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Revisions
by Joyce Lavene

No one likes revisions. In theory, it may give us a chance to grow and show our flexibility but in practice, it's a pain in the butt. Someone else’s ideas are going to impinge on our work. Someone else is trying to tell us what we should or shouldn’t do with our story! It sets the hackles up right away.

Publishing is a team effort. Your editor is there to make the book better. We all know that. But who cares when you're looking at a sheet full of revisions?

Some editors routinely change wording, sentence structure, or dialogue tags just to make the work more their own. Editors have a reputation too. They want your work to show some of their initiative. To reduce editorial fingers in the pie, try to watch the quality of your work:

• Spelling is the number one offender. If there are more than a few misspelled words, your editor is going to look even more closely at the rest of your manuscript.

• Grammar is another basic. If your poor grasp of grammar shows up twice on the first page of your work, expect an editor to be on the lookout for other problems.

• Grasp of day/time is another big problem for writers. Your hero/heroine can't go to sleep on Wednesday and wake up on Friday, unless they're in a coma. Check the continuity of your work. Make sure you know when and where your characters are.

Copyright © 2001 Joyce Lavene

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