Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Revision rambles

Revision.
Deep revision.
Anything can change.
This is the time to ask myself questions.
Make decisions.
Decisions about characters and plot, setting and voice, point of view and theme.

My goal of revision is to find the best way to tell the story.

Revision means being willing to delete characters or scenes which don't contribute to the story. It entails adding scenes and rearranging events; it leads to rewriting the beginning, the end and everything in the middle; it involves moving sentences, paragraphs and scenes; it requires the deepening of characters, tightening the plot, adding suspense; and it means discovering the best words and sentences to use.

In essence, revision is where the craft of writing lies.

2 comments:

Janni said...

Good luck revising!

Revision is my favorite part of writing. I write sucky first drafts, but I'm a pretty good reviser.

It's like I need to get the clay on the wheel before I can begin to shape it.

Sarah Blake Johnson said...

I love your visual image, Janni.
The first draft is like clay. At least it is to me.

I also love revising. :)