Chapter 10, talking about revision tips, was very helpful. I liked some of the ways that it suggested to go about your first draft being done. The text said that you should step away from your first draft for a while, be happy with the fist draft being done, maybe even go and start another project but get your mind off of the first draft for a little bit. Then you could do a few things to start revising, read it out loud yourself, read it to someone who may be able to give some form of feedback or even suggestions, print it in a font that is different than normal but legible because it will then feel strange like its not your own work or you can have someone else read it who has somewhat of an editorial brain in that they can provide constrictive feedback along with elements that work well in it (similar to how our class works). It then gave a lot of tips about the different elements of a story, things like character, plot, descriptions, dialogue, setting, flashbacks, voice and theme. I found it very interesting how import the text made voice seem. he basically said that if you want your work to be read more than once you must have an interesting voice/ POV. Your langue, figurative language, and punctuation all matter and will be the thing that makes or breaks your story. Either making it something that is worth putting extra thought into or something that is not worth reading more than once. There is definitely a lot of food for thought about the revision process in this chapter and I plan to attempt some of the ideas that I highlighted.
Chapter 10 was all about revisions. I found this chapter to be really helpful for the my stories future. I really liked how to talked about the draft being the heart the story and then making your revisions off of that start. It talks about first drafts always can have some room for improvement, which I agree with. The first draft is getting the ideas, characters, and setting down and then the revision really makes the story come to life. I think that this idea of using what you have and then changing and editing to make it exactly what you want within the confines of space is really important. Being able to see what you have on the page, and then having the influx of ideas come in and help shape the story. I think that this chapter really helped me invasion the revisions that I want to make in my own story, and routes of editing I want to take to ensure I have the best story possible. Being able to look at a draft and see what is not quite up to your standards and where to move along with it further is really important and helps writers get their works where it needs to be.
time between draft and edit.
A part that stuck out to me particularly in this chapter was towards the beginning, about time away from your writing. I have many a times fallen in love with the very words that I put onto the page and spent so much thought and time putting them there that I, at times cannot see that they are out of place or are awkward. As I have come to realize, art has to make itself through you. It must flow and you must allow it to take form before it allows itself to be perfected through a harmonious collaboration between existence and your mind. Many a times have I written a story, felt it great, and go back to it months maybe years later to find it the most mediocre piece I could have written. For me, the honeymoon period between me and my work lasts quite a while. This, however, is not all bad. Being proud of your work is good, being satisfied with where its gone or where it is intended to have gone is a healthy place to be. Without this one would not, should not write at all as nothing could ever be so perfect. When you let things flow into place it must allow you to mold it into what it must ultimately become. Reaching an understanding with your work and your mind is the best way to get a piece of work crafted. It may take time, and when time does not allow, one must use one’s resources, the environment, the universe. I have read aloud my work to myself in order to make sure it sounds right, but I had not considered hearing it from another reader’s mouth. This is brilliant as it allows a fresh perspective and helps you and your piece find its true self.
Chapter 10 was incredibly helpful. I found the ideas of a first draft being just a pile of word vomit, if you will, as I am a bit of a perfectionist and often agonize over a single sentence before moving on, only to retcon massive chunks of plot and story later on to be better fit my evergrowing mind and vision for a project. Letting the project sit, and leaving it untouched while emotional, is so interesting to me, as my brain consistently pictures cinematic scenes in my head that I try to put to the page, and the emotional context is very intertwined with the content itself in my mind. The combination of these two things if often why I struggle with pausing on a project (often due to external constraints like time), and then returning to it later, which is why I found it interesting that the chapter suggests printing out the pages to help a writer to be more critical and have the work appear more clear. I’ve, rather recently, begun doing that, as I have a habit of getting lost on the page while editing in the past, and it’s proven very helpful on picking up little things I would never notice on the screen. I also love the chapter’s emphasis on having strong characters first-and-foremost, as within all forms of fiction, but especially the fantasy genre I write within and consume most of all, the plot may be intriguing, but it’s the characters and their relationships that constantly weigh on my mind. Overall, I found this chapter very useful in coming up with ideas for how to revise.
Chapter 10 is all about revision. Something I find myself often doing is trying to revise as I go and then I find myself getting bogged down in a specific spot while trying to finish the initial writing process. This chapter encourages writing the first draft and just making a finished product no matter how bad it is, then coming back to revise. I think the part that stood out to me the most was the plot and characters parts. In the story I am revising I know I have to make some changes regarding one character. While I need to change that character I also need to expand on some of my plot. I find it interesting that this chapter almost encouraged dumbing down some of the language. On the one hand, it encourages the use of rich descriptions and then it goes to say that using “said” is fine and there’s no need for a more descriptive word. This chapter was definitely helpful, though!
I think this chapter set me up really well to understand both what is important to think of while revising, but also to understand that first drafts are just the beginning of a piece’s life. I think the quote on the first page of this chapter, “First drafts should suck,” helped me feel much better about my perceived quality of my drafts. It reminded me of the section on theme we read a long time ago, where the author mentioned that the theme doesn’t have to exist prior to a draft. Both of these statements kind of uprooted my old experiences with writing in general. I liked how the chapter has the big picture section. It was nice to blitz through how to improve your story from a bunch of different directions, while also maintaining the essence of the original draft that you liked. I also liked the section on cutting from your draft. I tend to under-cut from my writing and it ends up being very wordy and the pacing can be weird. I think the tactics they mentioned like putting the piece you’re revising in a different font was really interesting and I definitely want to try that while I’m revising. This chapter was a great way to set me up to be in a revision mindset!
