The revision process is the last step in novel writing before publication and comes after completing developmental edits, such as character arc and structure.
Revision turns your story into a masterpiece by fine-tuning sentence structures, making characters and speech consistent, eliminating filler words, and otherwise improving the way the story reads.
There are generally three types of revisions most authors make:
Consistency
The easiest way to improve consistency is to edit the story by one character or location at a time. This means starting on page one and reading only the dialog and actions of one character from beginning to end before starting at the beginning to review the next character’s content. By doing this, writers ensure character voice, motivation, description, and word choice are consistent from beginning to end. The same is done for location to prevent repeat descriptions while making sure parts of homes and towns remain in the same place, for example, ensuring that the living room is always to the left of the door, never to the right or in front.
Grammar, sentence structure, and word choice
Editing for grammar, sentence structure, and word choice is most often the longest part of the process. In this stage, writers analyze each line word by word to find and eliminate filler words, reduce the instances of "was," and make sure everything is grammatically correct. This is also where writers turn weak verbs into strong ones. For example, changing "ran" to "skipped," "hurled," or "raced"; or turning "throw" into "lobbed," "hucked," or "tossed."
Writers also analyze sentence length and structure to vary them. Everyone has two or three structures they tend to lean on, such as using "as," "but," or "and" conjunction sentences. None of these are bad on their own, but three sentences back-to-back that use "she did this as he did that. He did x as she gasped. Y then did B as she stepped forward" can become distracting and make the story feel a little stale.
Author voice
The last revision many authors make is checking for author voice. In this revision, writers binge-read their story from beginning to end to ensure everything sounds consistent and in the wording that fits their unique style and voice. This is generally the easiest revision to make and only requires a few hours to read and adjust any awkward spots.
The role of the professional editor in revisions
If all of this sounds overwhelming, you’re not alone. Revisions are a lot of work but they make a big difference in how the story is perceived. The end quality is noticeable. Have you ever picked up a book and the characters are fine, the plot is interesting, but you find yourself struggling to get into the story? Chances are high that’s because the quality of the writing (word choice, sentence structure, etc.) is on the lower end. As someone who reads 200 books a year, I can tell within the first 10 pages who took the time to carefully revise and who only hired a professional editor at the end. The best books are a combination of good plot/characters and quality writing. This is generally what also sets many top-selling books apart from the rest. Harry Potter, for example, is filled to the brim with quality writing on top of worldbuilding, as is Hunger Games and most of the other popular books we want to emulate.
That doesn’t mean that lower quality writing will kill your chances of success. But it can hurt your chances of going viral and making a living on your work.
But don’t professional editors do all this revision editing for you? Yes and no.
First, not all editors are created equal. Some only look for grammar or awkward sentences to fix and may point out if you repeat “fire” ten times in a page, but they are not going to do the fine editing described above. In most cases, their job is to be a second set of eyes to catch a rare double space or that misspelling of "its" vs "it’s."
Second, if you do want them to be that nitpicky with your piece, it will cost several thousand dollars, and you may not like the way they would word your story. That’s because in the end, this is your work and your voice. Relying on someone else to “fix” it for you will result in the story emulating their narrative voice more than it does yours.
Don’t get me wrong, professional editors are an important part of the process, but they aren’t a crutch for your writing. If you’re looking for ways to improve your quality of writing, stick around. I have blogs coming up in the next few weeks dedicated just to that.
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