My ten top tips for revising text for publication
I was recently asked how much I revise when Iām working on a novel, and when I do it.Ā The answer is: always several times; sometimes many times.Ā If Iām not too tired, I look over the dayās effort again immediately Iāve finished writing.Ā Whether I do this or not, I always scrutinise it the following day before I start writing again and make minor changes.Ā Books usually fall into natural sections, and Iāll devote a day or two to working through a whole section in one go once Iāve finished it, to make sure that it hangs together and that Iāve been consistent.Ā Finally, I revise the whole MS before I send it to my editor, sometimes more than once.
Iāve been asked for my ten top revision tips, so here goes!
- Make sure you get both the tense and the mood of verbs correct.Ā This may sound easy, and it may even make me look stupid for saying it, but itās surprising how often I read novels that have been marred by this mistake.Ā And yes, I catch myself out sometimes.
- Scrutinise the word order in each sentence that you write.Ā I donāt just mean taking care with words like āonlyā which have different meanings depending on where they appear in the sentence –Ā I believe that achieving the optimum word order is essential to good writing.Ā If you look at the sentence structure and word order used by a writerĀ whom you really admire, youāll see what I mean.
- Be descriptive, but sparingly.Ā Itās true what people say about purple passages!
- Try really hard to make the dialogue sound natural.Ā Think your way into how the character who is speaking phrases his or her speech and listen to the voice.Ā At the same time, be aware that making it sound natural doesnāt mean copying nature! Iāve just been reading a novel in which two of the main characters engage in the kind of desultory breakfast conversation that I often have with my husband.Ā Not only does it not go anywhere, it unfocuses the readerās attention and dissipates the tension that the author has built up in the preceding chapters.
- If you create an interior monologue for one or more of your main characters, ensure that you give it enough depth.Ā Itās easy to fall into the trap of making it too brittle or superficial.Ā Itās quite a hard technique to work with andĀ so, if youāre not sure whether youāve succeeded, abandon it!
- Apply my last point to all of your work, quite ruthlessly.Ā Be your own fiercest critic.Ā If youāre not completely happy with something, or think that it might not be working, it probably isnāt.
- Check that you have used the same names for your characters throughout and havenāt introduced some subtle changes along the way.Ā This may sound an unlikely mistake, but itās certainly one that Iāve made ā for example, in the first complete draft of In the Family, Ronald Atkins was also called Roland and Rodney on some occasions ā and, having talked to other authors about it, Iāve discovered that itās quite a common fault.Ā Readers are bound to be irritated by it!
- If you write a fairly detailed outline of the plot ā as I usually do ā you donāt have to stick to this slavishly if youāre inspired by some better ideas once youāve started writing.Ā However, be certain that these work within the context of the whole and donāt present you with a lot of inconsistencies that require making many changes, or force you to offer outlandish explanations that stretch credibility.
- Also on the subject of plot construction, try to write the chapters in chronological sequence, even if you plan to present them in a different order in the final version.Ā If you donāt, you are almost bound to introduce anachronisms that will need ironing out afterwards.Ā This is perhaps my own greatest fault.Ā Iām trying really hard to practise what I preach, now that Iāve started my third DI Yates novel!
- Turn off the spell-checker, which has a nasty habit of introducing US spellings or unexpected quirks!
I refer to [Judith] Butcher’s Copy-editing: The Cambridge Handbook for Editors, Copy-editors and Proofreaders, which is an invaluable resource for ensuring consistency and proper presentation of material for publication.
Finally, may I add that I take very seriouslyĀ the comments of readers about my writing.Ā When I weigh them up, I find that they tend to Ā have objectivity and honesty and I value their constructive and helpful insights.