When learning about writing, I frequently come across succinct little pieces of advice, which can be helpful, but also misleading. “If you want to be a writer, just write, there’s nothing more to it.” “Writers need to do two things; read a lot and write a lot.” But what does it actually look like? I’m a firm believer that writing requires many skills, and I also believe it’s important to continue to work at each aspect each week (at least a little), but what are the categories, and how should I divide my time among them?
.revision
Discussing Feedback
Writing is a long, drawn out process; a journey from the vaguest of ideas to something so real and concrete that it can almost feel like memory. Through countless drafts the author refines their work, carefully evaluating the pacing, the characters, word choices, and sentence structure. Until at long last, it’s done. Time to show it to someone, but who? Writing is a long, drawn out process; a journey from the vaguest of ideas to something so real and concrete that it can almost feel like memory. Through countless drafts the author refines their work, carefully evaluating the pacing, the characters, word choices, and sentence structure. Until at long last, it’s done. Time to show it to someone, but who?
Revising for Length 108-02
If a finished draft is too long, or too short, the first step is to create a fresh outline, from scratch. This ensures the outline is accurate, and helps you to review the story as a whole. Ideally you should create multiple outlines at different scales. First, describe each scene in 1-5 sentences. Then, if the story is a novel, describe each chapter in 1-2 sentences. Last, identify the 2-5 key moments in the story.