Writing Tip: Don’t Edit, Rewrite Instead

This is one that I saw on Pinterest and so I thought I would give it a try. Here’s the idea: once you have finished drafting, you don’t just go into the computer and edit along the way. You pull up a blank document (or in my case a blank notebook) and you rewrite your manuscript sentence by sentence. Now before you turn away in disgust, hear me out.

This is why it works:
As you are rewriting your scholarly piece (as opposed to editing it), you will inherently take away any redundant parts but, more likely, you will add a lot more material and flush out your ideas now that you know how it ends. The same goes for fictional stories. In fictional stories, knowing where the characters are going will help you streamline your plot line within the novel. Going back and expanding where necessary and cutting out unnecessary scenes will greatly benefit your novel.

My results:
I decided to try this with chapter one of my book and instead of opening up a new document I decided to rewrite it first on notebook paper and then type it back into the computer. There’s just something about having a pen in my hand and words flowing out of it onto blank paper that I love. Anyhow, it was HOURS of extra work and took much longer than simple editing would have. However, the result was completely worth it. Not only did I greatly improve the quality of my writing but I also improved the quantity of my work so that one chapter had to turn into two. Despite the extra time that it takes, I fully plan on doing this with each of my chapters.

 

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