Revision: the most necessary yet least joyful part of the writing process. And, it certainly isn’t a part of the writing process with which I take a proactive approach. No, it feels…bothersome. Yes, I know that it is necessary, but I don’t tend to push myself to revise. I have other things that I can be doing, if I’m going to take time from my life and partake in the writing process then why not use that time for the creative portion of the process? One can always revise later, when he actually has something to revise.
I shall definitely revise my fiction piece; out of all the means of writing I have a greater love of fiction than the others. And, I know what I want to change and how I shall change my short story. I can create and develop fully-fledged characters. While it is a fictional story I aim to integrate elements of real life into the story. Yes, non-fiction is real life, but with a fictional story I have artistic liberty. I don’t feel the need to stay as close to the facts as possible.
I am not sure whether I’d prefer to revise to revise my poem or my non-fictional piece. I like both pieces, but I’m not well versed in either genre. I don’t consider myself terrible at either means of writing, but I don’t think that I have enough practice and do not yet consider myself exceptional. I have never before looked back at my poetry and revised it. I usually look at poetry while I write it and choose what to do with each line. I look at the poetry and decide whether the message, diction, and structure follow my desired form. I know a rhyme scheme is not necessary in poems, but I try not to use them in every poem. There are certain poems that are work with a rhyme scheme and certain pieces that are brought down by one.
In addition, I have the non-fiction piece to consider. Neither do I have an overwhelmingly positive feeling nor do I have an overwhelmingly negative feeling about the piece. It’s more of a personal narrative essay than a great creative non-fiction piece. So, I’ll wait to see what everyone says this class before I decide on my second piece.
~Nitesh Arora
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Revising
Starting the revision process was what was the most difficult for me. Though I had a wealth of comments from the workshops, and a general idea of what I wanted to change, sifting through the comments and then making the decisions about what was and was not relevant was tedious and, in a lot of cases, counterproductive. A lot of the comments I received were conflicting, so what I ended up relying on, when it came to considering the feedback, were issues common concern, issues that were raised by quite a few people. There were several people who were very generous with their commentary and then there were people who would write one or two words, here and there, with little elaboration. Those were the comments I found least helpful and those were the comments I chose to ignore. When I eliminated the “fluff” then the revision process was more streamlined and a lot easier to handle. That feeling of being overwhelmed was relatively brief and, right now, I feel pretty good about the changes I have made. I haven’t worked out any major changes, but the majority of the comments suggest minor tweaks here and there, especially with the poem. My fiction piece is going to consume a lot more time and energy because I feel that the most drastic changes are wrapped up in the structure of the story. Structure seems to be a weaker aspect of my writing, so that is what I have been focusing on in the revision process.
-Samantha Markey
-Samantha Markey
RRR
I've chosen to revise my poetry piece in hopes of both improving myself and gaining a better respect for poetry that I currently have. I really enjoy writing single stanzas, but I dont like leaving so much unstated or poorly outlined. Is odd at the same time, that I wish I had just done a haiku, which for some reason I feel is more deliberate and straightforward than a lengthy poem.
In contrast, revising my fiction peice has been much easier. I enjoy a story and the infinite ways in which it can be structured in a manner that speaks just as poetically. At first I was concerned that I could not find the original file on my computer, but rewriting it from the beginning with my printed drafts in front of me has been both easy and I think very benefitial to the process.
Brian Walker
In contrast, revising my fiction peice has been much easier. I enjoy a story and the infinite ways in which it can be structured in a manner that speaks just as poetically. At first I was concerned that I could not find the original file on my computer, but rewriting it from the beginning with my printed drafts in front of me has been both easy and I think very benefitial to the process.
Brian Walker
Revisions
Hmmm revision? What’s that? Jk. I’ve chosen my nonfiction and short story pieces to revise. Since I haven’t received comments or feedback on my nonfiction piece yet I’ve done little more than correcting sentences I’ve found awkward or changed certain word choices.
As for my short story I figured that the best way for me to improve my short story was to simply write more of it. I still need my story to clearly depict the conflict happening to the main character and her situation with this online mystery man. I also chose to take out many of the characters that didn’t recur to avoid further confusion. So far I’ve enjoyed writing both pieces, though creating the hostess in my short story proved to be more enjoyable. Her personality gets to really show since the format is a diary, which gives me pretty much free reign over anything I want her to say or do. She doesn’t have to be barred from saying her convictions. We are reading something private after all.
Samantha Audet
As for my short story I figured that the best way for me to improve my short story was to simply write more of it. I still need my story to clearly depict the conflict happening to the main character and her situation with this online mystery man. I also chose to take out many of the characters that didn’t recur to avoid further confusion. So far I’ve enjoyed writing both pieces, though creating the hostess in my short story proved to be more enjoyable. Her personality gets to really show since the format is a diary, which gives me pretty much free reign over anything I want her to say or do. She doesn’t have to be barred from saying her convictions. We are reading something private after all.
