Many times, authors – especially first-timers – type “The End” on a first draft and naïvely declare themselves ready to publish. They sign up with a self-publishing outlet, upload a few files and – voila! – they’re published authors waiting for those hefty royalty checks to roll in.
I don’t want to pee in anyone’s corn flakes, but that’s not how it works. Still, all too often, newbies rush to publication – only to see the disastrous results of their impatience surface weeks or even months after the fact. Seasoned authors realize writing “The End” signals the beginning of a whole new stage of the writing process: revision.
Here are six tips for revising a first draft. And they pertain to any first draft – whether you’re writing a college paper, a novel, your long-overdue doctoral dissertation or a letter to your Great Aunt Margie. In fact, you might want to keep these tips in the back of your head as you’re crafting your writing project, so you can avoid some of these pitfalls in the first place.
Keep in mind: Revising is kind of like gardening. When you’re revising, sometimes you have to do so with brutality. Don’t revise with kid gloves on. Tug on the ol’ gardening gloves, head out to the shed to retrieve the pruning shears and the loppers, and get to work!
Streamline your sentence structure. Get rid of “There are… that” and “It was… that” sentence structure. Instead of saying, “There was a pack of roaming dogs that killed my cat,” reword it as, “A pack of roaming dogs killed my cat.” Similarly, instead of writing, “It was on the eighteenth of April that Paul Revere made his famous ride,” you might say, “Paul Revere made his famous ride on April eighteenth.”
Delete unnecessary words. In a sentence containing the word “that,” if you can read it without “that” and it still makes sense, delete the “that.” For instance: “Tony told Jack that he was going to attend the meeting.” If you delete the word “that,” it still reads fine: “Tony told Jack he was going to attend the meeting.” But deleting “that” from “Tony told Jack that was where the seminar would be” makes no sense. Eliminate clichés from your writing. Let’s face it, clichés are trite. They’re humdrum. They’re hackneyed and boring. Don’t use them. ’Nuff said.
Go for brevity. Avoid passive phrasing. Active wording is so much more engaging for the reader. Don’t say, “The door was opened by Harriet.” Instead, say, “Harriet opened the door.” Lose “would be able to” in favor of “could.” For example, instead of writing, “Tom said he would be able to go to the movies,” write, “Tom said he could go to the movies.”
Be ruthless with your pet phrases. Don’t be afraid to “kill your little darlings.” Suppose you’ve written the most precious sentence ever. Before you declare it absolutely perfect, consider whether it might be too precious. Syrupy, even. In an early version of my novel Glimpse of Emerald, lamenting my protagonist’s abandonment by his mother at 16, and his being alone and suicidal at Christmas, I penned something utterly gushy about there being a hole in his heart – a hole exactly the size of love. Gosh… how touching… how squishy… how sappy. Out it went! If that sounds brutal, you’re right. Remember, if you’re not brutal with your writing, somewhere down the line someone else will be. And you don’t want that someone to be your editor – or, worse, your reader!
Keep your tone appropriate and consistent. Engage your reader. Make sure every page, every paragraph and every sentence grabs readers and makes them want to read more.
Watch your tone. No, it’s not the admonition your parents used to utter when you were a teenager. Rather, consider the overall tone and feel of your manuscript. Ensure your words fit that tone/feel. In the words of my favorite editor, who told me this a quarter century ago – and it’s some of the best advice I’ve ever gotten: “Write how you speak.” Don’t use highfalutin’ language in an effort to sound important or knowledgeable if you (or your characters) would never talk that way in ordinary conversation.
Make every word count. In the same way companies sometimes downsize staff to streamline operations, you’ve got to be willing to downsize your wording. Every word in the sentences you write requires impact. If a word or phrase isn’t pulling its weight, get rid of it. Precision is critical! Don’t be wishy washy or dance around the subject at hand (unless, of course, you’re writing a wishy-washy character). Use the most descriptive words you can to get your message across.
Choose strong adjectives. When a noun requires embellishment, really consider the adjectives you use. Go for the one that most precisely describes your noun and best conveys your meaning.
Select powerful verbs. In the same way you need to choose just the right adjectives, the verbs you pick must be the best ones for the job. They must carry the sentence. Get specific. “I conducted a webinar about powerful word choices in writing” carries greater impact than “I had an online workshop about words.”
Use adverbs sparingly. Sometimes a verb needs a little help. Perhaps the exact verb you need isn’t quite strong enough to support the full weight of your sentence. In that case, it’s time to call upon the mighty adverb. Adverbs are wonderful creatures, but they should be used with great care. A well-placed adverb can skillfully highlight a sentence; excessive or ill-used adverbs will spoil an otherwise-beautiful piece of writing. And whatever you do, if you’re tempted to use the word “very,” resist the urge. I believe it was Mark Twain who offered this (paraphrased) advice: Replace each instance of ‘very’ in your manuscript with ‘damn.’ Your editor will delete every one of them and your manuscript will be better for it.
Since you were so good about reading all the way to the end, I’ll give you two bonus tips:
Choose a tense and stick with it. You could use past, present, future… or even future perfect. That’s entirely up to you. Just be consistent. In editing clients’ manuscripts, I’ve learned tense shifts usually happen when the author returns to a project after time away and doesn’t even realize he (or she) has changed tense.
Never use an apostrophe to pluralize a word. Never – even if what’s being pluralized is a single letter. “I got all As last semester” is correct. If you wish, you may italicize the single letter in question: “I got all As last semester.” Alternatively, you may enclose it in quotation marks: “The word ‘Mississippi’ has four ‘i’s.”
Now go forth and revise those manuscripts!
About the Author: Rita M. Reali is a two-time international award-winning author and longtime editor who most enjoys editing memoir, general fiction and romance, along with inspirational writing. She’s self-published five novels: Glimpse of Emerald, Diagnosis: Love, The Unintended Hero, Second Chances and Tender Mercies – the first five in the seven-volume Sheldon Family Saga. The sixth novel in the series, Brothers by Betrayal, is scheduled for an early 2024 release. Her first children’s book, The Purringest Kitty Finds His Home, was released at the end of February. As a former disc jockey in her native Connecticut, Rita used to spend her days “talking to people who weren’t there” – a skill which transferred perfectly to her being an author. Now she talks to characters who aren’t there on “a little chunk of heaven in rural Tennessee.” Contact Rita. To purchase your own personally inscribed copy of any of Rita’s books, download this order form at her website.
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