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My Revision Plan
By S. William Shaw   
Rated "G" by the Author.
Last edited: Sunday, June 03, 2007
Posted: Sunday, June 03, 2007

What follows is my writing revision plan. I do the following for each chapter.

What follows is my revision plan. I do the following for each chapter.

1) Spell check. Open Office cleans up 90% of spelling errors, leaving many errors to be found by human eyes. There/their, no/know, etc.

2) Read through. I read aloud each chapter, looking for, revising, and/or rewriting the following:

a) Consistency errors (a blue t-shirt changing into a red polo, sunlight shining after the sun has set, etc.)

b) Sentences that don't make sense

c) Groupings of over-used words, or literary styles (like 4 paragraphs in a row with analogies, or using the word red seven times on a page)

d) Checking of paragraph "starting words", making sure that I don't have 7 straight paragraphs start with the or he, etc. I also look for the overuse of names and pronouns. Switching up between pronoun and name does wonders, but using he, he, he all the time is annoying and distracting.

e) Sentences that need simplification. i.e. "The car had an off maroon coloring, highlighted by a rocket streak of silver racing stripes" to "the car was red", when needed.

f) Removal of pretentious prose. I don't like prose that announces the writer to the reader. I want the reader to remain immersed in the story and not notice the man behind the curtain. Your mileage amy vary.

g) Disposal of passive voice. Passive = The boy was bitten by the dog. This sentence should read The dog bit the boy. Get to the point.

h) Rewriting of sentences that aren't bold and confident. I have a tendency to say things like the boat seemed to sway in the breeze, when the boat swayed in the breeze. (It did, really!) Seemed is my lack of confidence shining through.

i) Hack, hack, hack. Hack out whatever else seems silly, misplaced, pointless.

3) Critic reviews. At this time, I give a copy of the manuscript to several readers. I also give them a hard date in which I need their reviewed copy back in my hand. If they don't comply, don't sweat it. You don't have time to deal with slackers, even if they are friends. Move on. I ask the manuscript readers to get out their red pens and make notes in the margin. They are looking for parts of the story they liked, parts they found dull, and anything else that caught their eye (spelling, inconsistencies, or just flat out bad or stupid writing). You may get a reader who will want you to rewrite your entire story. Toss these critiques overboard. If you rewrite the whole darn thing, odds are it will need revision. The revision will be passed out to be critiqued, and the readers will want that version rewritten. Take what you can from the critics, and weed out major weak points or flaws, but don't kill yourself. If the whole novel needs rewriting, go write a different story.

4) Second read through. At this time I read the book aloud again. This re through goes much faster, as the story is refined. This read through is a pre-manuscript submission read through. I want to make sure that what I am submitting doesn't have any foolish, overlooked mistakes before it gets thrown to the slush pile. If any major sections are rewritten, hacked, chopped or corrected, read that chapter again. With every rewrite or correction comes the opportunity to make stupid mistakes. (How many times was "insert" not "on" on my computer, and I wrote over a paragraph?)

5) Kick it out the door and forget about it. Move on. Go write something else.