Revising: Planning for Rewrites

Starting the revising process often leads to rethinking. Since good writers plan to rewrite, they often write first drafts which deliberately leave room for revision.

1. Leaving a chunk of space at the end of each paragraph forces you to think about developing the paragraph further. Most paragraphs in a first draft need this treatment. You may use this space as a kind of mental billboard ("Watch this space") for more conclusive sentences, more definite statements or evaluation or evidence. Or you may use it simply to correct false impressions made by vague, indecisive language. (See examples later in the chapter.)

2. Typing or word-processing liberates your paper from your handwriting and objectifies it. People tend to read printed words more attentively and seriously than handwritten ones. A typed, double- or triple-spaced draft with wide margins and lots of space after paragraphs is much easier to work with than a handwritten screed which looks like a letter to your best friend, only sloppier. Spelling and punctuation errors are also easier to find in type than in script.

3. Bracketing or underlining words, phrases, or sentences which sound wrong helps you train yourself visually and aurally. By this means you can take rewriting in two stages: one in which you diagnose what's wrong and another in which you make it better.

4. Using a hit-list of writing problems can help you become a tough editor. The most common problems of first drafts come from the writer's trying to find what to say by writing. But that is natural. Most of us find out what to say by saying something and then finding out if it's what we mean. A hit-list can turn fuzzy-mindedness into deliberate choice.

   Planning for Rewrites
   Hit-List of Problems in First Drafts
   Principles of Revision