Monthly Archives: March 2009
Revising openings
Never underestimate your opening. From the always excellent Metro: Journeys in Writing Creatively,this exercise suggests eight useful options for you to consider as you revise. Remember that while the most important opening begins your draft (whether novel, novella, or story), each chapter … Continue reading
Global revision and characterization
First, an example of global revision. Barry Hughart’s Bridge of Birds: A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was was published in 1984. Here’s a brief excerpt. Also available online, a PDF of the first draft. What do you notice when … Continue reading
Annotated bibliographies and rhetorical strategies
Consider these three examples of how the first sentences of an annotated bibliography can address a source’s use of rhetorical strategies: Crucial to Spunk & Bite’s persuasiveness is Plotnik’s ethos as a friendly iconoclast, which he begins to establish with … Continue reading
Abraham Lincoln
Adam Gopnik’s “Angles and Ages” is an excellent essay about influences on Lincoln’s language and how his language has since influenced our culture.
IVY LEAGUE REVISION
If you know the source of these links and this commentary, please let me know so I can offer proper attribution. Harvard’s set of revision tips: http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~wricntr/documents/Revising.html An original <moderately amusing> contribution from Harvard: the “Backward Outline.” Check it out. … Continue reading
Metaphor by Metaphor 