Revision is the Process of Going from General to Specific

Here's another half-baked essay about revision — since I'm in the middle of revising a novel right now! (If you missed it, last week's essay was also all about the joys of revising fiction.)

I feel as if a big part of revision is going from the general to the specific. My first drafts, at least, always include a lot of details that are kind of fuzzy. Sometimes, a piece of information changes every time it comes up, because I haven't made up my mind yet what the actual real version is, and I'm j...