Peevish Pen

Ruminations on reading, writing, genealogy and family history, rural living, retirement, aging—and sometimes cats.

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Location: Rural Virginia, United States

I'm an elderly retired teacher who writes. Among my books are Ferradiddledumday (Appalachian version of the Rumpelstiltskin story), Stuck (middle grade paranormal novel), Patches on the Same Quilt (novel set in Franklin County, VA), Them That Go (an Appalachian novel), Miracle of the Concrete Jesus & Other Stories, and several Kindle ebooks.

Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Revision Redux

Another return to the writing process. . . .

Consider this a manuscript in need of revision:


It's pretty much a floppy mass of prickles. Needs work, huh? First, we'd better remove the excess. This calls for a tough editor. Be warned that the editing process isn't pretty.


Let's take a closer look:


All those unwieldy adverbs, the unnecessary adjectives, the strings of prepositional phrases have to go. Let's pare that manuscript down to its basics:


This is better, but it lacks form. Time to rewrite. Add some interesting stuff. Some sub-plots, maybe.
A richer texture. Possibly a metaphor or two. More detail.


Ah, it's getting better. Let's take a look from a slightly different point of view: 


Yeah, that's better.  Maybe add a hint of mystery. How about this viewpoint?


Yep. That manuscript is looking a lot better.
~

4 Comments:

Blogger Clementine said...

Great analogy! Can I borrow your editor for an hour or two?

4:47 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Okay, thats the best visual metaphor for the writing process EVER!

5:10 PM  
Blogger Sweet Virginia Breeze said...

Love this post - it really explains the process of revision.

10:54 PM  
Blogger CountryDew said...

Great visual metaphor. I need me some dirt!

4:03 PM  

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