How often and how much to revise a piece of writing varies from writer to writer.
I’m usually more of a rewriter than a writer. I create a rough outline then write fast, shutting off the editing part of my brain and telling myself whatever it is I’ll fix it later, which I do.
This leads to a pretty fast first draft. I think that’s a plus given how many writers struggle with getting anything on the page.
On the other hand, I just attended a writers conference where a couple presenters made a good case that aiming to write a solid draft the first time around, trusting your creativity and voice, and doing only a clean up rewrite to fix errors and fill in research blanks saves a lot of time and results in more engaging writing. (Though it apparently leads to run on sentences.)
I’m not entirely convinced that method will work for me. But I am going to try to be a little less bare bones in my next first draft and see if that cuts down on some revising time.
Because of these contrasting views on revisions, this Friday I’m recommending 3 different articles:
- First, I’ll be very meta and recommend my own guest post for Kobo Writing Life The Five Stages Of Revising Your Novel.
- Second, I suggest reading Dean Wesley Smith’s post on beta readers (which is also referred to in my post).
- Third, have a listen to this interview on Mark Dawson’s Self Publishing Formula podcast on loving the revisions process:
SPF-088: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Revision Process – with Joan Dempsey
Until Sunday–