"Junk" Drawer
So how did you end up in the “junk” drawer? Were you not sure what to do with a character who has been nagging you for a story? Did you give outlining the old college try and then remembered why you don’t like an outline? Did you run out of questions to ask? Or, are you like me, and enjoy a good look through the thrift store of your house - the good old junk drawer.
For our “junk” drawer, I have curated some additional writing (or other creative) process ideas that didn’t quite have a specific home for you to consider.
Re-vision Strategies
I like to hyphenate re-vision in regards to creative endeavors because re-vision is more than just editing your written text or touching up a painting. Sometimes you need to look at your work in a new way to see it / vision it in a new way.
Here are some re-vision techniques/suggestions:
Read the piece out-loud to yourself or have someone else read it to you. You will often hear things that you may potentially skim over when you are just visually reading.
Do you have anyone that would be a peer reviewer for you? They don’t have to work in the same genre or medium. Or even be a feel creative! Maybe they are someone in your target audience? What do you want them to look for in your piece? Can you swap work?
Look for specificity. Are your phrases, characterizations etc. pretty generic? What about what you are writing or creating is unique? Are you just adding happy little trees because the tutorial told you to or did you really need THAT tree?
What about consistency? Do your character's motivations meet-up to your reader’s expectations? Do you have the same point-of-view throughout your piece?
One thing I like to do is create a re-vision checklist. This will vary with each project but it is a good idea to start to recognize certain habits you have with your creative project (for better or worse!) so you can look for them during the revision process
Literary Devices
That’s right - think about high school - remember simile, metaphor, etc.? No matter what genre you work in, you can make good use of literary devices. Don’t remember what literary devices are? Google is always (ok often) your friend but you may also find this article about metaphor and analogy in writing interesting or this Masterclass article which has quite a few literary devices defined. I also like this video of George Carlin and how he discusses metaphors.
One way I like to play with this is to pick a device/technique and take a paragraph, stanza, abandoned storyboard and apply that technique then compare the original version to the revision to see if that technique is working. Really think about why it is or is not.
And to bridge these two topics
Want to do some old school literary analysis? Here is a James Wright poem showing three different versions. You can find the published poem here. What do you note about his changes? What can you use from his process in your own writing?
Didn’t quite find what you wanted in the “junk” drawer? Maybe try these:
9 - Outlining can be another revision technique, but it can also be a discovery technique!
18 - Intrigued by the poems but not really wanting to be a poet?
22 - Looking to plot out some action?