Revising vs. Editing

I find that my beginning writing students are fairly adept at editing their writing, but not so good at revising it. In other words, they know how to make the small changes such as changing or inserting a punctuation mark or switching to the correct form of a word, but they know little about true revision. Revision, in its latin roots, means "seeing again." To revise, you have to look at your writing through different eyes, the eyes of readers. It's only by looking through this lens that you are able to see what works and what doesn't work. Revision is rewriting and that means tearing into your writing, deleting and adding text, rearranging text, and starting all over if that's what needs to be done. It means making the big changes so that what you end up with bears very little resistance to what you started with. Revising is a writer's true work. This is where the craft and skill in writing are found. Anyone can write a first draft. It's the artist who can transform a first draft into something effective and memorable. There is an artist in each of us, but this artistry will never emerge if we're afraid to make the big changes. Dig into your work. Look at it with critical eyes. Accept what doesn't work well and don't be afraid to change it. It's hard, frustrating work, but learning to revise rather than just edit your writing will help you grow into an exceptional and polished writer. Embracing the revision process will allow you to re-envision your work, and through that effort, offer an unforgettable vision to your readers.

Special Writing

There are all kinds of standards to determine whether your writing is technically good, whether it measures up. These standards involve structure, symmetry, fluidity and technique; and if writing meets these accepted standards, we tend to think it's good. But there is a mile of difference between writing that is technically good and writing that is really good. So how do you know if your writing is really good? What standards are there for measuring this abstract quality? You know your writing is really good if it excites you as you write it, if you feel it almost writes itself, if it falls together seamlessly. If, when you read it, your spine tingles and you feel almost otherwordly, you know you have written something special. You have achieved that X factor that differentiates acceptable writing from exceptional writing. Not everything you write will make you tingle. Not everything must make you tingle to be good. Sometimes your best effort comes after tremendous struggle, sweat, frustration, and barriers; but that doesn't mean it's not your finest and worthy of high praise. The kind of writing that is truly special is a gift, when it comes to you; and if you write long enough, it will come to you. Just enjoy it when it comes, recognize it for what it is, and the rest of the time be ok with good, fine writing. If you build your skill and write from a solid foundation, the special writing will just be icing on a well crafted cake.

Stay on Message

I coach my writing students to stay on message with their writing. This requires first having a clear message to convey. It means going beyond the topic and purpose and going to the heart of the writing. Beneath the surface of every piece of writing, there is a larger message for readers to discover. It's this message that drives the piece, whether it is fiction or nonfiction. It's critical that writers stay true to this message and not stray from it. Readers will consciously or subconsciously connect with the message and they will become easily bored, confused and uninterested if the writing doesn't follow the message. Readers want to know what to expect from writers, and once they have the message figured out, they demand that message be expertly executed. To fail readers on the message is to fail at writing. Challenge yourself to dig deep when you write and discover what your underlying message is. Be open to what you discover, because sometimes the answer will surprise you. It may not be what you originally thought it was when you conceived the piece. That's because your subconscious is hard at work trying to break through to the surface and be heard. In the same way, your true message is screaming to be heard. Listen for it, listen to it, then make sure your readers hear it. Staying on message is the best way to make sure readers get the message.

Jumping In

For all the planning, pre-writing, research and outlining that we writing teachers preach to our students, I have to admit that sometimes you just have to jump in with both feet, arms flailing, and no clue what you're going to write. There are times, of course, when planning works and you are glad for it. There are other times, though, when the planning and preparation almost block your ability to write. It is possible to overplan, overprepare, just as it is possible to overwrite. The point is that you don't want to stop yourself before you even get started. And sometimes this means chucking it all out the window and just writing. What may happen when you do this is you may find yourself arriving at a surprising truth you didn't know was there and a unique way to express that truth. This requires trusting that part of your brain that is creative, that wild, crazy right brain that doesn't concern itself with logic and organization. Letting this part of your brain begin the writing process can often result in better writing. The organizing and revising can come later, but it is important to let that creative urge have free reign at times, especially if you find yourself blocked. Jump in, let it go, and stand back and watch what happens. You may find yourself pleasingly surprised at the depth, honesty and insight that emerges.

Grabbing Readers

As a writer you have one chance to grab your readers and lure them into your story, essay, novel or poem. That one chance is at the beginning, and if you squander that chance, you've lost your readers for good. They won't come back if they're not hooked right away. We do most things in life in an orderly way. There is a beginning, middle and end to everything. And we are taught to "set things up" by providing appropriate explanatory background information. That approach, however, is the death of writing. You won't hook your readers by starting with explanation and background. You'll bore them and they'll stop reading. Readers want to be hooked into the middle of the story, "in media res." They want you to drop them into the action and come back later to fill them in on the background. They want to get involved right away. They want to care about your story or imagery or ideas right away. They don't want to have to wait to get excited. So forget about the beginning of your story. Go right to the heart of it and start there. Don't worry that readers might not have all the details right away. They don't need them. They just need to become engaged with what you're writing. They will forgive you if you wait to fill them in. In fact, they would prefer it. Readers want to have to guess what's going on, what may be happening next. Filling in the blanks is a big part of the thrill of reading. So don't rob your readers of that thrill. Grab them right away, grab them hard, and keep them enthralled.

