>>> Item number 27064 from WRITERS LOG9403C --- (141 records) ---- <<< Date: Thu, 17 Mar 1994 11:49:26 JST Reply-To: WRITERS Sender: WRITERS From: Mike Barker Subject: TECH: How to write wel, critique god, and revise bettor (where to start? how about...) Several recent posts have mentioned not having the expertise to critique. I have a problem with that. Specifically, unless you try, and probably fall and get sand in your face a few times, you can't get the expertise. So refusing to critique until you have the expertise to do it means you can't get the expertise to do it because you won't critique until you get the expertise which you can't get because you won't critique... ... Catch-22 time, Baron Von Folken! (and here comes SNOOPY! now back up a little, and sketch the background quickly) Recently, we've had the critical theory folks drumming up interest in those theoretical approaches currently in or out of vogue in the literary circles. We've had Greg (HI, GREG!) urging us to go beyond simple opinion and response into thoughtful analysis of what in the writing caused that response. And (before, during, and probably after), we've had Randy and others reminding us of the virtues of REVISION. Katwoman also asked how the heck any of us manage to write (well, she said it a bit nicer, but there was that thought). Okay? Lots of threads, and I think they make a pretty tapestry, if you get the right angle on the whole setting. Let's see if we can thread the needle... (next, let's try restating them as a process...) Let's say, for the sake of argument, that I wanted to write something. Scratch my head, make a list of notions, and pick one. Then what? I usually apply the dictum - "PLAN TO THROW THE FIRST ONE AWAY!" What does this do? Takes almost all the pressure off - I'm not writing the paper/piece I'm going to turn in, I'm just writing a piece to toss. I can play, I can take digs at the professor's stupid socks, I can do most anything. If I get stuck because it's a rotten idea or I can't figure out what to do with it, that's okay, this was just for practice anyway. And now I've got some material. I can organize it, clean out the nasty remarks about how the professor spends his nights, and start to form the piece I'm going to turn in. Even here, I apply a related dictum - "DO MORE THAN THE MINIMUM!" If the piece needs three major points - write up six, then condense. If the piece needs 500 words - start by writing up a couple of thousand, then trim. And so on. Knowing that you are going to revise makes those "starting pains" a lot easier - this isn't the final version, this is just raw material for the sculpting. You have to start with a lot of mud to make one pot, so start mixing. On a timed essay test - take a few moments to scribble on the back page of the blue book, then do the real essay. For that matter - I've gotten second blue books, crossed out pages, and so forth. Even tenured professors usually recognize that a "clean copy" without corrections is a ridiculous notion in those circumstances. (okay, that's Katwoman's how to start stuff... more sometime, if I ever hit the ground again...so what do you do with all this spew?) Now you have to cut, revise, and shape the finished work - the one that goes to the editors, professor, or other bored reader. How the heck do you revise? Aha! You apply the muscles and methods you've learned and practiced through... CRITIQUING! (whew - it did tie together!) Most of us find it much easier to see the mote in our brother's eye. (ho-ho! biblical and SF references!) So it is a whole lot easier to learn how to do your revision by practicing on.. oh, say a SUB here on writers. As Roger has assured us a few times, that advice is likely to reflect nicely on our own stuff, but it is a lot easier to notice that tink never remembers to sketch a setting. Don't worry, when you get back to your own piece, you'll suddenly remember that biting remark and see you don't have any setting either... Okay? Learning to revise and learning to critique are reflections of each other. One is chopping up your own stuff, and that beam in your eye makes it hard to see. The other is chopping up someone else's stuff - with a little thought and care, pointing out where the mote is, not just sympathizing with those itchy optics. Oddly, helping them with their little motes makes it easier to yank the beam out of your own way. The best way to learn either one is practice. Don't procrastinate, don't wait for the theoretical foundations and superstructure to be set in concrete, get out there and take a swing at it. We've got FAQs, tons of discussion, helpful folks around who can suggest ways to improve, and many subs just crying for your crit... Incidentally, I think it makes sense for people to ask the list to critique their critiques. I've mentioned before that one of the best experiences in critiquing I've had was a workshop where the professor always critiqued the critiques, rather than our pieces - which had a massive trickle-down effect as our critiquing jumped in quality, pushing the writers into more and better revision. I'm not going to get to it soon, but perhaps it would make sense to take a piece and "show" the critique process. Not so much the final product which is posted to the list, but the step-by-step "here's how I do it," "I noticed this, then realized that," and so forth. A "stream-of-consciousness" report of doing a critique? Anyone want to volunteer? (Heyo, greg - if you have time, that would be a neat project. Might even make a reasonable paper or handout?) [If anyone wants to read the faq on crits, please see http://web.mit.edu/mbarker/www/faqs/critfaq.html If someone wants to rewrite, expand, or otherwise make the faq fit our current understanding of this important workshop activity, I'm sure the author would be happy for the help. If someone wants to write another one - go for it!] I'm also going to toss out another piece soon - while I was reading the discussion of critiquing, I tried to walk through the main steps I use again. Haven't had time to find the FAQ and check, but I think it's pretty close to what I said then, too... (ever notice that expertise mostly means I've made all the mistakes I could, so now I know just how to dance when I stumble?) tumbling into the abyss of words tink