Revision in Action
A lot of people find writing the story difficult. I find that part rather easy.
For me, the part I hate the most is the revision stage.
I finished Part 1 and Part 2 of "Pilots of Covenience," but I felt that there was something wrong with the story. Something wasn't quite right, but I wasn't sure what it was.
So, what I did was take my original draft and submit it to my writing group. They went through it and made a number of comments about it.
What I have done is taken all of their comments and presented them within the original story, so you can see their comments and changes. Some of their criticisms I agreed with; there were some that I did not. I included all of them on the mark-up page for you, so you can not only see what they said, but you can see for yourself if you agree with them or not.
In the marked up draft, the comments in orange are general comments made against the section. Red text with the line through it are changes they recommended be deleted. The other red text either is text that should be added or text to which comments are written against.
You'll also see that my group also included specific things that they liked as well. I've found that this is important during critiques; don't just tell me what you didn't like or is wrong, but also tell me what details worked and you enjoyed.
Finally, I didn't present any further mark-ups to show what comments I agreed with and what I didn't. Instead, you can read the final work and see the changes I made.
This is one of the ugly overlooked parts of writing, and it is the part that I find most challenging. Many authors will not share this with you out of embarassment, but I hope to not only share my writing with you, but a glimpse behind the curtain as well.
And with that, I present the marked-up version of Part 1 of "Pilots of Convenience" as well as the final, improved, and revised new opening to "Pilots of Convenience."
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