Revising takes a different kind of skill than writing. You have to be able to look at your work objectively. You can't fall under the spell of your prose but forget to check if you've spelled things right, punctuated properly, avoided repetition of your favorite phrases, etc. Not to mention making sure the story line makes sense, the dialogue is realistic, the hero and heroine not perfect but compelling.
Today's Tarot deck is the Winged Spirit Tarot. Here are a couple of sample cards from the deck:
Images courtesy of Aeclectic Tarot
I asked the Tarot to show me the area I'm most likely to need to revise. The card I drew is the King of Wands. This card represents creativity and imagination, a dynamic artistic nature. I interpret this to mean the biggest problem I may find in my writing and need to revise is my lovely prose. Just like K is for Kill Your Darlings, I'm likely to get carried away with the beauty of my words, the mellifluous sound of the prose, to the point of overdoing it. I need to make sure the beauty advances the story line, not just my ego!
2 comments:
One of my writing friends edits his books backwards to catch errors.
Revision is a difficult thing and is why we need editors aka a fresh pair of eyes.
I co-wrote two books she and I are both editors. In addition to our edits we had 5 people scour our manuscript as I was looking at the book for second edition I caught errors that 7 of us never saw.
Im blogging from Fill the cracks and Moondustwriter's Blog. Happy A to Zing!
It sure is tough to edit or revise your own work. I agree, after you do your best revising possible, you still need a second pair of eyes
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