Happy Friday, squiders. How’s your March going? So far I have been extra productive in all my goals except writing (and exercise, though that’s cuz I’ve had a cough for a month. I finish my antibiotics today, though, and in theory I could start back up. Except, at least for me, when I’m out of the exercise habit I always find it hard to get back into it).
March’s WriYe prompt is: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle – The R’s of Revision.
Apt, as I’m still deep into my revision. About 90K in, in fact, which is madness in of itself.
A lot of people use editing and revision interchangeably, but if we want to be really pedantic about it (and, alas, I love being pedantic), “editing” is the physical fixing–the typos, the grammar, the making sure the facts stay the same throughout the whole story. Revision is the act of changing the content of the story, or rearranging the plot, and things along those lines.
So typically one does their revision(s), and then the editing gets done last step before publication.
I’ve never heard of the R’s of revision before personally (and, as aside, I hate putting apostrophes in plurals, even if Rs looks weird and is potentially confusing), but let’s go through them anyway. I do like the metaphor.
Reduce
People say they write lean or fat, which essentially means that in their first draft they either write too little or too much. Most people who do either are aware of the fact, and know they need to add or remove words when they do their revision. Someone who writes too lean may need to add in descriptions or subplots, whereas someone who writes too fat may need to remove them instead. Arguably overwriting is more common than underwriting, with people including things that are unneeded or bogging down the story.
So I’m going to say the Reduce is cutting out things that your story doesn’t need. Loose threads that didn’t go anywhere, characters who aren’t helping the plot, that three page description of the beauty of the sunset. Streamlining the story into its most efficient self.
(I used to be both a lean and a fat writer, depending on the story, but as time has gone on my first drafts tend to be about the same as the final.)
Reuse
This one is pretty self explanatory. You should definitely reuse stuff from older drafts if it still works. Though I do find that even if it’s not changing substantially, it may need to be reworked to match the writing style of the rest of the current draft.
Recycle
If we look at Reduce, Reuse, Recycle in its original meaning, reduce is using less packaging so there’s less to throw away/recycle, reuse is, uh, reusing something (such as using plastic tubs as storage containers, or using fabric grocery bags instead of single-use plastic), and recycling is breaking something down into its base self and then using that to make something new. (Or a new version of the same thing. I imagine you can make aluminum cans indefinitely.)
So, in a revision context, recycling could be taking elements from your story that aren’t working and putting them into your Little Darlings stable, or whatever you call the place where you put story elements without a home. A side character that’s threatening to derail your current plot could make a main character for another, for example.
Although, on some level, each draft, especially one where you’re doing major work on characterization, plot, or some other core element of the story, could be considered recycling. You’re taking the story you have and “recycling” it into a newer and hopefully better version of itself. Taking the story down to its base parts and rebuilding it into the same story again.
Yeah, I dig this metaphor.
What do you think, squiders?
