Revising and editing are both equally important when it comes to preparing a manuscript for submission to an editor.
Revising and Editing
When to Use Revising
When revising your manuscript, you are changing the meaning or way in which the reader perceives, experiences and interprets it. This can be accomplished by:
Add – sentences and words
Remove – words or sentences you don’t need
Move – change a word or placement of a sentence
Substitute – trade words or sentences for new ones
Revising is something that the author does by herself/ himself to her/ his own work, and:
– Adding new thoughts
– Clarifying existing thoughts
– Choosing more descriptive words
– Improving overall clarity of ideas presented
– Enhancing character development
– Adding more detail
– Eliminating unnecessary elements
When to Use Editing
When editing a manuscript, only the structure of writing is corrected. These are minor changes that include:
Capitalize – names, places, titles, months, etc.
Usage – nouns and verbs are correctly used
Punctuation – periods, quotes, commas, semicolons, apostrophes, etc.
Spelling – check all words, look for homophones, use a dictionary
Grammar/ Sentence structure.
In other words, when editing, your overall story remains exactly the same – you are simply fixing mistakes you have made while writing it, such as typos, grammar errors, and spelling mistakes.
Difference between Revising and Editing | Image
