To Edit or Revise?

by H. Silkwood

Are you receiving the right type of feedback?

New writers don't realize how much they don't know about writing until they begin to write. Hey, it's not easy! Writing is fun. The real work begins with revising and editing. Many experienced writers enjoy this part best; it's where they can get in there and tighten and polish until it shines like a gem and is tight as a drum. Did you notice my use of cliches? Sometimes, you just have to use them.

To Edit

Most of the reviews you receive will be editing reviews. To edit means to polish a finished piece by changing word choices to be more precise and concise, and to work on sentence structure, in addition to eliminating any errors in grammar, punctuation and mechanics.

To Revise

To revise means "to see again." This is at the heart of writing well. Take a fresh look at what you have written by distancing yourself from the work and evaluating it from a reader's point of view. Read your reviews carefully, with an open mind. They may show you something you hadn't realized. You may decide to take the character in a new direction or give him a new problem. You are revising if you decide to kill the perpetrator instead of letting him get away. You are changing something.
The two can overlap, but they are very different. Inexperienced writers sometimes think they are revising when they are really editing. You need to do both, so be careful not to confuse one with the other. Unless you are one of the rare ones who write the perfect first draft.

Revising comes before editing, because you can waste time perfecting a paragraph that you later decide to delete. You can correct errors as you move along, especially if doing so makes you more confident or comfortable. But the more time and energy you invest in editing early on, the harder it may be to make major changes that would enrich your work. When something looks perfect, you're not going to like changing it, or maybe cutting it completely.

Writers usually benefit from setting the drafts aside for a time so that later they can see their work more objectively. What looks good when you are excited does not necessarily look good the morning after.
Think beyond the first plot, character and situation idea that popped into your head. Don't be afraid to change direction. Originality is very important to fiction writing.

What is not on the page can be even more important than what is there.

One of the most difficult tasks in revision is to look for what you have left out. No matter how good a draft looks, ask yourself if something is missing.

Share your work with other readers and ask them to let you know if there is anything they find confusing or want to know more about. Providing readers with this kind of specific direction can get you a much more focused review than simply asking "What do you think?" When not given direction, some readers may keep reservations to themselves because they suspect they are being asked to approve a finished product.

Checklist for Revising.

* Is the purpose clear? Does the work stick to its purpose?

* Does it address the appropriate audience?

* Is the tone appropriate for the purpose, audience, and occasion?

* Is the subject focused?

* Does it make a clear point?

* Is each paragraph unified and coherent?

* Does the work follow an effective method of development?

* Is the beginning effective?

* Is the ending effective?

* Always, Write On!

H. Silkwood is a reviewer of new writers and has written on the subject of critiquing with common sense and encouragement. Her portfolio can be found at http://www.Writing.Com/authors/storytime She is an author on http://www.Writing.Com/ which is a site for Writers.

A King In Spite of Himself
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John has to contend with Philip, king of France, who wants his country back, all of it; and with a restless set of Barons who could start a civil war if they don't get what they want. Marshal sees himself as a balance between all the opposing forces and uses Roger ruthlessly as his agent to achieve his ends in the secret winter war against Philip.

JT
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JT is the fictional memoir of an emotionally troubled, yet wickedly likable, amateur vigilante. With a complex and quirky mixture of psychological suspense, romance, heartache, and wry humor, JT brazenly illustrates some of the horrid consequences of childhood abuse and trauma in adult survivors. It also invites us to reconsider an important and deceptively complicated question: What is justice?

WARNING: This book contains explicit adult themes, including vulgar language, borderline-pornographic sexuality, graphic depictions of violence, irresponsible drug use, and a grandmother who gives her middle finger to the world. Caveat emptor.

Darby's Bar and Grill
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Darby's Bar & Grill is "Cheers" written on twenty cups of Fuego de Machala and a Tamada's napalm pizza. Nobody knows for sure what keeps Darby's from collapsing into rubble, unless it's the building's fear of Lorenzo, World's Angriest Short-Order Cook. Through its doors pass Harry Kell, arch-intellect; ace pizza driver Kirby Dzerzhinsky and Melody, his biker-chick girlfriend; Beans Donovan, cemetery salesman extraordinaire; and Kathryn Vosjoli, who is what Scarlett O'Hara would have been like had she been raised by Mother Teresa. And this is not to mention (until now) the Vigilante, the Yellow Dumpster Rats, and the Giant, cockroach from Hell. From these ingredients, the author has created a world that's slightly west of wacky, hilarious, and ultimately touching, with a happy ending yet.

