THE ICE PICK

Revision : a Creative Approach to Writing and Rewriting Fiction, by David Michael Kaplan. Cincinnati, Story Press, 1997. 1st ed. 226 p. $18.99. Includes: index. ISBN: 1-884910-19-x.

Why revise a story once it’s written? "Dedication to revision," says Kaplan, "is what makes the difference between a mediocre writer and a good one, and often between a good writer and a great one."

Re-vision, at its best, means to re-see and re-imagine our work, and that’s what this book helps us to do. For most people revision means correcting boo-boos, rearranging text, or fixing up spelling and punctuation, but Kaplan shows us how to reach into the heart of the story and to make it the very best we can.

We may revise for style to find "the most graceful way" to tell our stories, and revise for structure to tell them "in the most coherent and dramatically effective way," but we should also revise for meaning to discover what the stories are really about.

Too many writers simply put down the first idea that occurs to them without exploring how they might make it better. Kaplan believes that the most important steps in revising actually occur before the story is written, while we are still mulling it over, playing with characters and plot in our minds, trying out different angles and ideas in our heads.

Most authors, he says, even those of us who eschew outlines, usually "know roughly where we’re going." Kaplan suggests trying out different characters, viewpoints, settings, situations and possible sequences of events, conflicts, etc. to develop story possibilities. He recommends recording our ideas on index cards, slips of paper, tape, or notebooks or journals so that we don’t forget the "seeds" that might be used in the story we’re currently thinking about or another one later on.

Once we start writing our first draft, we will of course get ideas that cause us to re-see, to re-envision our story. He recommends that we keep going and just get the story down before going back and making changes. He addresses "common first-draft anxieties" and suggests solutions for them.

In subsequent chapters he discusses the process of revision for the finished first draft: how to create strong openings and endings; how to recognize and cut what is not essential; how to figure out what must be added or expanded; and rearrange the plot chronologically, psychologically, and dramatically.

He includes chapters on polishing the finished story and on even on revising a story after it’s published when it’s being reprinted. And he explains different ways to handle revision: some authors like to cut and tape their drafts, others mark up and retype theirs, still others revise directly on the computer, etc. Some authors begin at the beginning of the story, while others work on the middle or the end first. "Part of becoming a skilled writer," Kaplan says, "is discovering what revision methods work best for you."

Kaplan also discusses how getting other writers to read and critique our work helps us to re-see our stories.

This is a wonderful book. Illustrated with the author’s own work, it is written with great clarity and simplicity and is full of practical advice. I especially liked his occasional "summing up" sections, and wish he had more of them.

"Revision," says Kaplan, "is an art, it is a craft, and moreover, it is a way of deepening your understanding of your fiction. Revision is the key process of writing. It’s where stories are made. If you do not believe that, then you need this book. If you do believe it, but feel . . . at a loss for how best to proceed with revising, you need this book too."

I agree with that.

{Published in SF and Fantasy Workshop Newsletter, Apr. 2005}