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The Revision Decision:
What needs revising in your manuscript?

You’ve just typed the last words of your manuscript.  Congratulations… that’s a big achievement!  But you’re not through yet.  If you’re like most of us, you still have a whole lot of revision to do before your book is as good as it can possibly be.

A few authors totally revise their work as they write, so that by the time they reach the end of the manuscript, it’s perfect.  Even fewer don’t require revision at all.  But most of us need to do quite a bit of revising once we finish the manuscript.  And it’s a common mistake to not do enough revision.  Revision is a bit boring, and not the most creative aspect of writing, so many of us do as little as we can get away with.  This is a mistake, because some fairly simple work on your part can really improve your manuscript.

The way every writer works is different, and what I need to revise on my manuscripts may not necessarily be exactly what you need to revise.  But here’s what I look for when I revise my own books:

1. Logical flaws or errors in the plot. There’s no real need to elaborate on this-- this is something all "pantsers" (authors who write by the seat of their pants, rather than outline first) have to watch out for.  Since I don't outline first, there will tend to be logical flaws here and there.  When I revise, I make sure every little part of the plot aligns with everything else, and that there are no loose ends I’ve failed to tie up.  Even if you outline first, make certain the final version of your plot makes sense from beginning to end.  And make sure your descriptions of characters and places remain consistent throughout the manuscript—it’s embarrassing to have your blue-eyed heroine suddenly develop green eyes halfway through the book.
2. Spelling and grammatical mistakes.  This is a big one, make no mistake about it.  Your plotting may be creative and fresh, but if you bury your fascinating plot under a landslide of incorrect spellings and grammatical mistakes, you will lose some readers.  And don’t assume your editor is going to catch all your errors, either—copy editors aren’t as thorough as they once were.  Even books for major New York publishers frequently make it to print with numerous gratuitous errors.  Run spell check, then look your manuscript over carefully.  Remember that spell check won’t catch homophones like their and there.  If you happen to be a poor speller (and some very good writers are), have someone else proofread your work.
3. Repetitive sentence structure. This is a big problem in my rough drafts, and I notice it in other authors’ completed books as well.  When I write a first draft, I tend to start every sentence with a noun or a pronoun. As I edit, I go through the document and revise the sentence structure so it's much more varied, and so that sentences do not invariably begin with nouns and pronouns. It's amazing what an enormous difference this makes, with a very small input of time and effort.
4. Repetitive language. You don't want your characters smiling three times in one paragraph, or even on one page. This is something that really bothers me in other people's writing, so I watch carefully for it in my own.  In addition, we all have words we love and overuse.  (Two of mine are “sardonically” and “wryly.”)  Figure out what words you tend to use too frequently, then ask your computer to run a search on them throughout the whole document.  Replace at least half of them with synonyms, or simply delete them entirely.
5. Weak words. Strong verbs are good. Weak verbs are bad. "He came toward her" is much better written as "he stalked toward her" or "he tiptoed toward her"… any verb that clearly conveys HOW he walked. The same is true of nouns—you want to use strong, clear, descriptive nouns.  For example, the heroine’s pet is not just a dog, but a wire-haired fox terrier. It is possible to overuse strong words, but most of us overuse weak words much more frequently.
6. Description. I go through a completed manuscript looking for places I can add physical description, as this is something I am prone to skimping on (in the first draft I usually write more action and dialogue, and less description). Where are the protagonists in this particular scene? What does the room look like? What does the hero smell like? What does his voice sound like? I consciously try to add descriptions that engage all the senses, as I am unfortunately inclined to only providing visual description.  Don’t overdo the description (the color of your heroine’s hair does not have to be poetically described on every page), but do make sure the reader has a clear picture of the characters and their surroundings.
7. Unnessary adverbs.  This may not be a problem for you, but it most certainly is for me.  I love adverbs, and no one ever does anything in my first drafts without an adverb like “he said softly” or “she threw it angrily.”  Unfortunately, most editors nowadays loathe an excess of adverbs, so I eliminate that excess in revisions. I particularly cut adverbs from dialogue tags (more on those in a moment), but I try to get rid of them throughout the manuscript.  A few adverbs aren’t a problem, but you don’t want every last action punctuated with an adverb, either.  Nor are adverbs really necessary if you use descriptive enough verbs.  Going back to our earlier example, if your hero walks toward your heroine, an adverb may be necessary to clarify precisely how he is walking.  If he strides or stalks toward her, an adverb becomes superfluous.
8. Unnecessary dialogue tags.  I’m also prone to using far too many dialogue tags (such as “he said”).  As I revise, I totally delete any dialogue tags I can do without. Dialogue tags can usually be trimmed back easily—it’s often quite obvious which character is speaking, without constantly adding “he said” or “she asked.”  If you think the reader may get confused, brief descriptions of action often work better to clarify who’s speaking than dialogue tags.  Where you determine a dialogue tag is necessary, consider if you want to use the simple words “he said” or whether another verb would do the job better, but be warned: this is one exception to the rule against repetitive language.  “Said” is a sort of invisible word, scarcely noticed by the reader.  By changing every dialogue tag to phrases like “he declaimed” or “she announced” you actually make your dialogue tags more prominent, sometimes to rather silly excess.   There’s nothing wrong with using the phrase “he said” fairly frequently.

It’s a very good idea to have a second pair of eyes to go over your manuscript.  A critique partner may spot problems that sail right past you.  My husband functions as my critique partner, but you may prefer another writer.  You need to choose someone that you totally trust, as well as someone that will tell you honestly and forthrightly what they think of your writing.  (My husband occasionally annoys me by typing in remarks like “Alert! Alert! Hack writing in progress!” but the unfortunate truth is, his comments are usually right!)

As you revise, you will become familiar with your own weaknesses and learn what you need to look for.  The more manuscripts you revise, the more automatic the process becomes.  Don’t skip the revision step, no matter how pressed for time you are.  Remember that readers won’t know if you turned in the book to your editor a week late, but they will definitely notice if the book has a shoddy, amateurish quality to it.  There’s an anonymous quote that I like to keep in mind: "The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of meeting the schedule has been forgotten."