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Digging Into Revisions

By on September 18, 2015   /   For Teachers, For Writers, Writing  

When I was younger, school taught me to brainstorm an idea for a story, write it, then turn it in. I’d get feedback and a grade, but that was the end of it. I’m so grateful when I see my daughters not only write in school, but also practice revising. Very few things come out amazing in the first draft (and often the second, third, and fourth drafts, too). Every time you put writing away for a bit then look at it with fresh eyes, or receive feedback from trusted critique buddies or publishing professionals, there’s a chance to take your work up at least a level or two. But sometimes, it’s hard to know where to start.

Once yocongratulations_sm_nwmaau finish your first draft of a book, assignment, etc. I think the most important thing to do is CELEBRATE! So many people want to be writers and have all kinds of ideas swimming around their heads, but don’t find the time to actually sit and get them down on paper or into a computer. Congrats for finishing your draft!

Years ago, I used to leap into revisions in a very unproductive way—by trying to make the prose sing. That’s very important, but if the bones of your story aren’t strong enough, you can spend tons of time polishing up areas that will have to be cut. Concentrate on the big picture items first. Once you get them as strong as possible, that’s the perfect time to tweak your prose to perfection.

I’ve learned that I’m much stronger at voice and writing dialogue than plotting, so that’s where I usually start with a revision. I use Joyce Sweeney’s Plot Clock as much as possible while planning a new novel or picture book. Sometimes surprises pop up that take my plot in an unexpected direction. I love when my characters take over and start to lead the story! Sometimes, I’ll go back and rework the Plot Clock soon after I finish a draft, other times I jot notes on it and don’t completely redo it until I finish several rounds of revisions.

If you’d like, you can take a peek at some notes I shared a few years ago after taking Joyce’s Plot Clock Workshop, or you can sign up for Joyce’s newsletter then log in to her site to watch her free hour and a half Plot Clock webinar.

            Here are some other revision tips:

*Look at your characters and see if they’re all necessary and unique enough. Get to know them better through interviews. I love keeping a list of the traits, sayings, etc. of each character (and it tends to grow throughout the first draft and continues to expand and morph through rounds of revisions).

*Is every scene needed?

*Did you take the most obvious route? Play around with all the possibilities you can think of. What can really make your story and characters unique? What can surprise your readers (but looking back, they’ll hopefully have enough clues to realize how everything led up to that moment)?

*If you hit a section that you know needs to be stronger, but aren’t sure how to fix it, you can try setting a timer for ten minutes and brainstorming all the possibilities. You can also play with the time of day that you write. My inner critic gets tired late at night, and I’ve found that I take more chances with my writing then. It’s a great way to attack a scene I know I need to change, but am not exactly sure how.

*Now is a fantastic time to get feedback from trusted critique buddies. If possible, see if you can work on another project or character sketches, so you can view your story with fresh eyes when you receive their comments.

At the end, you can fine-tune your story. Make sure every word is needed and the strongest possible choice. Look for often repeated words. Read your story out loud and see where you stumble. Or have someone else read it out loud—it’s amazing how much clearer you can see your work when read by another person. If others hear it too, do they laugh at the right time or lose attention during scenes that can be streamlined?

Here are a couple of older Mixed-Up Files posts about revision that you might want to read:

Revision–the BIG picture

Revision: Churning Spilled Milk into Ice Cream

            I’d love to know what revision strategies work best for you!

Mindy Alyse Weiss writes humorous middle grade novels with heart and quirky picture books. She’s constantly inspired by her two daughters, an adventurous Bullmasador adopted from The Humane Society, and an adorable Beagle/Pointer mix who was rescued from the Everglades. Visit Mindy’s Twitter, Facebook, or blog to read more about her writing life, conference experiences, and writing tips.

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The Good Old Days (two years ago)

By on September 16, 2015   /   Book Lists  

waving goodbye

Nostalgia is a tricky word. A longing for the “good old days” can easily turn into sentimentality, to which I (and most tweeners) say yuck.

Yet it’s human to be wistful over the past, what we’ve left behind and will never have again. Waving goodbye is hard. Even kids, who dwell in the kingdom of now, experience nostalgia’s bittersweetness. I recently had a long discussion with my nieces, who are in fourth and seventh grades, about the film “Inside Out”. Though I loved it, I thought it might be something adults would appreciate more than kids. Duh! My nieces got its subleties and nuances, enjoying it both intellectually and emotionally (isn’t nine to thirteen  a wonderful age?)

