Revision

“By the time I am nearing the end of a story, the first part will have been reread and altered and corrected at least one hundred and fifty times. I am suspicious of both facility and speed. Good writing is essentially rewriting. I am positive of this.” — Roald Dahl

Interviewer: How much rewriting do you do? Hemingway: It depends. I rewrote the ending of Farewell to Arms, the last page of it, 39 times before I was satisfied. Interviewer: Was there some technical problem there? What was it that had stumped you? Hemingway: Getting the words right.

“Every book is different each time you revise it. Because when you finish the book, you say to yourself, This isn’t what I meant to write at all. At some point, when you’re actually writing the book, you realize that.”

“ I do think revision is when the real work is done, and because each book is different, I've never done it the same way twice. ”

ORGANIZATION __Does hook set stage for main idea? __Does main idea establish purpose? __Is each paragraph guided by topic sentence that expands on main idea? __Do details in each paragraph relate to topic sentence? __ Does the order of paragraphs seem logical? __ Does conclusion summarize main idea and benefit of achieving it? __ Does kicker relate back to the hook and main idea? IDEAS __ Do my hook and kicker tap into the reader’s emotions? __ Where do I need to provide more detail? __ Are there places where examples would help to illustrate my points? __ Are there literary devices I could use that would help the reader to understand my ideas? (metaphor, simile, imagery, etc.) ___ Is there extra information that is taking focus from main idea?