March 2015- Be Fearless: REVISE

Revision: the act of reconsidering, altering, changing

     Look at each word, sentence, paragraph, and chapter. Seek to set the scene for the action and the characters. Action moves the plot.  It is a systemic process designed by the writer.       
   Tools exist to support authors during the revision process. Some of the available products are as follows: 

• AutoCrit assists writers with pacing, dialogue, momentum, wording, passive voice, and repetition issues.
• Grammarly, Spell Check, the Dictionary, and Theasarus provides authors with verb agreement, correct spelling, and vocabulary choices.
• Scrivener offers writers the choice to select the option of check spelling and grammar as they type.

Tools are helpful, but reading your document aloud in a room by yourself, the cat, or dog helps find the small often overlooked issues.

              

        Every writer needs to create a proof reading checklist. Align your list with the publisher's "style guidelines" (generally found in the submission requirements). Look for them and become acquainted with the various types of style guides. Many publishers and contests require the formal guidelines of The Chicago Manual of Style: The Essential Guide for Writers, Editors, and Publishers. This is one of the industry's standards. If you know the publisher's or contest's preference, it can save you time and perhaps the "slush pile."

Editing: correction
      Spelling verification is imperative. Spell Check, the Dictionary and Theasarus are aids, but names of people, place, and specific objects need authentication. Use Google, Bing, or your research (if it is accurate) to validate proper noun spelling.
      Additionally, editing need the following it steps: 
Eradicate as much of your passive voice as possible. 

• Check for adverbs. Replace with a descriptive adjective when possible. 
• Check the number of times a paragraph started with a noun or a pronoun. 
• Check for run on sentences. 
• Look for semicolons. A single sentence using a semicolon should probably be two sentences.
• Check for missing quotation marks, question marks, and commas.

       An editing list continues based on the style guide's rubrics. Revision is a long process, an activity trying the best of authors.  Revisions challenge every writer regardless of experience level.  A "Critique Group" assists the writer with suggestions and editorial comments, but the work of the transforming a draft to a completed document remains in your hands with the aid of your creativity.  During the demand of this change protocol, a writer must let go of his or her ownership of the document. Your creativity must conquer your ego.

 “If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.”

—Elmore Leonard