Well, let me start off by spelling things out very clearly. There are two kinds of rewriting. Actually you rewrite either one in pretty much the same way but why you’re doing it and the material you’re rewriting makes a big difference. Let’s first get what’s a no-no out of the way. What’s wrong is picking up someone else’s hard work and rewriting it so you pass it off as your own. However, when you have bought the content (that’s what I prefer to call PLR articles), then you have the right to rewrite. And that’s the kind of rewriting that should and could become the rage, if it hasn’t already done so.
There will be many who tell you it isn’t quite the done thing. That writing should be done the good, old-fashioned way. All that research and thought…now how can you call it a good piece of writing sans all those ingredients? I beg to disagree. Consider the articles that you buy as content. Anyone, but anyone can pay for content and buy it. Then all you do is shape it and make it yours by putting your own signature on it. That is or rather should be the way rewriting is looked at. It really isn’t something to be looked down upon. No way. It isn’t a sort of poorer cousin or inferior being to writing. In fact, it could very easily be elevated to an art.
Do I hear a burst of laughter or sniggers, maybe? Let me put it to you like this. It’s like any other work of art. You have your material. What it looks like when you are through with it is what sets it apart. The great thing is that many different artists can produce many different works of art from the same lump of content clay, each wonderful in its own unique way. And that’s what this game is all about. It’s all about being ‘unique’. If you can make it unique, you’re in the game in a big way. That’s what’s meant by rewriting becoming the rage.
The trick is to view it differently. To see what incredible possibilities it holds. There are many with vision who have seen its tremendous potential. It’s the kind of activity that should be proudly brought up front and displayed, not pushed behind and out of sight somewhere. True original writing, if you want to make the distinction, is great when you have a great writer doing it. Rewriting too can be stupendous if you have a great writer doing it. For one thing, it’s faster. The material is in front of you. For another, instead of focusing on both form and content, all you have to do is concentrate on the form. You can tweak it, fashion it the way you want and play it your own special way. If it rises above the cacophony and babble of badly written stuff to a thing of beauty, that’s your doing, just yours.
Shalini Kagal
Writer and Rewriter
http://www.how-to-rewrite.comhttp://www.howtowrite.biz
