Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Trends I've Seen in Revisions

  • Whenever I write "that + verb", I could have just written the participle instead. (Example: "They went to the doors that led outside" vs. "They went to the doors leading outside.")
  • Whenever I follow "So-and-so said" with a sentence, I could just cut the said and make one sentence. ("You do it," Belle said. She nodded towards Robert. --> "You do it." Belle nodded towards Robert.)
  • I can easily take out one in every four or so instances of "that" and not change anything but the word count.
  • If the sentence reads the same when I take out "just," then I should just take "just" out.
  • Whenever I write "was + a word that ends with -ing," I should just change it to that verb in imperfect tense. (Example: She was running. --> She ran.)

I know these rules, heck, I teach these rules...but for some reason, when I write, I forget them.

Revision update: Only 100 more pages to go. I might not get it all in the computer, but I will finish the paper revision before the New Year's ball drops!!!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh, yeah, and any time I use "that was" = automatic delete.

Michelle D. Argyle said...

Who cares if you write them! We all do. That's what editing is for. If we all wrote perfectly the first time, we'd all be published and rich. Maybe. :)

Unknown said...

Published and rich has a nice ring to it :)