Katie Arevalo

Mrs. Savannah Moix-Rogers

English 101

September 11, 2017

A Summary: The Makers Eye: Revising Your Own Manuscripts

In The Makers Eye: Revising Your Own Manuscripts by Donald M. Murray, Murray

argues that a draft is simply the beginning of the writing process and every edit afterwards is

used to figure out what the writer wants to communicate to the reader and how best to say it.

Moreover, he argues that the skill in professional writers is not just about the ability to write but

also the capacity to read. He claims that a reader will always be in the editing stage with their

papers, this requires the ability to look for certain things in their writing. Murray gives us eight

things to look for when reading a paper for editing purposes, they are: information, meaning,

audience, form, structure, development, dimension, and voice. Murray says that all writers must

go through this process, whether they are students or professionals. He supports the argument

that drafts are only the beginning by pointing the reader to the words of Peter E. Dunker, who

calls his first draft the zero draft (pg. 458), through which we see that even professional writers

heavily criticize their work.

Murray argues that students have learned to read words on paper as the final product,

opposed to the way most writers see their own words, as never finished. He says that like most

students, professional writers spend a lot of time being overly critical but argues that this leads

to the kind of reading and editing necessary to improve one's writing. He emphasizes that before

a writer can become the kind of editor that is constantly improving a paper, they must first learn

to read in a way that allows them to think critically about their work. He says that a writer must
be their own best enemy, criticizing themselves and being skeptical of their own work in order

to, cut what is bad, to reveal what is good (pg. 459). Editing is a careful process where every

word could change, and that change could lead to new sentences or even new ideas. Reading,

editing, and rewriting only ends because of deadlines, but even then, it should continue.

While Murray goes into depth with all of 8 individual things to look for in editing a

paper, he puts a lot of emphasis on voice. He says that this is the part that drives a piece of

writing forward (pg.460). He refers to voice, as the glue of the paper, the part that holds pieces

together through all the editing. Overall, Murray treats editing as a never-ending process that

calls on a writer to be a good reader and rewriter. It calls on the writer to search their work for

more than just a deadline but also for specific things like form and structure that will allow the

piece to continue to evolve. Only this kind of reading and editing will allow a writer to

communicate their ideas accurately.

 Works Cited

Murray, Donald M. The Maker's Eye: Revising Your Own Manuscripts. Inventing Arguments.
Second Custom Edition ed., Pearson.