Exploring Writing - Gary Robert Muschla 2011

What Is Revision?
Part 3. Revision

Revision is the stage of the writing process where an author reworks and finalizes her ideas. It is a time of “re-seeing” what she has written and making it better.

Revision is necessary to improve writing. It is critical for making writing as clear and meaningful to readers as possible. For most authors, solid revision leads to the successful expression of ideas.

What Is Revision?

In its broadest sense, revision includes any activity that makes a draft better. In its narrowest, it is replacing one word with another because the second word better communicates what the author wants to say. Editing of mechanics—capitalization and punctuation, for example—also occurs during revision. But revision should not be confused with proofreading to correct errors in mechanics (see Part 4, Proofreading).

Revision includes a variety of activities. As you revise your writing, you may do any of the following:

✵ Rereading

✵ Rewriting

✵ Reviewing

✵ Rethinking

✵ Rearranging

✵ Restructuring

✵ Tightening

✵ Deleting

✵ Moving

✵ Expanding

✵ Unifying

✵ Correcting

✵ Redrafting

Writing is not finished until it has been revised. All professional writers revise their work. During an interview for the Paris Review, Ernest Hemingway said that he rewrote the last page of his book A Farewell to Arms thirty-nine times before he was satisfied with his work. No one expects you to revise your work like Hemingway, but he illustrates the seriousness with which professional authors revise their work. Professional authors know that their best writing takes form during revision.