Writers camp week 4: Revising and Editing
Revising and Editing get put together a lot, but they are two different things. Revising is the idea of changing your text to make
it the best possible. Editing is looking at the grammar, punctuation, and word
choice to make sure your story is correct.
1. Revising is about ideas. Does your story
flow? Does it follow the plot roller coaster? Does it make sense? It can be easy
to make revisions as you write. You may realize that a paragraph you just wrote
needs to go in a different part of your story, or you need to cut that scene
that doesn’t really move the plot forward.
2. Editing is more about making sure your words are
correct. Are you using the right form of works (to, too, two) (Forth and
Fourth)(Enter your own here)? Is your grammar correct? Is your punctuation
correct? This is a great time to read your story out loud and listen to your
work choice, and punctuation. If it doesn’t sound right, you might need to change
something!
For both revising and editing, I recommend having a friend
read your story and give you feed back. In school they might have called this
peer review, but when you do it because you love writing, you can call it a
writing group.
I also recommend keeping revising and editing separate,
however I know it isn’t always possible. Don’t worry about commas and spelling
until you are pretty sure that the story is as good as it can be. Then go back
and look for those errors.
An activity for this week: find a story you feel is pretty
much finished. Go through and revise the story. Find places in your story where
you may need to add (or subtract) sections. Add or combine characters if
needed. Focus on making your story the best story possible. Once you feel happy
with the text, share it with a friend for more feedback! If you would like feedback from me, send your story to waplteens@mcfls.org.
Don’t forget to check back next week where the topic is
writing fun! I’m hoping to have some interactive Mad Libs for you!
Comments