During "Polish Your Poetry and Prose" month in May, we're going to focus on answering one simple question: how can we help you learn to revise effectively?

Writing is a process, even if it is an individual process, and one of the most important aspects of that process focuses on evaluating a text and reflecting on its strengths and weaknesses, not only to improve that single piece, but to have ideas in mind to write the next piece better. That is where revision comes in.



So, what is revision?

Revision is when you look at text for its content (ideas), organization, and style. Often confused with proofreading or editing, especially in formulaic and commonly-taught writing processes, revision is not immediately concerned with common conventions such as spelling, punctuation, grammar, capitalization, or formatting. Its first priority, despite contrary belief, should be content development: the reach for a good, clear, fully-explored idea.

Spelling, punctuation, and grammar are the easy parts of writing. Anyone with technical skill can help you edit a paper to make your sentences more complete, your spelling more consistent or your formatting more appealing. However, the most properly-punctuated text can still be a weak piece of writing if the content--the ideas--are underdeveloped, unorganized or lack a definitive sense of style.

And that's the crux of it. Many times, especially on the internet, we are so distracted by conventional or formatting errors that we have a difficult time stepping back and assessing a text for the value of its ideas. This causes us to make suggestions more focused on the technical aspects of a text while simultaneously allowing us to ignore the content. Believe it or not, telling someone to "use spell-check" before posting on deviantART does not make a person a better writer. It might make a person more adept at depending on and using a computer or word processing program, but it does not improve writing quality at its core, where its ideas are.

In recognizing this, it's time to admit that we're doing many of our young and growing writers, and writers without a strong command of the English language, a severe disservice simply though dismissal.



But wait! Grammar is important!

We couldn't agree more. Grammar is important. So is spelling, punctuation, formatting, proper capitalization, and a number of other conventions. However, if writing truly is a process, we must step back and put that process in perspective. It must be ordered, and we must determine each step's level and significance. As stated above, it's very difficult to revise a text to add or change its content, and it requires more work, but it's actually very easy to edit a text--either with someone's help or with a more learned and experienced eye in looking for and correcting conventions.



Eh, sometimes the grammar is so bad I can't even understand what I'm reading!

Yes, we can sympathize. We really can. However, and especially on the internet, it's the job of the revision critic to decipher the main point from all that mess or, if s/he cannot, to begin a dialogue--begin asking questions of the writer--to help make the idea clearer. You can't help improve a text unless you know what the writer is trying to say, and you won't know what the writer is trying to say if you simply tell him/her to stop trying and insult or dismiss his/her piece (or only tell him/her to use commas and periods and capital letters).



Okay, so, how do I help, then?

It's all about learning to ask the right questions. Indeed, the revision critic whose purpose is to help improve (and not simply judge) should always be asking him/herself, "Which question when?" Which question should I ask, and when should I ask the questions I have? Indeed, understanding inquiry and how to construct and focus questions so they are appropriate to the writer and the text is an important skill that every critic concerned with writer-and-text-improvement should acquire. A critic must know the significance of the Question-Answer relationship.

We will explore that relationship and different types and levels of questions in another article, so stay tuned!



Umm, this sounds like way too much effort.

It does require effort, at first, but once you get in the habit of asking questions and introducing dialogue about a text, you will begin to see that talking about one's writing often comes naturally for the writer--especially if that dialogue is part of a directed, pointed, productive discussion. Talking really doesn't take that much effort at all, once you have something to talk about, and finding that common ground isn't as hard as you might think it is. What's more, we will help you find it!

Now, there are many other methods to revision, and many other ways to revise, but during May we're going to focus, not simply in polishing our poetry and prose, but also polishing (and re-learning) how to talk to one another effectively. In other words, we're going to focus our revision activities in the direction of talk--the emphasis on dialogue--to see if, together as a community of writers and critics, we can help each other improve. But the very first step of revision is the commitment to be a reader of your own writing.


I think I'm ready...

Stick with us. We have so many plans for you! But first:

Choose one piece of poetry or prose that you would like to polish (with help) during May.
Prose pieces should be less than 3,000 words (roughly) and poems should be no longer than 30 lines.
Send the link to your text in a NOTE to ^GeneratingHype entitled POLISH. Please do not drop your links here.

All notes/links must be received no later than 28 April 2008 in order to participate in the "official" portion of this project. However, all writers on deviantART are encouraged to participate in the project and the activities, whether they've signed up for the task or not. Keep that in mind!


_{If you submitted a text as part of the April Experiment, it has already been included in May's Project. Please contact ^GeneratingHype for additional details.}