LESSON EIGHT

LESSON EIGHT
REVISE, REVISE, REVISE

Now that you have written a short piece, it is time to reread and revise.

I usually find that my own eyes are not enough to catch any mistakes, and thus, my first step in revision is to read the piece out loud, paying attention to all words and punctuation marks I have added.

I skipped the reading out loud step, something I usually force myself to do, on a story I recently sent out for a contest. I didn't have time for this step. Later, I was reading the piece to the high school Writer's Club I am advisor for and found that I had made a drastic error. At one point, I called the main character a "he" rather than a "she." It jumped off the page as I was reading out loud, but sneakly bypassed my eyes when I had read it silently.

Then, I look for someone to read my work to see what I have missed and make comments. This is because they are reading the piece with a fresh "eye." I don't take all the comments and put them to use, but I do use the most logical ones.

DISCUSSION TOPIC
Reread your piece from lesson seven out loud to yourself. Then, in the discussion forum, share what you discovered about your own written piece, but DO NOT make revisions at this time.

ASSIGNMENT
PART I
Read at least one other person's story. (They are fairly short so the more you could read, the better you could help your classmates.) As you read, focus on the verbs and verb tenses that the writer used. Then, write a review of the piece giving them some positive feedback and some suggestions on improvements on the verbage.

PART II
After your story has been reviewed, create a new item in your portfolio and title it revision. Use what you learned about your own writing by reading it out loud and what your reviews suggest to revise your story.