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April 14, 2011

April 14, 2011. On Revision. Hemmingway once said, the first draft of anything is always crap. Consider this: The word “essay” was originally coined by Michael de Montaigne, a French essayist. The word comes from the French essai , or “trial”. Revision.

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April 14, 2011

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  1. April 14, 2011

  2. On Revision • Hemmingway once said, the first draft of anything is always crap. • Consider this: The word “essay” was originally coined by Michael de Montaigne, a French essayist. The word comes from the French essai, or “trial”.

  3. Revision • Get excited about letting things go. Why? Because it makes your work better, and besides, you made up the words. You can make up more words that are better and more useful and more appropriate for your endeavor. • It’s okay to feel self-conscious about your work. The first draft of any fiction, especially fiction, is almost always aweful!

  4. Revision Cont. • The trick to revision is allowing yourself to live, albeit momentarily, with your bad prose and believing that it is possible and easy to correct later. • It is healthy for your work to not be a critic of your own writing during the drafting process. • Most people have instincts for what is or isn’t “good prose”, thus, you have the ability to judge, to be a constructive critic of your own work and others.

  5. Revision Handout • Break into groups of 3, no more. • Read through the assigned paragraph first. • Then, with your partners decide what stays and what goes. Discuss with each other why you’re cutting and why you’re keeping. • Finally, discuss how the paragraph is conveying it’s information.

  6. Blank spaces and silences • In this exercise you will see what can be accomplished when you leave things out. • I want you to read over whatever draft you want to continue with (the original or the new point of view) and I want you to read it like it’s not yours. • Keep in mind, “What is the most important question this story asks?”

  7. Are there any unnecessarily repeated words or phrases? • Are there any scenes that seem to impart the same information or suggest the same idea? If so, choose the one you like best and circle the other ones, or choose the best parts of each scene and circle the rest of the scene. • Are there any characters who seem to be serving the same purpose in the story? Two villains? Two mentors? Two bff’s? If so, choose the character you think is the more vivid and compelling and circle all references to the other one. • Are there any scenes that seem boring? Paragraphs that seem show-offy or pedantic? Circle them. • Is there any part of the story that doesn’t address the story’s central question, as you understand it? Circle it. • Circle either the first paragraph or the last paragraph. (Naming the World, Steinke 307-308)

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