Rewriting is as much a part of writing as the words you use. Joyce Carol Oates said, “The completion of any work automatically necessitates its revisioning.”

Writing is a two-step process: first the raw, rough draft, then the rewriting of it. I like both parts. The first with all its wild energy, riding the pen like a cowgirl on a trick pony. Then comes the second, the care, the thoughtfulness, the choosing of words, restructuring sentences, finding doors to go through (which sends me back to the first step again), and seeing the flow of a piece. I like the change of perspective from that close up, intense, focus of first drafts to the greater distance that rewriting provides. I see the word revision as “re-vision,” not only as in re-seeing, but the bigger idea of vision as sort of mystical or extra-sensory; dreamlike.

So what do we look for in our rewriting?

• Often the first draft will be loose and sketchy, lacking in the narrative glue that holds a piece together.
• Or, it might be so broad and general that all the close details that bring the piece to life will be missing.
• Dialogue gets written without tags so we don’t know who’s speaking.
• Or the only thing written is dialogue, ungrounded and without the gestures, voice sounds, and outside world that puts in it a context.
• Sometimes we write only narrative and no dialogue.
• There are no transitions to get the reader from one place to another.
• Time and locations change without warning so that upon re-reading even the writer gets lost. Also:
• Repetition of word use or images.
• Dull or boring verbs, passive language. Clichés.
• Clumsy or incorrect sentence structure.
• Lack of clarity.
• Dense language or long, convoluted sentences or paragraphs that give the reader no place to rest.
• A sameness in sentence structure or length of sentences. Lack of rhythm.
• Out of place thoughts or structure that doesn’t flow.
• Digressions that take the reader out of the story or away from the point.
• Language that is out of the voice of the piece.

I suppose this list could go on ad infinitum. A good checklist is the classic THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE, by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White (MacMillan Publishing). Read and critique groups are also good sources of feedback for what needs to be rewritten. One problem for writers is that we never get to see our piece for the first time. We may be too close and lack the perspective necessary to recognize what needs reworking. We know what we meant and can get from A to C without the bridge of B.

Expect to rewrite anything you write. I have never, ever seen a piece of first draft writing that couldn’t do with some rewriting. In his book, HOW TO WRITE (William Morrow), Richard Rhodes writes, “Writers generate multiple drafts of a text because they organize the elements of writing successively rather than simultaneously.” So, we rewrite not because of what is “wrong” with a piece of work, but as a direct result of the way in which we create.

Some thoughts on the process:
• Too much rewriting can take the life right out of a piece. Don’t go for perfection; it doesn’t exist.
• Don’t begin rewriting until you’ve finished the piece. Not necessarily the whole of a thing, but a scene, a section, a chapter. Since you don’t know at the beginning where the writing might take you, to begin rewriting too soon could dam the stream before it has a chance to find its natural course. Also, rewriting before you’re finished is a way to keep you from the actual writing.
• Once something is done, it is done. Leave it. Continuing to rewrite past completion is a way of staying stuck. (How do you know when something’s actually finished? Ah, that’s another question for another time.)
• Save your drafts. There may be something in the third rewrite that will work really well in the seventh. Don’t trust your computer. Make back ups. Keep a box nearby for all those drafts. Just label them and toss them in. You can recycle the whole thing when you’re really finished.

Don’t give up and don’t let the rewriting process daunt you. James Dickey said, “I tacitly assume that the first fifty ways I try it are going to be wrong.” Stay where you are and work on what you are working on. Do it “bird by bird,” as Anne Lamott’s father said.