The Stages of Writing: Stage 5: Revising

Revision or revising is a process that's similar to recycling trash. Let's face it, sometimes our first drafts, second drafts, or even fifth drafts are a big mess, but the good thing is we writers can abstract the good or our best content we produced while writing and dispose of our bad, or not so good content. Revising is a combination of three processes: editing, rewriting, proofreading. Together they are done individually after getting critiques on one's writing from beta readers or other writers, as well as while working with professional editors. Let's take a look at the three processes and how they are completed by writers and editors below. 🔍

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WATCH THE EPISODE

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See episode 12 of season 2 of my Journey of a Christian Writer series, The Stages of Writing: Stage 5: Revising or continue reading the blog post below.

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EDITING

Editing is the first step of the revision process. There are two main types of editing and several different categories of editing. The two types are macro editing and micro editing. Macro editing is "big picture" editing, while micro editing is grammatical editing where writers or editors check for all of the mechanics like spelling, word usage, spacing, and punctuation.

Developmental or content editing is macro editing and the category of editing that looks at the "whole story content" of books or other literary works. This editing is the first category of editing that short stories and novels typically go through, and evaluates things like character development, pacing, story structure, point-of-view, of length. Other categories of editing are line editing (which involves editing manuscripts line-by-line), and copyediting (which involves making grammatical corrections). Both of these are micro editing. Although not required, some writers also self-edit their own work before submitting to professional editors. I always do this myself, as it can help save some mental headache for editors and lower the cost of pro editing, which is one of self-published authors' greatest expense while self-publishing.

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REWRITING

Rewriting is when writers rewrite their first drafts after completing all of the editing processes. This is where writers write their second drafts, and sometimes their third, fourth, or fifth drafts depending on the length and type of short stories, novels, plays, or books writers are writing. The process of rewriting typically takes several weeks to some months to complete at a time.

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PROOFREADING

Proofreading is the final step of revision before publication. This is where writers and editors carefully read through the entire written manuscript to check for any lingering grammatical mistakes or typos that might've been missed after the first couple of editing passes. Some things that may be corrected are word choice, misspelled words, or punctuation errors.

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WHY IS REVISING IMPORTANT?

Writers revising their written work and books are important because it allows them to release better-quality books before publication and in the market. People judge books not only by their covers, but particularly by the content within them. When writers publish books with no editing or revision done, it can result in less credibility and poor reviews from dissatisfied readers. Therefore, never skip the revision process. Although it's time-consuming, it will be for your benefit later after publication.

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CLOSING REMARKS:

In this and the four previous blog posts, we've gone over the stages of writing from prewriting and doing research, to plotting, outlining, drafting, and revision. Using all five of these stages will help writers to hone their writing skills and improve the quality of their stories and books where readers appreciate them and eventually become excited about their next releases. For more writing videos or tutorials, subscribe to my writing channel Journey of a Christian Writer series. Okay, that ends this post. If you found it useful, please, give it a (heart❤️), take part in the poll 🤔, and share your thoughts or comments 💬 below.)  

Happy Writing! 😊✍🏽💻

🤔Hey, writers, what is you favorite stage of the writing process?

• 💡Prewriting
• ✍️Drafting
• ✒️Editing
• 💻Rewriting