Revision In Writing

Whether you write fiction or non-fiction, books or essays, research papers or notes for a speech, revision is critical.

Image Courtesy of Herman Brinkman ~ http://www.freeimages.com/profile/hbrinkman

Even if your effort feels good and right and adequate, a revision could make it better.

Just like scraping ice off a window—revision takes things away to aid clear decisions.

And, even though revision usually also adds things after some removal, a writer will often not notice what needs adding without a bit of scraping-away…

Here’s a partial word history for “revision”—“from French révision, from Late Latin revisionem (nominative revisio) ‘a seeing again’,”

So, apparently, it’s not just taking away and adding words…

It’s seeing your writing again, from a new angle, with fresh eyes—ReVision…

There’s an article about all this on Glimmer Train, by Amina Gautier—Joy of Revision.

Just a few excerpts:

“…it is clear that the act of revising is not an act of editing, but an act of rethinking, an act of questioning. Revising is observing anew, understanding again, going back to see.”

“Revising encourages and liberates the writer to ‘make mistakes’. It rewards mistakes; each ‘mistake’ teaches one something about the story one is writing and gets one that much closer to the story one is meant to write.”

“Revision is the kick in the pants that propels the writer out of complacence, jars him from the euphoria that tends to come when he thinks he’s completed something.”

Naturally, I hope you’ll take the link and read the full article; but, let me add her four Key Points:

“Understand that a first draft is just that.”

“Do not be afraid to make a mess. Plan on it.”

“Don’t force yourself to revise and write at the same time (unless you want to).”

“Don’t mistake revising for editing.”

Each of those is more fully explained in the article…

And, my final thought:

Once you get into the spirit of ReVisioning, it truly can be Joyful :-)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Check Out Our Latest Poll…
Read Some Strange Fantasies
Grab A Free Novel…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To Leave A Comment, Use The Link At The Top-Right of The Post :-)
For Private Comments or Questions, Email: amzolt {at} gmail {dot} com