Revising Your Work to Get Published

When you've decided you want to shoot for publication, it's time to look at your work in a completely different light. You don't have to sell your soul to produce publishable work, but you do have to bring a whole new level of rigor to your editing process to produce something a stranger would want to have in his or her journal. You've got to think about your story first from the perspective of an impartial stranger, and then think about its grabbing power. Use this two-step editing method to make sure you craft a story that is not merely competent, but also memorable and unique.

Step One: Put Your Personality Away
The first thing to remember about editing for publication is that someone else (in fact, a complete stranger) will be evaluating your story. This stranger does not know anything about you, short of the list of other publications you may have in your cover letter. This reader does not know about how much better this story is than your last and how it's a great sign of your personal progress. This reader does not know how close and personal the subject matter is, or if it's really about your mother. All of these are factors that might make you see the story in a warm and rosy light, but they won't be factors that influence this reader at all.

Instead, try pretending you're a different person, someone who hasn't written the story or even seen it before. Try looking at the piece with fresh eyes, and you'll be able to see better where it wears thin. If you aren't emotionally attached to your story, you can see it just as the reader would. Note down the places where you find yourself stumbling over the rhythm of the sentences, or making excuses for why a plot point doesn't quite fit. These are the things that are unforgivable to a stranger, so to publish the story, you've got to work on them.

This will be a two-part post. Tomorrow, in part II, I'll talk about Step Two: Putting the Story First. That's where you've got to think about the story as a compelling whole, and how to make it fresh and unique for readers.