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Unpublished writers

Started by LegendaryAngel at 09-04-2008 7:12 AM. Topic has 3 replies.
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   09-04-2008, 7:12 AM
LegendaryAngel

Joined on 08-22-2008
Posts 5
How much revision is enough?

    Hello,

     I write this to find out from any other puplished or unpublished writers to find out how much revisions one needs to do. I know that you review until the story is till the liking of reader and author alike. But I find myself in a little problem.

   I've been revising the prolouge to the 3rd chapter over and over again, trying to get them just right, and haven't even gotten to the last 17 chapters of the story. Should I hold back from making the first 3 chapters just right and move on, or get them right and have all the other chapters up to speed? I'm not sure which path to take. Help please!

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   09-04-2008, 5:56 PM
ChristineWriter

Joined on 08-27-2008
Worcester, MA
Posts 13
Re: How much revision is enough?
Great question!  I am a revising fanatic.  In my experience, sometimes it only takes reading the piece through two times, but sometimes it takes ten.  Books are somewhat different than essays though, which is what I usually write.  My suggestion is to revise the way that books should originally be written:  Revise the book from start to finish, then go back and revise again.  I've heard that a writer should revise an entire book manuscript at least twice.  You should revise as many times as you feel is best, without getting too obsessive about it.  And remember that the editors and proofreaders of your book (if you go through a publisher) will help catch the mistakes too.  But, you should definitely move on from chapter three Smile [:)]

Finance Assistant by day. Writer by night :)
Ellis College of NYIT student: BA in English & Professional Writing
http://christinewriter.webs.com
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   09-04-2008, 8:36 PM
LegendaryAngel

Joined on 08-22-2008
Posts 5
Re: How much revision is enough?

 Alright, thanks for your suggestion. Perhaps moving on would give me a better scope of my writing, I hope it's easier to move on then to revise...

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   12-28-2008, 9:20 AM
Setratus

Joined on 12-18-2008
Posts 2
Re: How much revision is enough?

You'll probably find that each writer revises differently.  Some writers insist that you do revisions at the end of each chapter.  Others say that you should revise when you finish.  Others say that you should revise at the end of every scene.

What I do is that I keep writing until the end of the story/novel.  I go back to revise only for obvious grammar/spelling mistakes OR if I write something in a later chapter that invalidates an earlier concept in some way such as 'Now that I added this concept in Chapter 5, there's no reason that this guy would know how to do this in Chapter 3.

So, what would I advise?  Keep writing until you get to the end of the novel UNLESS something you've written makes an earlier concept useless or confusing.  Once you get everything on paper and have taken out the 'invalid', your revisions to add more 'scenery' or to add more dialogue, or whatever, will be much easier.

Also, another thing to remember... you can revise eternally if you really wanted to.  A writer is rarely, if ever, 100% happy with their work.  There's always 'I can change this... I should write this... he should have said that...'  In the end, if the chapter does what you intended it to do and flows with the rest of the story, I'd be happy with it!!!

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