First, a word of caution. Some people try to ease the revision process by doing as much of the work as they can while drafting. While that accomplishes the goal, it doesn’t necessarily make the whole process better. More than likely, you’ll end up wasting valuable time during the creation of the draft, with the end result an even longer production time.
Be detached. When you’re revising, you need to be as unattached as possible to the material. That’s why many writers employ a second individual to edit their work – they’re naturally detached to any outcome from it. If you’re editing your own work, it pays to do as much as you can to be “unhinged” from the work, either by letting a day pass before starting revisions or meditating into a pragmatic state.
Use a writing assistant software to correct grammar and syntax. Don’t even waste a single second doing this by hand. It’s not necessary.
Mark good passages. When editing, you want to keep the good passages and replace the bad ones. So mark off the good ones you intend to retain. The rest can be subject to cutting and rework.
Take the good passages and put them in a sensible order. The original order of the piece may be fine, but once you begin cutting stuff off, the whole thing can start to crumble. As such, you’ll need to reorder the material you intend to retain to facilitate the best structure.
Tags: editing, editing process
