Mixing Levels of Revision

Abstract

Orderly and straightforward revision, in which editorial tasks are delimited draft by draft, breaks down with lengthy and complex tasks. In rewriting a book, I have had to combine various stages of revision in each draft — adding new material, reshaping thoughts, striving for coherent expression, and polishing prose simultaneously instead of serially. This kaleidoscopic way of working yields unexpected advantages that compensate for its untidy clutter: it helps to maintain the pace of revision, resolves problems left over from previous drafts, and stimulates new ideas and reconsiderations which, at a late stage in the editorial process, come as necessary nuisances.