Definition:
The process of rereading a text and making changes (in content, organization, sentence structures, and word choice) to improve it. During revision, a writer may add, remove, move and substitute text (the ARMS treatment). See also:
- Revision Checklist
- Writers on Rewriting
- The Writing Process
- Common Revision Symbols and Abbreviations
- Two Versions of "Kidnapped by Movies," by Susan Sontag
- Revising a Place Description
- Revision Checklist for a Classification Essay
- Revising an Argument Essay
Etymology:
From the Latin, "to visit again, to look at again"Observations:
- "Revision is one of the exquisite pleasures of writing.”
(Bernard Malamud) - "Rewriting is the essence of writing well: it's where the game is won or lost."
(William Zinsser, On Writing Well, 2006) - "The main thing I try to do is write as clearly as I can. I rewrite a good deal to make it clear."
(E.B. White, The New York Times, August 3, 1942) - "I rewrite a great deal. I'm always fiddling, always changing something. I'll write a few words--then I'll change them. I add. I subtract. I work and fiddle and keep working and fiddling, and I only stop at the deadline."
(Ellen Goodman) - "I'm not a very good writer, but I'm an excellent rewriter."
(James Michener) - "Writing is like everything else: the more you do it the better you get. Don't try to perfect as you go along, just get to the end of the damn thing. Accept imperfections. Get it finished and then you can go back. If you try to polish every sentence there's a chance you'll never get past the first chapter."
(Iain Banks) - "Revision is very important to me. I just can't abide some things that I write. I look at them the next day and they're terrible. They don't make sense, or they're awkward, or they're not to the point--so I have to revise, cut, shape. Sometimes I throw the whole thing away and start from scratch."
(William Kennedy)
Pronunciation: re-VIZH-en
