by Gordon Hamilton

Created on: March 24, 2009   Last Updated: February 03, 2012

When we consider how to most effectively revise our writing, we have to be acutely aware of the fact that different genres of writing and different lengths of pieces of writing will require to be revised in different ways and to drastically different extents. To illustrate an extreme example would be to compare a short poem's revision requirements as compared to a technical manual's revision requirements.

It is worth being aware also before we even look at how to revise our writing that it is entirely possible to over-revise. If we are too critical of our own work and keep changing the wording almost for the sake of doing so, we run the very real risk of changing the overall effect of the piece and the message we wish to convey beyond recognition. Revision of our writing should therefore be seen as a tidy-up process by all means, but never as a reconstruction of what we have created.

When we are looking at revising, such as a short article, the first thing we are likely to be checking for is such as spelling mistakes or simple grammatical errors. These will very often be picked up automatically if we are using a word processor with a spell checker, but, while I appreciate the assistance such tools can provide me I would never at any time rely upon them. We can usually check for such errors reasonably quickly and once we are satisfied that either we have not made any, or that we have picked up on any which we did make, we should finally consider whether we have achieved the overall effect that we set out to achieve. Have we included all the pertinent points? Have we included the recommendations we intended to make or the inclusions we intended to draw from our theories? If we are satisfied in such respects, we may consider our revision complete.

When, however, we look at revising such as a novel, we have to pay attention to the process on a much more regular basis. It is not only ill-advised to leave the full revision to the end of the process in the sense that it will at that stage be a mammoth undertaking, it is a bad idea in the sense that we may choose at that time to revise a point which will have significant implications on later developments within the novel. This could see us having to undertake considerably more revision than would otherwise have been necessary.

If we are writing a novel, it is a good idea to devote some small period of time each day to revising that which we have written the day before. This could be extended to every few days, dependant upon how prolific a writer we are. Spelling and grammatical errors can be picked up at the end so we should not worry too much about them at these times. We should rather be ensuring that the novel is progressing in the fashion which we intended and that we are neither digressing nor contradicting ourselves in terms of plot or character development. In this way, we can be reasonably certain that we are progressing upon the course which we charted.

Finally, there is the technical manual as mentioned in the opening paragraph to be considered. In addition to all of the above, we have to ensure that what we state as fact is indeed such and that what we propound as theory is stated as simply being same. Revision in this instance can be an extremely laborious process as the omission of one character in such as a mathematical or scientific formula could of course have drastic consequences.

Revising writing is not a fun process and can take a lot of the enjoyment out of the creative art form, but we should be able to see that it is absolutely essential to our producing our best work and to it subsequently being accepted and viewed as same by our readers.

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