To edit or to revise, that is the question. Is it really a question? I thought they were the same thing; however, the more I write the more I'm starting to learn that this may not be completely true. I just recently wrapped up the first draft of my second novel and by doing so I now have to prepare for the fun of revising and editing the manuscript.
To be honest, when I was working on my first novel I did consider them the same thing but this novel has shown me something different. In my opinion, editing is the act of reading your manuscript and identifying the grammatical and/or spelling errors. Once that is done we incorporate those changes into the manuscript which makes the second draft. I think this is the portion of writing that many of us consider boring and tedious (I’m counted among them that think that). It would be a mistake; however, to think that the revision of your manuscript is equally as boring. What's the difference?
I'm starting to think that revisions to a document are more then editing; it has a focus on the structure of a manuscript. This is the time when we delete paragraphs or move them to another spot because the flow is better that way or we change the tone of a conversation to add tension or suspense. These things are fun and creative. Any of these changes can open a door to a new direction. They could change how a character is perceived or how the outcome of the whole story. This is an exciting time because you never know what the story will show you.
Do you remember the books when we were kids; the ones that had page numbers at the bottom and you could pick which page to read next? The combinations would develop a different story or ending each time. I see revisions as the same thing but to a lesser degree.
Many will say "they are the same thing because you do them at the same time." You would be correct in that we do, for the majority, our editing and revisions at the same time but we are constantly doing revisions to our manuscript. How many times have you been writing a scene and all of a sudden a new direction or a better dialog or something popped in your mind that made the story better? You know those times, you stop and think about it and excitedly rewrite that section before you continue. That is a revision and you really don't know what impact that revision will have on the story until the end. In contrast, how many grammatical errors do you skip so you can fix them in the editing portion (not counting the obvious ones)?
As I said, this is my opinion and how I look at the writing process. Always keep your creative mind open but when it comes time to catch those errors put your technical hat on and focus hard.
7 comments:
When it comes to the differences between editing and revising, your post is spot-on. This is exactly what I teach my students. Editing is fairly easy (most of the time) since you must follow the rules of grammar, spelling and punctuation. Revising, however, is a far more difficult and time-consuming task (at least for me).
Michelle - Thank you. Revising is a little time-consuming. It is good to hear that you teach your students these things.
Interesting points Brian. I hadn't looked at it this way before. I think you explained this well.
Rebecca
blog.rebeccawoodhead.com
Rebecca - Hello! It has been a while. Thank you.
Thanks for a thought-provoking post! I am trying--with mixed success--to focus on structure first before focusing on the edits. To me it's kind of like sculpture. The first draft, you're approaching a hunk of marble trying to frame and discover the potential. Once you know what it's going to be, you chip away at it until you see the lines clearly, and then you use increasingly finer tools until it's smooth and polished.
Polishing the rough cuts only ends up wasting time--and it makes it harder to tell the difference between what should be cut out and what needs to stay.
I always see the writing process as three steps. The first is just getting the words on the paper, letting the words flow. The second is to go back and edit the text, correcting problems. The final is to mould and smooth the story to make sense. Nice article...
ACP - I like the comparison with sculpting. It is very similar when you think about it. Good luck with your edits and revisions.
Bubblecow - I can easily see the three steps of writing now. I can't tell you how many times I had to tell myself to just get the words on the page because I want to move things around and I would second guess my direction. Now that is done and I can move on to the next two steps. I typically look at the structure first while correcting the obvious errors then I come back and fine tune/polish it to a nice shine.
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