There is an entire different part of my brain that cranks into gear with revision. This time around I'm firing my revision with visual and audio cues to keep me focused. It adds to the fun. (Egads, did I just call revision fun? Seriously I love it, as long as I keep a fresh work in the hopper as well.)
I've been working with www.darcypattison.com/revision/shrunken-manuscript. The concept is easy, visual, and for those who love the tactile paper approach it works well. In the real world, I scrapped the paper edition and moved straight to highlighting attributes I want to check, ie action, info dumps, dialog, clues etc and then switched my 12 pt NYTs font to 20%. Immediate color coded evidence of your sins! Info dumps glare out at you. Description that runs long blasts out. Dialog from talking heads (rather than using descriptive action within dialog sings out of key! Then that miracle view key again to blow up to full page to make your corrections on a copy you can actually read.
The other pleasure revision trigger was audible. I'm a great reader with no fear of crowds, okay I'm a phenomenal reader--years of storytelling and a BA in drama with an emphasis on oral interpretation sort of hardwired it into me. People enjoy my acting voices,they can clearly understand my words, and I can give them goosebumps or make them cry on cue. Reading my mss should have been a perfect fit, but when I tried it, I stopped short.
I couldn't stand the sound quality of Microsoft Sound Recorder. Then in a stroke of sheer Meg-non-tech-geek format I deleted the program to speed up my laptop. When I decided to try again I had to pick the brains of a young man at Best Buy. Solution: Free down load at www.AudacityDownload.org. Point of order, DO NOT ENTER audacity.com--the first thing that pops up is a notice that they ARE not the audio download site. Yikes, what fun huh? And they haven't figured out how to stick an ad on there for some income? Crazy people.
Anyway, the sound quality is more than acceptable. It has more buttons and cool stuff then I will ever figure out, but it's great. Keep it short. One page. Then listen,make corrections, and smooth out the rough spots.
So zap up your own revision work by using tactile and auditory sensors in your writer's brain and see what new twists and solutions you can discover as a result.
Of course for the ultimate caffeine fix and taste sense add chocolate.
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I never thought to do something like that. I love the idea to use all the senses in your writing. Good luck with revisions. I'm in the same boat right now too!
ReplyDeleteHey, someone posted a comment. Thank you Christina and I'm sorry to be such a horrid host. I didn't even check. I figured I was sending out my thoughts into the earth's ether-net!
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