Incubating Ideas

Writers are often pressured with advice to produce. They must write so many words a day, complete so many works a year. And certainly production is important. It's what keeps writers writing and growing. But sometimes it's just as important to do nothing. Sometimes writers have to be quiet and still and let ideas come to them in that quiet place. Sometimes an idea conceived is an idea that needs to incubate for awhile before it can be ripe for production. Writers who succumb to the constant pressure to write a lot and write fast miss out on this important incubation process in the writing life that leads to mature, fully developed ideas. It's ok to take time out to just think and wonder and play creatively in your mind without necessarily putting anything on paper. It's ok to let ideas come to you in their own time instead of always trying to squeeze ideas out of your overworked brain. But it requires an ability to be ok with inactivity periodically and allowing yourself to pause between periods of producing. Being quiet and mulling ideas is producing, just in a different way. There is nothing more frustrating than jumping into a writing project with an idea that is not yet fully developed and then finding halfway through that it's not working out. You need time to let things ripen before you write. You may not get your word quota in every day, but you will get a lot more mileage out of your writing efforts in the long run if you allow your ideas to incubate before you write them.

Showing Readers

Beginning writers often want to tell readers everything. They are so excited about what they're writing, they don't want to leave out any details. While this kind of enthusiasm is heartening, it can be the death knell for a story, article, essay or poem. The advice writers often hear is "show, don't tell." This admonition is given for a very good reason. Readers read to discover. That's the primary urge that drives reading pleasure. That means readers want to question, wonder, discover, be surprised, think and figure things out. They look to writers to provide them with just the right amount of clues or impetus to do so. They want writers to grease the gears, but then get out of the way and let readers drive the experience. Writers who do too much telling rob their readers of this important opportunity to grow. Writers don't want to be told, they want to be shown. For writers, this means not directly telling readers what is going to happen or how the writer is going to make it happen, or how readers are going to feel once it happens. It means, instead, showing readers what happens through good, effective, selective language and detail that teases but doesn't spoil the suspense. It is writing that baits readers and asks them to take a journey which they, the readers, largely direct. The writer is just there as a guide, but the trip belongs to the readers and the readers are allowed to draw their own conclusions, discover their own surprises, learn their own lessons. Showing readers rather than telling them is the hallmark of an accomplished and smart writer.

Dealing With Rejection

Beginning writers often become derailed when they meet with "failure" in their writing efforts. This may mean that a submission was soundly rejected by an editor, a report or paper was given a low grade by an instructor, or a trusted reader such as a friend or loved one has indicated the writing is not very good. This kind of negative feedback can send some writers spiralling into despair. When this happens, inspiration and commitment are lost and very little if any writing gets done. So what should you do if you meet up with rejection? Do what the pros do, even if you're not one yet. Keep writing. Even in the face of discouragement, even when being told you shouldn't quit your day job, keep writing. Take the rejection as what it is - a single rejection of a single effort - not a reflection of your body of work, and certainly not a reflection of you as a person. Rejection is just a lesson. Take the rejection to heart only in the sense that you will learn from it whatever useful lessons you can learn and then toss it aside. Start on the next writing project right away without giving the last rejection another thought. By using rejection as a tool rather than a roadblock and by continually immersing yourself in new work, you will find that the rejections get fewer and sting less and your writing grows in leaps and bounds.

Breaking Writing Rules

My writing students sometimes complain about having to follow so many writing rules. They don't understand why they can't exercise creative license and write like they want to. The answer is simple - because they haven't earned their license yet. It is an irony of good writing that you must first become a master of the rules before you can break them. Why is it important to master the rules of writing? Because if you don't have the fundamentals down, you can't achieve the finesse. One must come before the other. You have to absolutely worship the sound principles of good writing - structure, grammar and syntax - learn them inside and out, and practice them religiously before you can even begin to break away and develop your own style. The road to excellence is paved by the bricks of writing basics. You must fully grasp what you are leaving behind before you can successfully leave it. So the formula is this: learn the rules, follow them, and then break them. Once you have fully mastered the fundamentals, you need to fly in the face of them, put your stamp on the literary world, and develop your own style that has its own set of rules. This is how excellence is achieved. This is what transforms you from a technically good writer into an extraordinary writer. So take the time to learn the rules, but then when the time is right, don't be afraid to leave them behind.

Diversify Writing Practice

Sometimes when I am stuck while writing an essay, I turn to poetry to grease the gears. There is merit to diversifying your writing practice in order to excel at what you like to write best. Writing poetry, even if it's not your strength, can help you develop flow and rhythm in your writing that translates into making your prose smoother. Conversely, if you're a poet at heart, writing essays or articles can teach you to tighten your writing and focus on clarity. That will help your poetry be more succinct and on target with its message. Nonfiction writers can develop the elements of surprise and drama by writing fiction. Incorporating these elements into their nonfiction will make it more entertaining and meaningful to readers. A writer who focuses only on one type of writing is at risk of stalemating. To continue to grow as a writer, you must reach into areas that are unfamiliar to you or that you may not be comfortable with. By practicing other types of writing, you are stretching writing muscles that may otherwise atrophy from doing the same type of writing over and over again. You don't have to try to publish other types of writing. Just practice them, enjoy them, and learn everything you can from them. Then apply that knowledge to what you do best and watch your skills grow in ways that will surprise you.