You’ve written something great. Or maybe you’ve written something that’s just good enough.
In any case, why rewrite or revise it?
What professional writers say
You might think that professional writers can just spit out good writing on the first try, the way a professional basketball player can make that ball swish through the hoop seemingly without effort.
This is actually not the case. What professional writers say is that the first draft is almost always just the germ of what they end up publishing. The end product is significantly different.
You may not be a professional, but you can learn from looking at what professionals do.
“Writing is a process”
Writers always say this. What does it mean?
It means that the act of writing is not the end-goal—it’s just the beginning of a series of steps. Taking that series of further steps is what helps your writing metamorphose from an ugly pupa to a beautiful butterfly.
Revising in a nutshell
When you revise, you do three major things to your writing:
- Find what you’re really trying to say
This is the most important question you should ask: Have I said what I really want to say here? Did I fulfill the promise I made to my reader? Did I leave ideas hanging or include ideas that are just distractions? - Tighten and strengthen
Next, make sure that you said what you wanted to say well. Did you write straightforward, clear sentences? Did you create strong, well-supported paragraphs? Did you put your ideas in the most logical order? - Pretty it up
Last but not least, remember that you are sending your writing out into the world to represent you. If it’s full of misspellings and grammar mistakes, that says something about you the perhaps you don’t want to be said! Make sure that people aren’t distracted by sloppiness so that they can’t appreciate the meaning of what you wrote.
Happy editing!
This was really helpful thank you!
You’re welcome!
Do you think it’s more important, as a professional writer, to fit quotas or to revise more?
Hi Soph: I’m not sure what you mean by fit quotas. Can you clarify? Thanks! The thing I will say about being a professional writer – someone who wants to make money from writing – is that you have to, as they say, be willing to “kill your darlings.” As a professional, you are selling a product. And if the customer doesn’t want the product you’ve created, you can’t sell it. So professional writers often keep themselves sane by having two writing lives: In one, they do what they need to do in order to sell. This might mean writing articles for a magazine that they don’t particularly like, or writing fiction that appeals to a wide audience but doesn’t make them feel like they are writing authentically. In the other writing life, they write to please themselves and to write in a way that they consider “good writing.” In that case, they may end up making money off that work, but they don’t plan on it or do it primarily for money. I hope I’ve answered your question!
Hi! This was very helpful and now I’m even more prepared to rewrite my writing. Thank you for sharing this!
I’m glad it was helpful!