Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Revision Technique

This idea came from one of my Write Night exercises. It worked well for the other participants, although I’m having a hard time with it. The technique is simple.

1. Print the manuscript or a section of it.
2. Consider how the voice could change to express a personality trait: tougher/gentler, more/less educated, warmer/colder, outgoing/reserved, aggressive/passive, confident/insecure, younger/older etc.
3. Highlight words or phrases that could be strengthened or changed to express the personality trait.
4. Consider what words or phrases that would improve the highlighted sections.
5. Revise.

Step 3 is a problem for me because I continually put down the highlighter, pick up a pen and rewrite, cross out, rewrite again. I shall persevere.

1 comment:

Natalie Aguirre said...

Great tip for revising. I don't print my drafts enough. Thanks.