When Is Enough Revisions Really Enough?

As a rule, published writers are usually fairly proud people. We don’t start out that way, of course, but once we have a finished product and the general public doesn’t completely reject us, we become proud.

That because there are so few of us who have spent the time and energy necessary to create something valuable. It’s not that others couldn’t have created something similar to what we have done, it’s just that they didn’t and we did. And, truth be told, that’s something we should be proud of!

Part of the creation process includes revisions. Before we let our first real work of art out into the public, we review and edit and revise and rewrite. We let those we trust and even those we don’t mark it up and tell us what they hate about it and what needs to change to make it better. We want it as close to perfection as possible, and we are willing to pay the price of personal scrutiny.

Authorship is a beautiful thing that no one can take away from us. However, one problem with pride of authorship is that we can get to the point where ten revisions become seven, then seven become four and soon four become two. It’s one reason why great authors become forgotten.

Revisions can be done differently. Sometimes I take them a chapter at a time – out of order – before editing it from start to finish. Even after writing a book I will review the outline and see if it is what I wanted or if it needs rearranging before sending it in to be published. At times I check only for spelling and grammar. Other times I check only for the flow in my characters’ personality. Sometimes I only scrutinize the plot, place, or chronology.

The other day I was asked how many revisions are enough revisions. It’s a tough question. I have written poems that have had only minor revisions from the first inspired thought. Then I have had others that I worked on for years before I was satisfied with them. The same holds true for my books and articles.

Here’s my answer to how many revisions are enough revisions: When you think that your written work is perfect and that you would be happy to finally send it in to the publishers, have one more editor review it and make one more personal revision. The last thing you want is to find a mistake after thousands of copies have been printed.

Research When Writing: How Much Is Required?

 I just finished reading an article from a published writer who says that he spends ten times as much time researching for a book he is writing as he does writing it. In his case, he confessed that it didn’t matter whether he was writing fiction or non-fiction.

In my own experience, I believe that the amount of research required depends on the topic you are writing on, your style of writing and the end result that you are looking for. I have written a book of poetry, for example, that didn’t take any research at all.

I simply wrote the poems, organized them, wrote a quick introduction and obligatory ‘Thank You’ page for being alive and well enough off to spend enough time to make my poems readable and hopefully understood. Of course, there were hours and hours of re-writes and revisions, but that the subject matter for another article.

I also wrote a fictional tale of dancing aliens for my soon-to-be eighteen-years-old daughter. That one probably could have benefited from additional research, but, because it was made for a pre-teen, at the time, and because the emphasis was on the experiences and not the mechanics of robotic alien life forms, I got away with it.

The same was not true, however, for my series of stories on the life-saving antics of the teen-age adorable potato bug named Rolando. I spent hours tops at the library and online reviewing where these little ‘rolly pollies’ lived, what they ate and how they interacted with each other. I also spent hours observing their behaviors ‘in the wild’ – or in this case, in my front yard by the sidewalk and by the front door steps under some watermelon-sized rocks.

Some of the most important research begins early on in the writing process. Once you decide on what you’re going to write about, and who your audience will be, the next critical step is to research your topic to make sure that what you want to do hasn’t been done before.

A good writer doesn’t take research for granted. All it takes is one miss-cue to become what readers classify as an unreliable author and put one’s writing career in serious jeopardy.