Samantha Audet
Fixing and... stuff - Tomas F
I chose to revise my fiction and non-fiction pieces. I’m not particularly well-versed enough in poetry to justify an attempt to work on that piece, so instead I chose to go with prose.
It’s always interesting to revisit a piece, especially for me since I only tend to spot problems after I have it in my hand and turn it in. Looking back at my fiction piece “Border,” it becomes rather painful for me to read, finding glaring problems in its stilted structure, with the beginning being a major flaw. The characterization could be improved to say the least, and it feels like that it could easily be more fleshed out. The protagonist feels far too… whiny, I suppose, which was partially intended, but maybe taken to an extreme. The idea to completely scrap it and write something else is tempting, but I still feel like it’s just a decent concept that could use some more attention and rearrangements.
The nonfiction piece I was happier with, mostly since I thought the increased presence of dialogue made it flow much better. I tried to focus on showing versus telling and it came out much better than I expected as a result. As always, writing about a rather personal event (even with changing names and taking “creative liberties”) is a bit awkward and embarrassing, but I feel like that story only needs retouching, as opposed to the reworking that my fiction piece needs. It reads and flows well enough for me to be happy with it as is, and I’ll be glad to improve it even more.
It’s much easier to edit and fix a piece that’s already written as opposed to writing an entirely new one, but revision is by far the most important process in making a piece truly work.
It’s always interesting to revisit a piece, especially for me since I only tend to spot problems after I have it in my hand and turn it in. Looking back at my fiction piece “Border,” it becomes rather painful for me to read, finding glaring problems in its stilted structure, with the beginning being a major flaw. The characterization could be improved to say the least, and it feels like that it could easily be more fleshed out. The protagonist feels far too… whiny, I suppose, which was partially intended, but maybe taken to an extreme. The idea to completely scrap it and write something else is tempting, but I still feel like it’s just a decent concept that could use some more attention and rearrangements.
The nonfiction piece I was happier with, mostly since I thought the increased presence of dialogue made it flow much better. I tried to focus on showing versus telling and it came out much better than I expected as a result. As always, writing about a rather personal event (even with changing names and taking “creative liberties”) is a bit awkward and embarrassing, but I feel like that story only needs retouching, as opposed to the reworking that my fiction piece needs. It reads and flows well enough for me to be happy with it as is, and I’ll be glad to improve it even more.
It’s much easier to edit and fix a piece that’s already written as opposed to writing an entirely new one, but revision is by far the most important process in making a piece truly work.
Revision- Ashley S
Revisions, Revisions, Revisions. I have so many new ideas and things to put with my Recisions. I choose to revise my nonfiction and fiction. The hardest part for me is to get started. I know that I want to make revisions but where to make them where not to make them is sometimes difficult. Also finding the time to make my revisions is hard. I work full time so by the end of the day I''m so sleepy the last thing I want to do is work on revisions. I also find it difficult deleting paragraphs. I feel as if I worked so hard on those paragraphs, I just can't take them out of my story. I like adding to my stories I am having a hard time taking things out of my stories. It's coming along slowly but it's coming.
Ummmmmmmm... Let's try this
I decided to revise the fiction and non-fiction pieces for my final portfolio. It wasn't so much because I was happy with the poem that I wrote as I was unhappy with the final product in my two short stories.
I have not gotten to the non-fiction piece yet, but I do understand that there is a lot to get done with it. I wish to make it more descriptive and emotional, but I don't want the thing to drag on, as it is about me walking in the snow for a very long time. I will get more creative with it, it's just a difficult thing. I want to be able to control the emotions of the reader with that piece, and it is always difficult to do that without taking to many liberties with what actually happened. I'll figure it out, though.
The fiction piece is one of my favorites that I have ever written. Not in terms of the finished product, but as far as story goes. I have elongated the beginning and put some back story in. I am contemplating whether or not I want to keep the back story though, because it makes the story seem less effective in my mind. I would very much like to get more descriptive with this piece as well. David's critique of my first draft made me realize that sometimes my blunt writing has a tendency to be counter-productive because the power of some of the text is overshadowed by less significant text. The parts that were confusing towards the end are being cleared up and I have started to find a more cohesive and enjoyable story within the piece.
D. Ryan
I have not gotten to the non-fiction piece yet, but I do understand that there is a lot to get done with it. I wish to make it more descriptive and emotional, but I don't want the thing to drag on, as it is about me walking in the snow for a very long time. I will get more creative with it, it's just a difficult thing. I want to be able to control the emotions of the reader with that piece, and it is always difficult to do that without taking to many liberties with what actually happened. I'll figure it out, though.
The fiction piece is one of my favorites that I have ever written. Not in terms of the finished product, but as far as story goes. I have elongated the beginning and put some back story in. I am contemplating whether or not I want to keep the back story though, because it makes the story seem less effective in my mind. I would very much like to get more descriptive with this piece as well. David's critique of my first draft made me realize that sometimes my blunt writing has a tendency to be counter-productive because the power of some of the text is overshadowed by less significant text. The parts that were confusing towards the end are being cleared up and I have started to find a more cohesive and enjoyable story within the piece.
D. Ryan
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