I can hear your sighs loud and clear at the very mention of
the word…REVISION. You’ve heard all the usual “why you should do it’s.” You
have probably forced yourself to “revise” at least portions of your manuscript.
But do you really “get” the necessity of it? Do you know the real reasons why
most writers insist that revision is the REAL writing?
In the writing workshops and classes I teach, I preach
revision. It is much like a religion to me. Why? Because I know from personal
experience that revision gets writers closer to the final product we desire the
world to see.
Re-vision. To see again. To think about again. To imagine
again. To shape our written words into a re-fined form. Fine. Something
valuable. Something desirable. Something to treasure.
In compiling the narratives in my anthology His Mother, I saw firsthand the rewards of
the revision process. The re-visioning of my own contribution to the book took
place over a period of about 15 years. (No, I’m not advocating for all revisions
to take that long!)
I began my narrative in the form of a letter to my
mother-in-law. At that time, she was still very much alive and working hard to
make life uncomfortable for her family. My initial draft was filled with
frustration, hurt, and anger—the typical “mother-in-law-from hell” article you
would expect in a book about mothers-in-law.
But with delays in finding a publisher and real-life
interruptions, I found myself re-writing that letter five years later. My
father-in-law died, and there was much juicy stuff to add to my litany of
complaints against the woman.
Another five years passed with more delays and frustrations,
and I tackled the piece again, adding a growing list to the “expected” gripes
and groans about the relationship. But then, life intervened. Rather, I should say death; my mother-in-law
died, and with her death came the task of sorting through the detritus of her
life.
And in that sorting, I discovered much that caused me to
re-think my mother-in-law—not as the
person we knew, but as a soul encased in a damaged body, a soul that, dark as
we sometimes perceived it to be, was a soul no less.
What we discovered led me to re-vision my mother-in-law. It
was a healing, unexpected and sudden, in its on-set.
These discoveries led me to revise my letter once again to
include my newfound perspective. And while my original versions of the piece
fit okay in the overall focus of the anthology, I discovered my new vision
worked even better to focus my piece toward the whole purpose of compiling the
anthology in the first place.
The healing I had prayed for her to receive all those years came
about, but not to her, to me. That re-visioning of her allowed me finally to forgive
her.
The letter in the anthology fulfilled what the book’s
primary focus had always been: that any relationship, no matter how difficult,
can have value. Perhaps not in the form we anticipate, desire, or pray for, but
certainly, in the healing that takes place when we see relationships outside
our narrowed view of them.
My writing critique group members sometimes tease me about
living in “revision land.” and I admit to spending most of my writing time
there. However, I’ve never heard them say a revised version of a story impacted
them less than the previous version.
I’m not a plotter. However, I do begin with a focus for my
writing. Revision helps me maintain that standard. It also justifies my belief
that timing is everything. If you put writing out into the world before its
time, it is going to come back to you, for a reason—the need for you to
re-vision it. This is true, EVERY SINGLE TIME.
So take the time to revise. What is the focus of your work? What
is your purpose for writing this particular piece? Does your work support that
focus? If not, revise and refine it. All it takes is a little time and a new
perspective.
Sandy Richardson is the editor and a contributing writer to His Mother! Women Write about their Mothers-in-law with Humor, Frustration, and Love (2016). Her first novel, The Girl Who Ate Chicken Feet, was
published in 1998. Her other fiction and nonfiction have appeared in several
anthologies. “Nana’s Basket” (The
Pettigrew Review) received a nomination for the Pushcart Prize in 2013.
Richardson is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and the Women’s
Fiction Writers Association. She currently writes from her home in South
Carolina and is founder and Editor-in-Chief for Southern Sass Publishing
Alliances.
Visit Sandy at www.SouthernSassPublishingAlliances.com
Twitter: @Southernsaspub4
No comments:
Post a Comment