The Mystical Tales of Indus Valley: Wizards of Hastin
by P. Ashar

This is an epic tale about two mighty families and the power struggle and jealousy between them. One family is called the Telhoths and the other is called the Prols. Though they are cousins, they both want to rule the Kingdom of Hastin.

A great war ensues in which the main characters use mystical supernatural powers, plots, politics, cunningness, bravery and wisdom against each other. The forces of evil represent the Telhoths and the forces of good represent the Prols.

Events that lead to the great war are full of mystery, greed, wisdom, politics, cunningness, lies, truth and compassion, which should guide us to live our life ethically, peacefully, and with moral values.

Junk Man
by ces

Junk Man is the story of a young country boy who has moved into a big city following his parents' divorce. It centers on his relationship with a homeless man who lives in a junkyard (the Junk Man, as Josh calls him). Josh journeys from a strange, nearly morbid fascination with the Junk Man to a transforming realization that the Junk Man is something much more than what he seems superficially, as he shows Josh that beauty can be sculpted from the debris of our everyday lives. Through this journey Josh examines elements of his life and the lives around him, moving from despair at human brokenness to a budding faith that there is a power to remake that which is broken in each of us and our world.

Orchids of Venezuela
by Karen Sturges-Vera

On November 27, 1992, Tamara Mata is jolted awake to the news that rebel forces are attacking the president of Venezuela and bombing the airport in the second coup attempt of the year. Recoiling from the turmoil facing her country, she seeks reassurance and stability in her past. In her thoughts, she retraces her life, from her childhood in Merida to her youth in Caracas, her university years in Dallas, Texas, and her return to Caracas as an adult. Tamara relives the emotions that filled her when she became a wife and later a mother. Over the years, she has witnessed both dictatorship and democracy in Venezuela and she has experienced both disillusionment and hope. Her memories reveal her changing relationships with her family, her friends, her society, and ultimately with herself. These reflections highlight two different ways to view an orchid: as a seemingly delicate yet resilient flower, and as a beautiful yet parasitic plant.

Six Degrees, North Latitude
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This is a romantic adventure involving a young couple surviving a shipwreck on the shores of equatorial West Africa. The initial setting is a meeting of friends in a local bar in Capetown, South Africa. There, they decide to sail up the west coast to try out a new sail boat. The men exclude all women from the trip, so one stows away aboard the boat. All goes well until the boat is wrecked in a storm near the equator. All three men and their stowaway survive the ordeal. Two men are rescued right away by local authorities and return to Capetown. The remaining man, Ben, spends weeks learning survival skills. The stowaway, Ann, also makes it to shore, but is unaware of the men's survival. She too, learns how to survive in the savage jungle. The two finally meet, build a tree house, and secretly fall in love. They return to Capetown and get married. They then return to the jungle, where they spend their honeymoon. Another honeymoon couple, James and Maya, sail their new boat up the coast and meet Ben and Ann in their jungle paradise. After a run-in with pirates on the return trip, they finally return to the U.S. Midwest where they make their new homes.

Warrior of the Son
by Samuel Schiller

For 14-year-old Evan MacKeth, the arrival of Julian Antony Vorenius at the fief in O'Byrne seems to promise a welcome respite from the boredom of another summer spent with his mother. Instead, Evan finds himself a hunted fugitive, driven into the desolation of the Iarlaithe Mountains by his half-brother Osric and the Priesthood of Moloch.

Exiled in a hidden valley, Evan grows to young adulthood under the protection and tutelage of Julian, who teaches the bitter, angry boy the way of the warrior and the mysterious truths about the One True God, Iosa Christus, and the Warriors He calls into battle.

But then the goblins come, and the pair finds themselves back in Glenmara where Evan's desire for vengeance separates him from his mentor. Alone, he sets himself on the path to kill his half-brother, now High King Osric, and to reunite with his childhood sweetheart, Ivrian Ceallaigh.

Yet powerful forces are pulling him in the opposite direction, and soon Evan realizes that his path must lead to a blue-eyed girl named Aine and a terrifying battle against a creature from the very heart of darkness.