Revising, Nothing but a Bag of Bones

For me the real writing of a story does not take place until the first revision begins.  I liken the first draft to a bag of bones. This is where you would focus mainly on getting the plot down on paper, on computer, or whatever.  Imagine someone handing you a bag of bones.  And the only instruction given was to use the bones to create the skeletal shape of a dinosaur.  You would lay the bones out, then you would start to put this bone with that bone and so on until all of the bones have been pieced together.  Yet when you step back to admire your lovely work you realize that the head bones are where the tail bones should be.  So naturally you remove those bones and rearrange them until you have the desired form.  Right?  Right:-)  Same type of situation should occur when constructing your story.

During that first draft you should focus mainly on getting the basic story completed.  Just like you had to step back to get a better view of the completed dinosaur skeleton, you now have to “step back” from your completed first draft.  You do this by sticking the printed rough draft in a drawer or make a vow not to open the file for at least a week, though I really recommend two.  You do this so when you go back to do that all important first read you will easily spot any errors that were made.  Like with the incorrect placement of the dinosaur’s head and tail bones.  You repeat the steps until your dinosaur shape, meaning your story, looks as it should.  Oh, and VIOLET EYES has gone through four revisions: ) 

Happy reading, writing or whatever:-)