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- Creative writing needs personality, not sentimentality. Only give your
class members
work to critique in which you are not emotionally involved. The loss of a loved one does
need writing about, but unless you have emotionally detached from it, your readers will
have a difficult time giving objective comments to subjective writing.
Moreover, you will probably have a hard time accepting feedback
about it.
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- Throw out the first draft is the final draft mode of thinking. Writing is a process;
revising is a given for everyone.
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- The feedback you receive from your class members will help you see your strengths and
weaknesses. Value what they have to say to you. You may not like it, but they are there to
tell you what works and what does not work in a piece of writing.
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- All writers must consider their readers. Your class
members help you discover what real readers need.
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- Read closely what your editors have to say. Don’t second guess them. If you have
questions, ask for clarification or refer to your handbook.
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- Sometimes you will get two different opinions on the same aspect of your writing, i.e.,
one will like the introduction, the other will not. Here is where you need to trust
yourself as a writer. However if both point out a problem, you should consider rewriting
it.
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- Be open to suggestions, but as the writer you make the final decision.
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- Tracking recurring problems will help you with your next essay.
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A Reminder:
The act of revision allows us the freedom to change and grow, to become the best
writers we can be, to truly communicate to other human beings. We cannot do this in our
daily lives, as we do not have the time. Where else but in the writing class can we find
someone to spend the time and energy to help us find the exact words, the precise way to
communicate how we think and feel, for only in our writing do we have the luxury of
showing how thoughtful, how creative, how caring we really are. We recreate ourselves each
time we allow our fingers to change a word, add a sentence, or throw out a paragraph. We
need to thank our editors for helping us do that.
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