REVISING WRITING

1
REVISING WRITING

• Creating images, emotions, and voice with your
  words

2
USE STRONG VOCABULARY

• Have your vocabulary list at your side -use words
  when they are appropriate, not if they stick out.
• Use a thesaurus to eradicate repetition not to
  sound sophisticated
• stay away from empty words that convey no image
  pretty, beautiful, nice

3
GRAB THE READER

• Create catchy, cool first line to entice reader.
• End with conscious power.
• Create a believable, clear voice.

4
CREATE SCENES NOT SUMMARIES

• Use believable dialogue. Stay away from said.
• Use all senses to pull reader into the scene
• Show dont tell details, details, details!

5
ADD DESCRIPTION!

• Infuse writing with detailed adjectives and
  adverbs.
• Create novel metaphors and similes - these clever
  comparisons make the reader visualize.
• Use specific concrete images that you could
  photograph, not vague or abstract ones.
• Use as many senses as possible.

6
ALTER SENTENCE STRUCTURE FOR FLUIDTY

• Look at all sentence beginnings. Start with prep.
  phrase, adv., adj., participial phrases, and adv.
  clause for change in structure.
• Change length of sentences some complex, some
  very short for emphasis.

7
CHECK ALL VERBS

• Omit all boring verbs went, come...
• Seek verbs that create images trudge, clamber,
  undulate, grope, wriggle, simmer
• Cooking verbs are often descriptive and
  metaphoric dice, blend, percolate, slice...

8
KNOW YOUR CHARACTER

• Be able to give a clear visual description -
  weave the details in through dialogue and
  narrative
• Know what clothes your character would wear, what
  s/he would eat for breakfast, for a snack
• Know what your characters strengths and
  weaknesses are

9
USE FORESHADOWINGAND SYMBOLISM

• Think about clever names for characters that
  might reveal something about them
• Plant seeds if something bad is going to happen
  through weather, dialogue, use of color, etc.
• Use seasons and weather symbolically
• Choose Biblical references rains to wash away
  sins or evil, gardens as innocent, etc.

10
POINT OF VIEW

• Consciously choose a point of view first person,
  third person, or third person limited
• Try changing it after you finish to see which
  point of view creates a stronger piece

11
CHOOSE FORMAT

• Think about alternative ways of telling the
  story
• letters
• newspaper articles
• e-mails
• poetry