by Ellen Buikema

Revision is the process of rethinking the story—big picture stuff: considering your character's traits, reviewing your research, fine-tuning the plot, reorganizing chapters. This is done prior to editing the manuscript.

Focus on getting the story down first, then revise afterward with fresh eyes. Give yourself time, at least a week or more, between finishing the first draft and beginning the process of revision.

Writing is an art form and a discovery process. Keep in mind that there will be multiple revisions. In 1958 Ernest Hemingway told George Plimpton of The Paris Review that, "I rewrote the ending to Farewell to Arms, the last page of it, thirty-nine times before I was satisfied."

Steps to Revision

Wait a while.

• When returning to the draft, be honest. What you really think about the story?

Think big.

• Look at the large issues. Are you saying what you want to say? Will the reader understand what you are saying?

Revision is a chance to look critically at what you have written.

Problems with Revising While Writing a First Draft

Revising while writing the first draft can wreck creativity and slow progress to a crawl. Make them separate processes to avoid:

• Ruining Creative Flow
  • Writer’s Block: Stopping to revise interrupts the flow of ideas, curtailing writing momentum.
  • Narrow Focus: Tunnel Vision on particular sections may cause loss of character development and over-arching narrative.
• Delayed Progress
  • Time Loss: Revising takes time, sometimes more than writing the first draft, which delays finishing the story.
  • Feeling overwhelmed: Writers may feel frustrated by the need to be perfect, which can lead to burnout.
• Weakened Story Development
  • Fragmented Story: Revising while drafting can keep the writer from finding the story's potential, resulting in an incomplete narrative.
  • Stunted creativity: Over-revising can stifle creativity, making writers overly critical of their ideas and causing a loss of originality.

How to Avoid Revising While Writing the First Draft

Finish the first draft: Rather than revision, focus on getting the story written. There is no such thing as a perfect first draft. I realize that this is easier said than done, having had trouble with this myself. What helped me was my first time writing for NANOWRIMO, the National Novel Writing Month challenge where you attempt to write 50,000 words in the month of November. I didn’t think I could do it, but proved to myself that it was possible.

In order to write that much in the time allotted I had no choice but to write and not revise. I cannot begin to tell you how often I wanted to “just go back and fix a few things.”

Give yourself the gift of time: Allow time to pass before revisiting the draft for a fresh perspective.

Use Fresh Eyes to revise: Focus on improving the character arcs, narrative flow, and story structure.

This method helps enhance creativity so writers can produce polished work.

How to resist spending more time revising what you’ve written instead of writing what you haven’t had time to write—because you’re still revising.

Take notes as you go.

I am a fan of using Track Changes in Word. Comments in Google docs works too. Scrivener Inspector has Notes pane. So, there are a lot of options depending upon the chosen method for documenting your writing.

Say you decide that you should have done something big, like send a character off this plane of existence a few chapters ago. Make a note and then continue on as if you had already written that change. Revisit that section when you’re finished revising and ready to begin edits.

Try time management techniques.

The Pomodoro technique of working for a certain period of time, taking a short break, and then back to work again is helpful. This is what I did to get through NANOWRIMO.

I know people who work for a certain amount of time and treat themselves to a set number of tiny candy pieces, then back to work. That wouldn’t work for me as I’d be too tempted to scarf down the chocolate pieces as I wrote.

Here’s a link to other time management techniques.

The Editing Process

There are four primary types of editing

• Developmental editing
  • Evaluate overall structure, pacing, plot, and character development.
  • Focus on logic, consistency, plot holes, organization.
  • Resolve narrative issues.
• Line editing
  • Work on rhythm, flow, and tone.
  • Eliminate passive voice, wordiness, repetition.
  • Make sure writing sounds natural.
• Copyediting
  • Work on technical correctness.
  • Focus on internal consistencies (e.g. eye color, tattoo type), grammar, punctuation, spelling, syntax.
  • Polish the text and make it cohesive.
• Proofreading
  • Final review of manuscript prior to release.
  • Focus on typos, stray commas, formatting.
  • Make manuscript public ready.

Proofreading should always be the last task. If your story is initially a mess, as first drafts are by definition, proofreading first is like putting a band-aid on a gushing wound. There will be a plethora of changes before it’s time for this.

Final Thoughts

When revising consider using a printed copy as, for some reason, problems seem to show up easier on paper. Also, try:

• Reading chapters aloud.
• Use Microsoft Word’s Read Aloud under the Review tab or other similar product.
• Have someone else read it to you.

Listening to your work will help highlight hiccups in the story.

If you are giving yourself two hours to write and you have a niggling need to revisit a chapter, and cannot go forward until you do, go ahead and do it. However, allow yourself no more than twenty minutes away from writing. Set the timer and stick to the time allotted.

Revision is a holistic view of your work in progress. Give yourself time away from your manuscript’s first draft and come back to it fresh and clear-eyed. This will help to avoid emotional exhaustion /burnout and give you room to create good work.

What type of time management techniques do you use? Have you ever gone back into a story after the first draft and discovered that you need major changes? Do you like a particular tool for note taking while writing your stories?

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About Ellen

Author, speaker, and former teacher, Ellen L. Buikema has written Parenting ... A Work in Progress, non-fiction for parents, and The Adventures of Charlie Chameleon chapter book series with stories encouraging the development of empathy—sprinkling humor wherever possible. Her Works in Progress are The Hobo Code, YA historical fiction and The Crystal Key, MG Magical Realism/ Sci-Fi, a glaze of time travel.

Find her at https://ellenbuikema.com or on Amazon.

Top Image by Dorothe Wouters from Pixabay