The Art of Rewriting

How many times have you poured your energy into writing a project only to find that it is 1000 words longer than you need? Or written on one subject, re-read it and find a whole section of the work is irrelevant to the main topic? If you have experienced this, you know what it means to rewrite. Rewriting helps with organization of the thoughts contained in the article.

Review Work Carefully

To do this, first you need to reread your work looking to see if you adequately covered the topic. Did you omit something that is important to understanding the work as a whole? Is each stage of the piece clear? Clear beginning. Clear ending. Analyze the work for content from one end to the next; do not worry about spelling etc., at this stage, as you are just making sure you covered all-important points.

Assessing Paragraphs

Next, you will look at the work paragraph by paragraph. You want to make sure your opening paragraph is something that will grab your reader’s attention. It is important that the opening paragraph encourage your reader to continue with the rest of the work. The greatest work you have ever written will never be read completely with a poorly executed opening paragraph. Look at each content paragraph. Do they have a clear purpose? Do they support the main topic of the work? Let us not forget about transition phrases that link one paragraph to the next. They help your readers better follow the thought process you have provided. It is very easy when rewriting to overuse transition phrases. So pay careful attention to those as you rewrite.

Now your last paragraph has almost as much to live up to as your opening paragraph. Where your opening paragraph had to engage the reader, your closing paragraph has to release the reader. Leave your reader feeling like they have gotten what they came for. You do not want them looking for more unless you have a sequel.

Point of View

Whew! Now that part is done, you want to look at the general flow of the paper. Have you kept it in first person, second, or third person? Examine your word choice. The difference in saying she wore a nice dress and the blonde haired pixie shined in a bright red dress is huge. Use imagery. Make your reader have a movie playing in their minds as they read. This is a bit more difficult when writing for informational purposes, but it can be done. Not everyone knows what interoperability is. It will take less than two lines of text to explain it to a reader. This explanation can make all the difference in the world in the decision to continue reading your work. We do not want anyone crashing Google looking up the definition for something that you have written about. Be careful not to repeat the same phrases over and over. You do not want your reader thinking of your work later on and all they can remember is how many times you said And things and stuff.

Take a Break

Step back. Go take a break, if possible sleep on it. Unless there is a time crunch, your rewriting is like a good batch of chili, if it sits overnight, your work becomes better. Taking a break from going over the material allows you to look at it with fresh eyes and will allow you to catch some mistakes that were invisible to you before.

Rewriting is Easy

If you follow these practices, you will find that your rewriting will enhance your work. You will accomplish greater organization. Your word choice will begin to be better the first time around. Always look for ways to improve your work, never look at a rewrite as something that is negative to your original work. You only look to improve, and what writer does not want to improve? All the great writers get to rewrite. I refuse to say they suffer through it. By rewriting, you are giving yourself the ability to see a new way to share the information you want. I think I will now go get a bowl of yesterday’s chili. Now pull out that red pen and get to rewriting!

Aside from rewriting your piece, learn how to write 100% unique article fast!

Image courtesy of #1 - David Castillo Dominici #2 - Nutdanai Apikhomboonwaroot / FreeDigitalPhotos.net