Mike McGuireMV Community College

COM 101

Look, and thenlook again

A seminar on revision strategies(and fish)

What do you see?

Tell the story behind the picture?

FREEWRITE

What do you see?What do you see?

What do you see?What do you see?

Is the book facing away from you or towards you?

What do you see?What do you see?

What do you see?What do you see?

Write what you see…Write what you see…

When you say something, make sure you have said it. The chances of your having said it are only fair.

– E. B. White

What is Revision?What is Revision?

Like writing, itself, revision is a process

Revision and reading go together

Revision is taking a step back from your writing and looking at it again with a fresh perspective

Once you do this, you can make appropriate changes to better meet the purpose of your message and better address your audience

Revision Is NOT EditingRevision Is NOT Editing

Revision is about “higher-order concerns” Clear communication of ideas Organization of paper Paragraph structure Strong introduction and conclusion

Editing is about “later-order concerns” Sentence mechanics Punctuation Spelling Capitalization Documentation Style

Revision is NecessaryRevision is Necessary

Few writers can produce polished writing on the first pass

Revision ensures that you said exactly what you wanted to say in a manner most appropriate for your audience

Revision involves adding, cutting, moving material, and after that, editing and proofreading.

– Handbook Lynn Troyka.

Risks of Not RevisingRisks of Not Revising

An ineffective message is a waste of everyone’s time

Your reader may misunderstand or be confused by what you have written

Your reader may form a low opinion of your abilities

Careless, hasty, unrevised writingCareless, hasty, unrevised writingis always apparent.is always apparent.

How Do I Revise?How Do I Revise?

Try the ECR methodevaluate, change, reevaluate

Try ACRM methodadd, cut, replace, move

Wait

Be honest with yourself

Throw stuff away

Don’t edit

Look again

Take a Break from WritingTake a Break from Writing

After your first draft, take a break and do something else

Return to it later with a fresh perspective

Switch your role from writer to reader

Let your literary compositions be kept from the public eye for nine years at least. – Horace

To be a writer is to throw away a great deal, not to be satisfied, to type again, and then again and once more, and over and over.

– John Hersey

Activities During RevisionActivities During Revision

Shift mentally from suspending judgment; read your draft critically to evaluate it.

Decide whether to write an entirely new draft or to revise what you have. Don’t be too critical. Most early drafts are sufficient to allow for revision.

Be systematic. Move from higher- to lower-level concerns.

organizationparagraphs

sentencesword choice

Revise on Two Levels…Revise on Two Levels…

Global Levelwhole essay and paragraphs

Local Levelsentences and words

Refer to the Part 1, Chapter 7 of your SF Writer

Do you have writer’s block?Do you have writer’s block?

Fear of writing

Mental paralysis

Frustration

Panic

Procrastination

Avoidance

Treating the BlockTreating the Block

Stop hating the block—refocus your energy Be comfortable with chaos Do a good job at prewriting Turn off the internal editor Picture an image or scene that relates to

your topic Try writing your material as if your were

someone else Avoid staring at a blank page Visualize yourself writing Write about your topic to a friend Start in the middle Use focused freewriting Change your method of writing

An ox at the roadside, when it is dying of hunger and thirst, does not lie down; it walks up and down—up and down, seeking it knows not what—but it does not lie down.

– Oliver Schreiner, From Man to Man

Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.

—The Elements of Style William Strunk, Jr.

To write is to write is to write is to write is to write is to write is to write.

– Gertrude Stein

People want to know why I do this; why I write such gross stuff. I like to tell them I have the heart of a small boy—and I keep it in a jar on my desk.

– Stephen King, on himself

You must become an ignorant man againAnd see the sun again with an ignorant eyeAnd see it clearly in the idea of it.

– Wallace Stevens from “Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction”

Writing is revision…. There are no good writers; there are only good rewriters.

– unknown