Great Definition of Revision

March 30, 2010 in Revision | 14 comments

This came from brilliant YA author Laurie Halse Anderson’s Twitter yesterday, and I agree wholeheartedly:

Revision means throwing out the boring crap and making what’s left sound natural.

Let’s all mediate on that today!

Related posts:

  1. How Much Revision Is Normal?
  2. Revision Trick: Fooling Yourself
  3. Revision Is a State of Mind
  4. Dialogue Masterclass
  5. Reductive Revision

Tags:

  1. Bane’s avatar

    Bane on March 30, 2010 at 8:47 am

    Now just gotta figure out what’s the ‘boring’ and what’s the ‘crap’ :)

  2. Sheri Larsen’s avatar

    Sheri Larsen on March 30, 2010 at 9:08 am

    Amen! Only, I also agree with Bane. Thankfully we have betas.

  3. Elan Cross’s avatar

    Elan Cross on March 30, 2010 at 9:15 am

    Eeeeee! A post on Tuesday! And a great one! You have just made my day, Mary:)
    Off to throw away the boring…

  4. Peter Dudley’s avatar

    Peter Dudley on March 30, 2010 at 9:19 am

    I might suggest that more than one mediator might spoil the broth. :-)

    My younger son (4th grade) is writing his “young author” book for school right now. It will end up being about 2,000 words, I’m guessing. He knows I write and has asked me some advice (he wrote himself into a corner at one point, a good lesson in plotting). Last night he asked about prologues, and we discussed until we ended at something very similar to what you quoted. If it’s important, work it into the story. If it’s not, then leave it out. He concluded that he didn’t need a prologue.

  5. Anita’s avatar

    Anita on March 30, 2010 at 9:38 am

    True. True. You just have to be honest with yourself about what the “boring crap”‘ actually is. Thank you for sharing.

  6. Thomas’s avatar

    Thomas on March 30, 2010 at 11:10 am

    I agree. It’s all about spotting the bits the reader will skip, and then deleting them.

  7. Lill’s avatar

    Lill on March 30, 2010 at 12:28 pm

    Well, Amen to that. Very well put.

  8. Naomi Canale’s avatar

    Naomi Canale on March 30, 2010 at 12:32 pm

    Agreed, Mary. Gracias!

  10. Lisa Gibson’s avatar

    Lisa Gibson on March 30, 2010 at 3:50 pm

    Eyes closed…”Om!”

  11. Theresa Milstein’s avatar

    Theresa Milstein on March 31, 2010 at 5:51 am

    I was privileged to see Laurie Halse Anderson talk at the NESCBWI conference a few years ago. Her speech was inspiring and I scribbled away, trying to copy it word for word. Here’s another great bit of wisdom from her.

  12. @jmartinlibrary’s avatar

    @jmartinlibrary on March 31, 2010 at 5:58 am

    Is there anyone else around here who secretly fears that removing the boring crap will result in a 250 blank pages?

    Er, maybe that’s just me? ;)

  13. Peter Dudley’s avatar

    Peter Dudley on March 31, 2010 at 2:19 pm

    So after yesterday’s comment, I went home and typed up the rest of my son’s story for his “young authors” book for school. Not only did he add in a prologue, but he also added an epilogue.

    So much for dad’s writing lectures.