. Also more than one revision is necessary. As an experienced editor, publisher, and writer, I want to share some of what I've learned.
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Revise! Revise! Revise!
For the past five years or so, I've read and heard, "Don't do any revising or editing until you have finished writing the whole story or book."
What! That goes against common sense and everything I've learned in all the years I've studied, written, taught, and read. The reasons I disagree are several, but a main one (and I've seen examples of this too many times) is if an author waits until after he finishes and then changes something toward the start, he often forgets a later part of the story affected by the change and forgets to adjust. A story develops from the beginning to end, and once written, any change at the beginning makes differences later in the piece, changes that are easy to miss. Thus cohesion and coherence become weak and faulty.
I know some "writers" who think any major editing should be done by an editor. Let me share something I found in the August, 2005 issue of The Writer. According to Sam McCarver, the author of six John Darnell mystery novels,
In the time-intensive world of publishing, you may have only one
opportunity to intrigue an editor with your writing, your main
character and your story. And you must often do that within pages
- or the first few sentences - of your manuscript.
Editors are pressed for time and very perceptive in identifying good writing,
interesting characters and gripping stories, so they move fast through
your pages.
McCarver goes on to say that an author must write the best story or novel possible: edit it, polish it, enhance it. Then he should read and make final changes - all before ever allowing anyone else to read it. Yes, before allowing anyone else to read a manuscript, the author should have spent hours improving a rough draft.
Writing a story or novel is only half the job: Revising is the other half, a most important half, of writing. Ernest Hemingway, E.B. White, and F. Scott Fitzgerald all supported the need to revise and rewrite. Hemingway admitted he cut as he wrote, yet, he would take weeks to revise a book.
McCarver's article "How to revise your FICTION" gives eight steps for editing a person's work. I happen to agree with his points, especially the one which states that delaying all editing until the manuscript is finished is a mistake.
However, let's examine this author's ideas, as well as those expounded in many composition text books and believed by me:
1. Accept revising as the other half of writing. E.B. White stated that the best writing is rewriting.
2. Adopt good editing procedures. To produce a better first draft, one should begin revising with the first word written, making improvements as he goes. As a writer completes a day's production, he should study what's on the screen, if using a computer. If he sees a need for any changes, he should make them while they are fresh in his mind. Then he should print what is finished.
According to Chang-rae Lee, winner of the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award, he tries to polish as he goes because what leads him to the next sentence is the sentence before. "I find that it's hard to move on unless I've really understood what's happening, what comes before and where it's heading."
3. Review printed pages. Writers should print out the pages finished and set them aside to "cool." Then they should read the printout with a pen in hand, noting corrections or revisions that will improve the writing. After making changes on the computer, writers should reprint the pages, adding to the pile of finished pages. Each day's, or period's, work should be the same: writing, rereading, editing, and making changes as one goes.
4. Identify errors and correct them. According to McCarver, three procedures are critical in the revision process: correcting mistakes, improving content, and enhancing the story.
The first attention needs to go to spelling and punctuation errors, typos, grammatical mistakes, and inconsistencies in tense or point of view. Although such mistakes may seem minor to the author, editors expect manuscripts to be virtually free of any errors.
5. Improve content. "What you say and how you say it also must be polished to the best of your ability," states McCarver. "Improving content also includes considering the structure and sharpening your word choice," as well as re-examining characters for consistency, making sure the plot hangs together, that scenes are compelling and dialogue natural, and that all loose ends are tied up.
Word choice is a topic for another editorial, but it is a vital part of good writing.
6. Concentrate on enhancement. Enhancement goes beyond making corrections and improving content and style: It means increasing the quality and impact of the writing. A techniques given by McCarver are as follows:
* Inserting foreshadowing for greater event impact later.
* Increasing the emotion in dialogue and thoughts in scenes.
* Adding or strengthening subplots.
* Intensifying the consequences of actions and events.
* Adding twists to the plot.
* Shortening flashbacks, if used, and including action in them.
* Making characters seem more real, depicting their actions, dialogue and thoughts more naturally and powerfully.
7. Do that final revision. After finishing the whole manuscript, revise again.
8. Take one last look. After revising the complete manuscript again, the author should reread the printed pages before mailing them or sending a query letter. All errors and last minute changes should be made.
I would add having the manuscript critiqued by at least two people who know what is needed for a good manuscript, then doing a final revision, #8, above.
All authors want to impress editors by providing a story that the editors cannot put down. Each author, through a manuscript, has only one chance to make a great first impression.
Note: "How to revise your FICTION" by Sam McCarver in The Writer, August, 2005, provided research material for this editorial as did several composition text books and notes from my files. |
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Words from Our Readers
Last issue, I wrote about the use of personal pronouns. The replies from readers are below. Thanks for the comments.
jmariah
Viv, thank you so much for your article on personal pronouns. It always makes me shudder to see them being used incorrectly. One of my pet peeves is the use of the plural third person form when not wanting to indicate male or female (Someone wrote this lovely note. I'm sure THEY won't mind if I read it.) At one time it was proper to use "he"; I understand why that was dropped. But being old school, I can't get used to the use of "they" or "them".
Using they or them to refer to everyone, anyone, or other indefinite singular pronouns or to a singular noun is completely incorrect. If using he or him or using he/she or him/her is awkward, then the sentence should be rewritten so that the plural personal pronoun can be used correctly. For example the following is incorrect:
An author needs to understand their audience. Nope, the following is needed:
An author needs to understand his (or his/her) audience. Authors need to understand their audiences. (after all authors will not have one audience)
Zeke 
This report on pronoun useage was very informative. Thank you.
dean 
good. that was helpful. dean
I'm glad I could help.
bertiebrite hoping for peace
Predicates, pronouns and subjects, oh my! I am always so confused by the technical aspects of the English language, I feel blessed that I don't have to diagram sentences any more.
Ah, but diagramming sentences is the best way to see the relationship of words and if they are used correctly.
ZukoRocks30
I found it ironic that in your opening paragraph, you misspelled "mangle" as "mange"! Smile
Thank you for the pronoun reminder. Now, if only we could speak as well as we can write, per your reminders!
Guess my fingers mangled my typing. That does happen; let's me remember I am human, too. 
J. A. Buxton
In many stories by new WDC members that I review, the writer is often confused by it, it's, and its. A long time ago I discovered a great site that explains those and many other confusing sound-alike words, so I include it in those reviews. More established writers might find this link helpful, too.
http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html#errors
Thanks for the link.
Deb :
Thanks I am a little rusty and I will save this information to refer to.
I have to refresh my grammatical usage from time to time, too.
Thanks for joining me again. I hope I've helped you prepare for submitting your work.
Viv |
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For Authors: October 26, 2011 Issue [#4641]
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