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Revising in the Broad Sense

© Kelli Brooke Haywood

This article is the first in a two part look at revising your fiction. We will look at the first steps of revising your work after it has a beginning, middle, and end. The next article will discuss the more picky side of revising that happens when you know you are ready to submit your work.

Probably, the hardest thing for me to grasp as a writer of fiction was the fact that I must revise my own work. I had been used to a classroom workshop setting where I had, sometimes, up to twelve readers who would read my work, mark my typos, and comment on what they read. That was the way to go indeed. Now that I am on my own, I miss the opinion of readers other than myself. There are writer's groups out there that function a lot like a workshop setting, but for some of us with tight schedules it isn't always possible to attend these group meetings. Because of these things, it is important for a writer to learn to revise their own work -- and be critical of it. You will not replace the reading that someone on the outside can give, but you can be assured that you are submitting your best work to magazines who are looking for extremely well written manuscripts.

You have your story in front of you. You have worked and sweated over this piece for weeks. The last thing you want to do is find all of its problems, but it must be done. The best place to start is the beginning. I have spoken to editors who say that most stories submitted to literary magazines are decided upon by the first page. If the first page is not intriguing then they toss it. If it is good, then they pass it on for consideration. Your story depends on its beginning. Make sure your beginning is clear and it invloves the reader to the point that they will not discard the story. Your story may need a subtle start or a slam bang beginning depending on the content. It is at your discretion.

For example, one of my stories started with a character's thoughts. Denise hadn't been in touch with her mother for three years. She's attending the funeral of her grandmother. She thinks...I will not be anyone other than myself. Mother will just have to deal with it. This line is wrong for my story. I am giving away the entire plot. It sets the reader up to possibly think of my protagonist as naieve. I will be changing that beginning. Go on your instinct as a reader. What would you like to see when you read?