Writer's+Revision--+An+Inside+Look+at+the+Process

It's frustrating as a beginning writer to write and write and write, get a page or more typed, and realize--I have NO idea what I'm writing about. Your main idea gets lost in the images and dialogue and whatever else you've created, until it's just a mess of words on a screen staring back at you. From time to time, it gets to the point where you are tempted to throw your computer out the window and just stop thinking for a while (we all get there at some point, trust me). So what is there to do when this happens?

One magical word: REVISE. It's more than changing a comma here or a verb there. Revision in creative writing is about separating the few good lines or words or phrases from the messy muck of your mind. Take what you've written, whether it be a paragraph, a page, or 96 pages (yes, ninety six pages that I needed to completely and totally change in the process of writing a novel--ouch.) and change it. Cut out entire sections, throw away everything--even if you take ONE word out and write an incredible piece based off that ONE word in your first draft, that first draft was worth SOMETHING. Writing is a process, and I think this is the hardest thing to learn when truly learning to write. You have to make mistakes, lots of them, to get something decent, or dare I say--good.

Okay, so I've babbled on about revision--so? You've written your piece, you changed something, you're done. You haven't seen any of MY revisions so who knows if what I'm saying is even true? Well...here you go. This piece, inspired by a random guy on the metra on my way downtown, was scrawled first in my actual carry-around-with-me-everywhere journal, then typed, and now I'm revising it one more time (not that that will be the last). So here you go. Below I have posted what was typed in my original journal (including what was crossed out--I'm seriously showing you EVERY step of this process). Then what I changed when I transferred it from paper to computer, and now what I've just revised currently. This is no where near my best work. And every time I read it I find something else I want to change. Not to mention the whole not having my ending finalized yet, but that's why I'm showing it to you. Writing takes work, but the reward is always worth it in the end--there is nothing like a piece you've tortured yourself over finally working out the way you wanted it to.

Original Draft from my Journal:

"First" Draft--typed.

Current Work In Progress