For the Serious Writer - A Course in Revision

By MedicineFlower - About Me - E-mail this page - Add to My Favorites - Add to Blog List - See other blogs in On Writing

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Enter: Stage Right. Exit: Stage Directions

This will be a short entry, devoted to the kinetics we like to call stage directions. Again, this is a brainiac thing, where our minds work one way when we write and another way when we read. When we settle in the ZONE and get on a ROLL, we tend to visualize things in a progression. A character... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Rethinking and Revising Imagery

Imagery in a novel is essential to lock into the reader’s five senses. When we are vomiting our draft guts out, we sometimes (not sometimes... we do it indubitably) over-image or... under-image. Providing imagery for the reader is what we are about as novelists. Without similes or metaphors —without... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, December 17, 2007

Tightening Techniques - Concise Inference

By rights, the next topic should be change control, which could be defined as affecting those cuts and modifications that you have tagged, all of which ripple throughout the work. For example: if you change your ending to include a stronger motivation or a punch on your grafted theme, you must now... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Getting the Big Picture

Ready to revise? Has at least 7 weeks past since you wrote the last word? If not, tsk tsk tsk... not yet. If so, print yourself a paper copy of your manuscript or (if you have a new-fangled Kindle edition, which is easy to order) download it NOW. Reserve a quiet space in your favorie chair. Get a... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, December 15, 2007

The Novelization Process - Part the Second & Introducing "Revision"

Then the first draft happens. And it... happens. I read my blueprint for the chapter. I beef it up a bit, and then think about it. I test it for logic and flow, and then write. I try to write the chapter straight through, not worrying about anything but telling the story and seeding the initial... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, December 14, 2007

Why Revise & The Novelization Process Part 1

I decided that since the second most important act of writing a novel is revising it (the act of drafting it is the ultimate feat), I would share with my fellow writers my take on the revision process. In the next few weeks, months, years (centuries, mayhap), I will clog the blog with tips, points,... Sign in to see full entry.

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