Tips on Revising Your Writing

The word 'revise' means "a printing proof that incorporates changes marked in a previous proof."

Revising your work may take time and demand your patience, but it is a necessary process to make your writing near perfect. And I'll share with you a few techniques that has worked for me. These may or may not help you in finishing your pieces of art, but perhaps they will give you some idea of the steps you should take next. Whether it's poetry, essays, stories, screenplays, or any writing at all.

1. If it's written on paper, then type it out on the computer. As you are typing, you will notice certain words, sentences, even whole paragraphs and you realize, it must go. Or maybe certain parts that need more added to it. Perhaps you might even realize more scenes or get an idea for an entire chapter that should be placed to thicken or enlighten the story.

2. Filter out what's not important. Determine who your main character is, and let him do the talking. You don't want minor characters getting all the fame, glory, and catching your audiences attention. So cut them down to their appropriate size, and let your main get the right amount of attention. As well as the majority of the good lines.

3. Show your readers, it's far better than telling. It's best to describe how or why your characters are the way they are. Show them just how in love Sarah is to Jake by letting her "as she shivers every time she hears her own name spoken upon such soft lips" rather than, "as she falls in love just by hearing him speak her name." Seeing and feeling what the characters see and feel intrigues the readers, making the read far more enjoyable. Let them feel like they are living through your characters.

4. Open up, get comfortable, and keep going. Don't forget to let your creativity and imagination take over. Let it all flow together. Bridge all your scenes together and keep them in the order that works best to tell the tale.

5. Don't confuse your readers. Your writing should run smoothly, keeping everything a sequence that is easy to follow. Try not to make it difficult to figure out who is speaking at each moment.

6. Does this dialogue sound real? Record yourself reading what you have written. This will give you an idea about what it would be like to be inside your readers head. Also it will let you know the rhythm of the dialogue and you can hear the scenes coming together. Listening to your story might surprise you on what should be revised and what's perfect where it's written.

7. Describing exactly what it is will help your readers get a better picture, something similar to the image you are trying to convey. Instead of saying "as I sit beneath this large tree", try to be more accurate, "as this red oak towers above me." And keep in mind, you don't want to slow your story by describing the mundane things. Keep what you know will be interesting to read, cut what you don't need.

8. Avoid repeats. You don't have to keep using the same phrases over and over, like "her intense blue eyes." Or have your characters keep talking about, "what's his name". Over use can lead to annoyance. Just think to yourself that maybe once is enough.

9. Shorten it, but make it worth reading. There's really no need to spend an entire paragraph describing one thing. Keep it short, but creative, describe certain things with a poetic verse, to make it stand out well.

10. Punctuation. Know when to comma and when to period. Don't over use exclamations and make sure a question looks like a question. There are rules of punctuation in writing. You should know when to apply the rules and when to break them. Know how and why writers break the rules about commas, but using too many will throw your readers off.