Proofreading and Editing

Revising can be a drag.

Once you’ve finished writing a piece, the desire to just be done with it is totally understandable. You’ve just spent all this time writing it, so the idea of going over your work with a fine-tooth comb might sound tedious and exhausting. You might also hope that your first draft (or second, or third) is perfect, and that it doesn’t need a thing changed.

But that’s never the case. While revision isn’t something you should torture yourself over, it is an important and necessary part of the process of getting your work ready to share with the world. There is no expectation for your draft to be perfect on the first go around, and no shame in making changes. In fact, once you’ve got the hard part out of the way—actually writing the piece—revising can even be fun.This is how the story begins to take its final shape.

Line by line, paragraph by paragraph, you—and an editor, if your piece has been accepted somewhere—will go through your piece to see what still works and what doesn’t, what should stay and what should go, and check the story for proper spelling and grammar. That last one is something you can do on your own before you even submit your story by reading it over, and maybe even running a basic spellcheck at the very end to catch any stray misspellings. (Your editor will definitely be grateful if you do. The less time they have to spend on line edits, the more time there is to get to the meat of the story!)

However, as long as your story doesn’t need major developmental work and rewrites, you’ll focus a lot more on line and copy edits. These sorts of edits focus on things like syntax and grammar so that the language of the story is clear and effective. To improve on these things, your editor may ask questions or give you ideas to consider throughout the process.

The most important thing in the revision process is to not get discouraged.  It may seem daunting at first, but it will be worth it in the end. You may end up sacrificing certain lines or even whole paragraphs that you personally adore (“Kill your darlings”, as they say), but if it means the story is in a better place, it’s worth it.  Every writer has been there. You have final say—it’s your story, after all—but an editor is there to work with you, not against you. 

At the end of the day, you both want the same thing, and that is to produce a piece of writing that you are proud of and that people will enjoy reading. Simple things like making sure your piece has proper spelling and grammar will make your story even more polished and impressive. Being open to changes and going into the revision process with an open mind will greatly benefit your work in the end.

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About the author: Abigail Albin is a graduate of Indiana University Bloomington, where they obtained a BA in English with a concentration in creative writing from the College of Arts and Sciences. Abigail has had short stories published in 2021 and 2025, and currently works for their local library.