Revision - A Key to Better Writers and Better Stories

I have been posting on the Writers of the Future forums for the past few months and one thing I have noticed is everyone seems to be falling in love with the words of Dean Wesley Smith...wherein revision helps to kill stories.

As a former writing tutor, I have to disagree...to an extent.

Revision is a way in which authors help to shed their skin and grow into a new level.  If they begin to see problems in their works they submitted, it means they are beginning to see their weaknesses.  This means they can look at their story in a different light and, perhaps, change it to make themselves better.

By seeing our weaknesses with the critical side of the brain, we are able to make our creative sides better by avoiding pitfalls it may not see.  I cannot tell you how many times I have gone back to an old paper and wanted to fix a lot of the errors in it.  One mistake I often have is I use the words "After all," "has/have/had + past tense verb" and other things which slow. my. work. down.

Thus, we go into my writing tip.  Revision can be a good process, but you must use it correctly.

1-DIAGNOSE. First, follow a piece I learned from Writer's Digest.  Read through the story first without stopping.  If you find yourself hanging up on it, you know you have problems that need to be fixed.  Same with a First Reader or critiquer.  There have been stories I critiqued where I have looked at parts and have to scratch my head, wondering what the author was trying to say.  Those are the points I bring up in my critique first, which then leads me to part 2.

2-GRAFTING. If you find a part that is not working in the story, you have already diagnosed the problem.  Now, it's time to fix it.  But, DO NOT FIX IT BY MERELY REWORDING THE SECTION!  That is merely replanting weeds in a beautiful garden.  Remove the section first and see if the story works without it.  If it does, good.  Move on.  If it doesn't redraft that section of the work.  It is one area where I agree with Smith in stating many make the mistake of revising with only their critical side of the brain.  By deleting the problem area and forcing yourself to redraft it differently, you are forcing the creative side of the brain to find a solution to appease the critical side and, therefore, making both sides work together!  (Ah, what a novel idea!  Literally...like the Odd Couple! XD)

3-TUNE-UP. Now that you've fixed these points, it's time to look at your use of words and to find the extra crap that is slowing. you. down.  Common words to slow a work down are that, help, and other words that make an idea "flip-flopping" (such as seem to be, etc.)  Look at how the phrase is used and if it is working by deleting the phrase and rereading the section.  If it works, great.  Move on.  If it doesn't, you always have an Undo function on your word processor.

I recently followed these steps on a story I submitted to Writers of the Future which got rejected.  I didn't know why then, but now I understand what happened.  I diagnosed, grafted, and tuned up the language to make it work better.

But, remember.  Diagnose, Graft, and Tune-Up your stories.

RANDOM SENTENCE

A swift wind blew from the east, pushing Dawn towards the sunset.

QUOTE

"Though this be madness, yet there is method in't."
Polonius from Hamlet, Shakespeare

A Flood of the Mind

So, ever since I got out of school, I have been having a flood of inspiration for writing.  I currently have 9 stories which I am trying to get out into the market, 2 of them in Writers of the Future.

I also have received 6 rejection letters to date.  More for me to feed on.

But, in eiter case, I finally got rid of a lot of distractions I was facing while I was in school (not saying school was a distraction, but you know what I mean)

Which leads me to the writing tip of the week...

Distractons, distractions, distractions

YOU NEED TO GET RID OF THEM!

I know everyone likes to use Facebook all the time, but it was one of the things which was eating up all of my time.  If I didn't finally get away from Facebook, I would not have the ammount of stories I have completed.

It's not only a writing area thing, it's a thinking thing as well.  You can find inspiration from anywhere, as long as you're finding inspiration.

Try to keep your writing area clean so you can keep your mind clean.  Also, try to keep your distractions to a minimum.  If you need to or can, disable your internet connections while setting aside your time for writing.  It's one of the best things you can do for your stories.

Random Sentence of the Blog

Solar flares always interfere with my mind, but its to be expected when you're a robot.

Quote

Science fiction is a way in which we, as writers, show the future. However, no matter what the future brings, there is one unchanging constant: human nature. The question we address is do we find that frightening or comforting?

The Value of Peers

I know I'm not the first one who has asked peers to review their writings, but there is one thing that I am finding irksome about the idea of peer revision.  In my college's writer's guild, we made sure to write in rules to prevent this.  And that is...

Just saying what is wrong with the writing.

Whenever I have someone read my work, I don't just want to hear what I'm doing wrong but what I should do to fix it.  This is how we can grow to become better writers, by learning from each other what our weaknesses are and how we can make them stronger.

Which leads me into my writer's tip

Whenever you read someone's work and they ask, "What do you think of it?" follow the "Good News / Bad News" style.

Good news - Tell the writer something they did good about the story.

Bad News - Tell the writer something they need to fix and how to fix it.

If you keep it simple to one or two bad news items, that's great.  You don't want to overload someone with bad news and only have one good news item.  Make sure they also stay equal (1 good news for every bad news).  This will avoid overloading as well.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

I write to allow my soul to live.  I write fiction to allow my mind to live.  I write literature to allow my body to live.

