Ideas for Revision

 
 

Re-vision may not be as much fun (or feel as passionate) as the initial writing of a new piece, but it is an important part of writing.  In the revising (or re-visioning) of your work, you may see possibilities and potential you missed in the heat of first writing.  Here are some suggestions for re-visioning your work.

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Always read your words out loud.  You will hear the places still needing revision.  You will hear the parts that are not working (choppiness, repetition, pauses without purpose, etc).
 

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Let someone else read your work out loud.  This will give you a different understanding of what you wrote and how someone else perceives it.
 

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Rewrite from a different point of view, a different perspective.
 

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Change the beginning or change the ending or make the ending the beginning and the beginning the end.  Turn your words upside down and shake them out.
 

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Change the tense - if you wrote in present tense, rewrite in past tense as an example.
 

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Change the tone - if it is funny, go for serious or if it's serious, go for goofy.
 

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If you wrote in rhyme, rewrite without the rhyme.
 

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If you wrote in free verse, rewrite as a sonnet or sestina or villanelle.
 

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If you wrote without stanzas, re-look at your poem and rewrite using stanza breaks.
 

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Look at your line breaks.  Do they add to the poem or do they take from it?  Rework them, then reread out loud to see how it sounds.
 

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As you go through your work, pay particular attention to unnecessary words and remove them.  You can always put them back.
 

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If you have a friend or writing partner whose opinion you trust, let them read it out loud to you.  You may be surprised by their oral interpretation and you might revise based on this.
 

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And remember, in the end they are your words.  You are the writer.  Whether you share your words with the world or save them in a box placed high in a closet, they belong to you.  Always honor that.  Recognize the gift.

 

 

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