6 thoughts on “JOURNAL # 29”
Chapter 10, talking about revision tips, was very helpful. I liked some of the ways that it suggested to go about your first draft being done. The text said that you should step away from your first draft for a while, be happy with the fist draft being done, maybe even go and start another project but get your mind off of the first draft for a little bit. Then you could do a few things to start revising, read it out loud yourself, read it to someone who may be able to give some form of feedback or even suggestions, print it in a font that is different than normal but legible because it will then feel strange like its not your own work or you can have someone else read it who has somewhat of an editorial brain in that they can provide constrictive feedback along with elements that work well in it (similar to how our class works). It then gave a lot of tips about the different elements of a story, things like character, plot, descriptions, dialogue, setting, flashbacks, voice and theme. I found it very interesting how import the text made voice seem. he basically said that if you want your work to be read more than once you must have an interesting voice/ POV. Your langue, figurative language, and punctuation all matter and will be the thing that makes or breaks your story. Either making it something that is worth putting extra thought into or something that is not worth reading more than once. There is definitely a lot of food for thought about the revision process in this chapter and I plan to attempt some of the ideas that I highlighted.
Chapter 10 was all about revisions. I found this chapter to be really helpful for the my stories future. I really liked how to talked about the draft being the heart the story and then making your revisions off of that start. It talks about first drafts always can have some room for improvement, which I agree with. The first draft is getting the ideas, characters, and setting down and then the revision really makes the story come to life. I think that this idea of using what you have and then changing and editing to make it exactly what you want within the confines of space is really important. Being able to see what you have on the page, and then having the influx of ideas come in and help shape the story. I think that this chapter really helped me invasion the revisions that I want to make in my own story, and routes of editing I want to take to ensure I have the best story possible. Being able to look at a draft and see what is not quite up to your standards and where to move along with it further is really important and helps writers get their works where it needs to be.
time between draft and edit.
A part that stuck out to me particularly in this chapter was towards the beginning, about time away from your writing. I have many a times fallen in love with the very words that I put onto the page and spent so much thought and time putting them there that I, at times cannot see that they are out of place or are awkward. As I have come to realize, art has to make itself through you. It must flow and you must allow it to take form before it allows itself to be perfected through a harmonious collaboration between existence and your mind. Many a times have I written a story, felt it great, and go back to it months maybe years later to find it the most mediocre piece I could have written. For me, the honeymoon period between me and my work lasts quite a while. This, however, is not all bad. Being proud of your work is good, being satisfied with where its gone or where it is intended to have gone is a healthy place to be. Without this one would not, should not write at all as nothing could ever be so perfect. When you let things flow into place it must allow you to mold it into what it must ultimately become. Reaching an understanding with your work and your mind is the best way to get a piece of work crafted. It may take time, and when time does not allow, one must use one’s resources, the environment, the universe. I have read aloud my work to myself in order to make sure it sounds right, but I had not considered hearing it from another reader’s mouth. This is brilliant as it allows a fresh perspective and helps you and your piece find its true self.
Chapter 10 was incredibly helpful. I found the ideas of a first draft being just a pile of word vomit, if you will, as I am a bit of a perfectionist and often agonize over a single sentence before moving on, only to retcon massive chunks of plot and story later on to be better fit my evergrowing mind and vision for a project. Letting the project sit, and leaving it untouched while emotional, is so interesting to me, as my brain consistently pictures cinematic scenes in my head that I try to put to the page, and the emotional context is very intertwined with the content itself in my mind. The combination of these two things if often why I struggle with pausing on a project (often due to external constraints like time), and then returning to it later, which is why I found it interesting that the chapter suggests printing out the pages to help a writer to be more critical and have the work appear more clear. I’ve, rather recently, begun doing that, as I have a habit of getting lost on the page while editing in the past, and it’s proven very helpful on picking up little things I would never notice on the screen. I also love the chapter’s emphasis on having strong characters first-and-foremost, as within all forms of fiction, but especially the fantasy genre I write within and consume most of all, the plot may be intriguing, but it’s the characters and their relationships that constantly weigh on my mind. Overall, I found this chapter very useful in coming up with ideas for how to revise.
Chapter 10 is all about revision. Something I find myself often doing is trying to revise as I go and then I find myself getting bogged down in a specific spot while trying to finish the initial writing process. This chapter encourages writing the first draft and just making a finished product no matter how bad it is, then coming back to revise. I think the part that stood out to me the most was the plot and characters parts. In the story I am revising I know I have to make some changes regarding one character. While I need to change that character I also need to expand on some of my plot. I find it interesting that this chapter almost encouraged dumbing down some of the language. On the one hand, it encourages the use of rich descriptions and then it goes to say that using “said” is fine and there’s no need for a more descriptive word. This chapter was definitely helpful, though!
I think this chapter set me up really well to understand both what is important to think of while revising, but also to understand that first drafts are just the beginning of a piece’s life. I think the quote on the first page of this chapter, “First drafts should suck,” helped me feel much better about my perceived quality of my drafts. It reminded me of the section on theme we read a long time ago, where the author mentioned that the theme doesn’t have to exist prior to a draft. Both of these statements kind of uprooted my old experiences with writing in general. I liked how the chapter has the big picture section. It was nice to blitz through how to improve your story from a bunch of different directions, while also maintaining the essence of the original draft that you liked. I also liked the section on cutting from your draft. I tend to under-cut from my writing and it ends up being very wordy and the pacing can be weird. I think the tactics they mentioned like putting the piece you’re revising in a different font was really interesting and I definitely want to try that while I’m revising. This chapter was a great way to set me up to be in a revision mindset!