Spring is a time for growing

Hey everyone,

I haven't posted in a long time due to being busy with school work and such, but here's the latest update.

I am working on several stories yet again and tempted to pick up writing one of my novels yet again.  I have been finding my characterization anymore is getting weaker due to the fact I'm trying to focus on the plot too much.  So, I have been going back in some of my stories and bring some of the characterization forward, making it not just a plot story.

So, into the writer's tip...

Remember to ensure your characters are well rounded.  If your character has reservations about killing someone and is forced to shoot someone, don't just fire the gun.  Get into your character's head and let the gun shake in  his hands a little bit.  Each character you create should have a character sheet drawn up on them, telling you everything about how they look and what they do.  This will especially help when you go to write the story and the issue comes up.  I'd suggest freewriting about one character during a writing session; you may be surprised with what you come up with.

RANDOM SENTENCE OF THE WEEK

The market finally came to a close and Martin stood outside, sad to see the doors closed.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

I write like I'm a detective.  Sometimes my characters don't tell me everything I should know to write their life's story, but they sure do drop a lot of clues for me to write about.

Rejection and Rebirth

So, I finally heard back from the Writers of the Future Contest for Quarter 1, and the news was not so good.  I was not a winner in the term and there was no mention of honorable mention or anything.

Back to where I started years ago when I first submitted to them.

But, there is new hope for this.  I have decided I'm not waiting around for Writers of the Future to make up their minds if I'm a good writer or not.  I'm submitting my works as soon as they are finished instead of sitting around and waiting for them to say I'm good enough.  It may involve a lot of rejection letters, but all a rejection letter means to me anymore is it needs one more revision.

Which leads into my writer's tip

In the words of a green wise man (since it is St. Patrick's Day and I feel like quoting Yoda)

"Do or do not.  There is no try."

Therefore, in writing, there should be a similar feeling about it.  Don't just try for one thing and see if it pans out for you.  You must constantly submit to different websites and allow it to help you grow.  Right now, I have three stories going out to publishers and one submitted to Writers of the Future.

Also, be sure to do it properly.  I've been having to go back and change a bunch of stuff on my writings because they ask for things a certain way.  You should be well versed in Manuscript Form whenever you submit to a publisher.  I wrote how I wanted it to appear first, but then realized I needed to change it later on.  And, believe me, it's harder to change it later on than to just learn how to do it the first time around.

Random Sentence
The wind blew Tyler around and around, making his head spin with possibilities.

Quote of the Week
"There is a major difference between a story and literature.  A story will entertain you while distracting you from the fact Rome is burning around you.  Literature will tell you where the fire extinguishers are located."
~Self

Snowstorms Galore

Is it just me or am I going to rejoice in the end of winter?
This winter has been one of the worst I have ever remembered.  Once things have finally warmed up, we end up getting another ton of snow.  And it's on a day when I was going to be giving a presentation to our college's Writer's Guild.

WILL IT EVER END?!

I swear, I need to write a story about it.  Then again, that doesn't make for a bad idea....

WRITER'S TIP OF THE WEEK

Inspiration, it's everywhere.  When you get stuck, you need to look at events around you and find a way to exploit it into a story.  For example, the snow I am getting up here could be made into a great story (and I'm formulating the idea as I write this).

So, for an exercise, try to write out what is happening in your life.  Then, see if you can try to use each one as a title of a story.  If you can't seem to get started with it, try writing out more details about each event and see what stems from there.


WRITER'S BLOCK HELPER

The snow poured down upon the ground, calling young James to bed.


QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"You fail only if you stop writing."
~Ray Bradbury

Busy, Busy, Busy

It seems like my life is getting full of stuff I have to do anymore.  Between school work, volunteering, working on starting a Writer's Guild at the college, work, and writing, I am finding fewer hours in the day to work on everything I want to work on.  5 classes in 1 semester should not be considered full time here.  It's filling up my life with a lot of work and I'm just hoping I don't burn out before the semester's over.  I'm already about 1/3 of the way through.  I just need to push on ahead and finish up.

WRITER'S TIP OF THE WEEK

One way which has kept me sane and on track with my creative writing is scheduling out time to actually write.  I really suggest writer's do this every day so they can continue to improve their skills.  Isaac Asimov took a 9-5 approach to writing and he had hundreds of books published.

My suggestion for breaking down your scheduled time should be this way.

1/3 for brainstorming
1/3 for writing
1/3 for revising

So, for the first part of your writing time, you should be brainstorming of new stories.  This kind of stuff helps to not only build the number of stories you can write (and perhaps sell), but it will help prepare your mind to write and get the creative juices flowing.  Then, working on writing will keep the creativity going while changing your focus to a more formal format.  Finally, revision is key to ensure the story stays on track, so it goes at the end because there are times you can use new information you may have thought of before to make the story come alive in a different way.


RANDOM SENTENCE OF THE WEEK

The cloak surrounded the dark mage, almost seeming to engulf his very existence.


QUOTE OF THE WEEK

I wonder sometimes if the motivation for writers ought to be contempt, not admiration
~Orson Scott Card