Rewrite It

In the past, I've talked about revising and editing and some techniques for each of them. In both of these, though, there is one technique that deserves being highlighted: rewriting.

In revision, I think that rewriting is a primary tool. When you are still in the process of creating your world and shaping your story, trying to modify your existing text is often more of a hindrance than a benefit. Ultimately, you either have to modify so much of the sentence that you end up rewriting it, or you just trash what you have from the start and try again.

In editing though, rewriting is done far less. Editing is the polishing and finishing of a work, so it is assumed that the sentences are just fine and shouldn't be touched. Of course, that's just plain fallacy. Editing requires a lot of rewriting because previous to this phase, the sentences cared more about telling the story than making it sound pretty.

I've taken several editing tests before. The point of the test is to see if I know all of the grammar rules to correct the sentences shown to me. Of course, these sentences have been written incredibly awkwardly to fit in some obscure grammar rule. I hate these tests with a passion. They are given under false pretenses. If I was a real editor, I would look at a sentence so horribly put together and just rewrite it.

When you edit your own work, remember that if you aren't sure what to do, or if you just can't make it sound right, your safest bet is to just delete the sentence and rewrite it.