What moved them most is when Joy/Riley has to let go of her imaginary friend Bing Bong. Oh, they completely understood why. “She couldn’t go up the mountain with him. He had to stay behind.” But it was so sad. More than once, both girls said, But it was so sad!  When he disappeared! I was crying. Poor, goofy, adorable Bing Bong represents all the fuzzy innocence and make-believe of their younger selves, all the toys, fantasies, and friends (real and imaginary) they’ve told goodbye.

hokey pokeyNot that I’ve ever met a real life kid who said, Peter-Pan-style, “I won’t grow up.” Those same nices who wept over Bing Bong tell me they can’t wait to be allowed to watch PG-13 movies (all their friends already do, they claim). But that doesn’t make going forward easier or less complicated. I love Jerry Spinelli’s novel “Hokey Pokey”, a fantasy/allegory set in an autonomous childhood world: no grown-ups, no rules except those they make themselves, no tomorrow any different from today. Bikes rule! And yet one day Jack, their leader, wakes up feeling like something is wrong. That feeling grows stronger as something new and powerful tugs on him. Hokey Pokey’s games  lose their luster, a girl who’s been his enemy begins to have appeal. What’s happening? His younger friends try to hold onto him, but there’s no stopping the inevitable. It’s a wonderful, poignant story about the excitement and confusion of growing up. As Jack leaves Hokey Pokey, knowing he can never go back, “He is thrilled. He is terrified. He wants to cheer. He wants to cry.”

moonpenny coverIn my “Moonpenny Island”, one of my favorite scenes is when Flor and her big sister are home by themselves during a black-out. Though Flor’s teenage sister never plays with her any more, tonight, in their shadowy, candlelit house, they play a make-believe game they invented years ago. It’s a bittersweet scene, and during it Flor startles herself by realizing that someday, she’ll be a teenager too. Will she still be the same Flor inside? Or will she become a stranger, the way her sister has? If only, she thinks, the electricity would never come back on. If only they could hover, suspended, in this in-between-time forever!

Even ten and eleven year olds know about Good Old Days. Poor Bing Bong! As he disappears in the distance, our hearts break, even as they beat a little faster for what’s to come. It’s confusing, it’s thrilling, and books can help kids sort it through.

Please share your own favorites!

 

 

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The virtues of the pencil

By on September 14, 2015   /   For Writers, Writing  

I have a thing about pencils. Most writers do. We can hold this magical instrument in our hand — like a musician with a violin or an artist with a paintbrush  — and we can create a world that didn’t exist before. And all this magical instrument requires is a little sharpening now and then to keep it working.

189320-drawing-of-hand-writing-with-pencil Despite my love of pencils however, I write on a modern invention called a computer, and up until recently, I did all my revising on one too.

But a troubled WIP that I’d revised way too many times on my computer led me to pick up a pencil and edit the old-fashioned way. I’d forgotten how different it was to look at the pages with my fingers curled around a pencil and scribble my edits instead of type them. I’d forgotten how editing by hand changed the way I viewed the story. Simply said, I’d forgotten the magic of the humble pencil.

We all know that people write less today than generations before us, which is no surprise, given the multitude of electronic devices at our disposal, and the fact that kids aren’t even taught handwriting in most U.S. schools anymore. Some people bemoan this trend, citing that the difference between writing on a keyboard versus with a writing instrument is huge. Experts say that handwriting is a complex task requiring numerous skills — feeling the pen and paper, moving the writing implement, and directing movement by thought. These same processes don’t occur when typing on a keyboard — you just have to press the keys.

QWERTY_keyboardSome neuroscientists even go so far as to say that giving up handwriting may affect how future generations learn to read, because drawing letters by hand improves recognition. Research has found that note-taking with a pen instead of with a keyboard may give students a better grasp of the subject. Students at Princeton and UCLA who took longhand notes were better able to answer questions after a lecture, perhaps because they summarized and comprehended the material as they wrote their notes instead of typed them.

While doing my hand-edit, I rediscovered the flexibility a pencil and paper allows — scribbling in the margins, crossing things out then adding them back in again, and flipping back and forth between pages instead of scrolling up and down a screen. With a pencil and paper, it was all there right in front of me, a visual and tactile record of my edits in various stages of creativity.

I missed my old friend, the pencil.

I’m happy to see there are some signs that writing with a pencil (or pen) isn’t going the way of the rotary phone. In France, for example, students are still taught handwriting, beginning at age six. Ah France. They think writing by hand is a key part of cognitive development. Merci.

Also, pencil collector and lifelong pencil lover Caroline Weaver recently opened a store in New York — CW Pencil Enterprises — that sells numerous varieties of pencils. pencils Many of them sell out quickly.

And the ballpoint pen, first invented in the 1940s, is actually still the most widely-used writing instrument today. I bet you have one in your purse or backpack right now.

So I hope there is hope that pencils and pens will still be around for future generations. Pick one up and hold it in your hand. Voila! Your brain magically becomes the keyboard. Whoa. What a concept.

Michele Weber Hurwitz is the author of The Summer I Saved the World…in 65 Days and Calli Be Gold, both from Wendy Lamb Books/Penguin Random House. Visit her at micheleweberhurwitz.com.

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