KT

Revision is a great topic for a class. In the program that I’m in right now, our workshop class is going to focus on revision for the entire block, and I’m excited!

When I start a revision, I try to do the following steps:

*Summarize my story in a sentence. If I can do that, then I have a good grasp of what my story is about. If I can’t then that’s something I need to focus on during the revision.

*State my main theme in a sentence. The same logic applies.

*Then, keeping in mind my theme and summary, I look for scenes that aren’t serving the theme or the movement of the story.

*Re-outline the story (if using outlines works for you). I find that with short stories, I’m much better at keeping it all in my head and I don’t lose steam that way.

*Character motivation — this comes in later revisions. I try to make sure that my characters are acting the way they’re supposed to, logically, based on who they are.

For some stories, I just throw out everything and start completely over because, in this computer age, nothing is really lost if that turns out to be a mistake. The first draft can sometimes be an act of just throwing down all the flotsam in my mind and figuring out what I’m trying to say.

For example, I have a story that had a good opening paragraph, but got derailed right after. I threw out everything but that paragraph and ended up with a story that was MUCH better. It wouldn’t have happened without that first draft, though.

I’m also a big fan of retyping from the beginning. You notice things that you’ll miss otherwise.

Thanks for the post, and good luck with the class.

KT