Don't Edit— Rewrite

So you’ve come to the end of your work, and it’s time for the most tedious part of writing (although the plotting, character developing, and world building may be considered a close rival): editing. But I have a suggestion.

Instead of editing, create a new document, pull it open side by side with your rough draft, and rewrite the entire thing.

For those of you who may be thinking “Whaaaat?!,” I get it. When I first received this advice, my initial thought was something along the lines of “Wow. This sounds really time-consuming. I don’t want to do it.”

But I tried it. I don’t remember if it was a school assignment or a short scene that I had written, but nevertheless I tried it. It was time-consuming. But let me tell you, it was worth it. The end result was so much better than it would have been if I had just read through the first draft and edited it normally. My thoughts turned to “Wow. This is incredible!” I’ve been doing it ever since. Whenever I come to the end of a project, be it a school assignment or short scene that needs some serious editing, I will rewrite it two, three, sometimes even four or five times. (And yes, I’m rewriting this blog post). I’ve never completed a larger work (such as a novel) since I started using this technique, but I do intend to use it once I do.

Here’s why I prefer to rewrite:

1. It keeps my mind engaged. Retyping every word (or most words, anyway), rather than simply rereading them helps me better focus on what I am doing, and I don’t skip any by accident. My mind doesn’t wander so easily, and I don’t recall ever reaching the point where I am reading but not comprehending— something that happens many times when I’m rereading something.

2. I catch more errors. Even with the auto correct and spell/grammar check of today, there are still going to be errors in whatever I’m writing, at least the first time through. (Especially if auto correct keeps changing fantasy names into modern words). I can catch most of these when reading through and editing, but I catch still more when I rewrite.

3. I am able to better improve the quality of the passage as a whole. When I write something the first time through, I mostly just focus on the information. Getting down what I want to say on paper, and not worrying so much about how it sounds. If I edit, mostly I pay attention to spelling and grammar. It’s harder to realize what might be wrong with a sentence, paragraph, or chapter as a whole. When I’m rewriting, my brain will automatically restructure sentences to sound better without me having to think much about it. I also pay more attention to the word choice, and to the fact that I need to change at least one of the three “suddenly”s I used in the space of two paragraphs. (Seriously, why aren’t there more synonyms for “suddenly”?). It’s easier to create sentences that flow better together and transitions that are smooth. Also, the process itself is more smooth. Instead of reading, stopping, editing, and then reading again, it’s one continual work of typing and editing at the same time.

4. It’s more enjoyable. If you’re like me, you love writing, but when it comes to editing… er, not so much. It’s not bad for a while, but if there’s too much all at one time it gets boring, and I just want to start writing again. Rewriting makes the task more interesting and more involved. It feels a lot more like writing than editing, and since my mind is more engaged with what I’m writing, it makes the task much less of a task and more of something to enjoy, even to look forward to at times!

So there you have it. For main reasons why I love rewriting instead of editing, and how it improves the end result far better than the same amount of editing could. For those of you who may be still apprehensive about how time-consuming and tedious it can be, I encourage you to try it. Just once, on some small project, and see if you don’t like it better. I certainly do.

- Auriel