## Here is the summary of the steps to take for a revision project: 1. Choose something you have written that you would like to revise. 2. Use the “Revision Project PART 1: Give & Get Feedback” Discussion Board topic to participate *(each of the revision projects has its own “PART 1” topic in the Discussion Board area of the class).* - Make a post with a link to the writing that you’re going to be revising, and ask one or more questions that you would like your peers to help you with. - Make at least three replies to other people’s posts, answering the questions that *they* asked about *their* writing. - Make a post (by replying to your own original post) telling us about some feedback you got on your writing from someone in your life who is *not* in this class. 3. A week (or so) later, use the “PART 2: Share & Reflect” Discussion Board topic to post your revised work, reflect on the revision process, and self-asses *(each of the revision projects has its own “PART 2” topic in the Discussion Board area of the class).* Here is a [video about how to do a revision project](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kZBYXd-ptV_oYSzeR7KN-Hrk-AGYkw2a/view?usp=drive_link) (clip from a live class session). > [!danger] Revision projects are for human conversation. > Please do not use “AI” / an LLM / a chatbot / or whatever you want to call it to generate your feedback for your classmates. > > <small>They could have done that for themselves, and frankly, it’s kind of insulting. Revision project discussion posts are an opportunity for you to **talk to each other** about writing and whatever interesting related topics come up naturally.</small> ---- ### *The rest of this page is a more detailed discussion of the revision project process...* ## First, choose something you’ve written that you would like to revise. You could choose to revise something you’ve written for this class—perhaps one of your responses to one of the timed writing prompts from a live class session. Or you could choose something you have written outside of class. - Don’t choose something you’re already fully satisfied with. What material would you have to do the revision work on, then? - Don’t choose an essay or paper from another academic class unless it’s something you’re *genuinely* interested in continuing to work on. This is *Creative Writing* class—do you really want to be rehashing “A Methodical Dissection of Protagonist Motivation in the Context of Late 19th Century Narrative Structure”? - Don’t do the same exact thing for each revision project. For example, if you work on tweaking the meter of a sonnet for Revision Project #1, you could work on character development in a short story for Revision Project #2. If your revision pieces so far have been short and sweet, wrestle with a longer piece for Revision Project #3. - At least one of your revision project pieces this year should push your comfort level for word count. If you are only accustomed to writing, for example, 2- or 3-page papers for school, then aim for an 8–10 page story at least once this semester. Commitment to a longer piece teaches you things that are hard to come by any other way. - Possible genres/forms to work on revising include: - [[memoir]] - [[short fiction]] - [[poetry]] - [[drama]] - [[essay]] - Still don’t know what to revise? Write something new, right now! Remember, [[anything at all other than pure nonsense]] will work. - *Are you **editing, revising, or proofreading?** Check out this [discussion of what the differences may be](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vssgqgVKkzRtxqh-5fXxwdtv7nrTUcyG/view?usp=share_link), and why it may be relevant to the revision projects in this class.* ## Each Revision Project consists of two parts. ### PART ONE You make [at least five posts](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Opck7kh3BAUbi-1Jh5W8Wyz6MXIBkoEP2mnpUcUTUOY/edit?usp=sharing) in the “PART 1” discussion board during the first week (Part 1) of the revision project: 1. your original post with the draft you’ve chosen to revise, and your question(s) for your classmates 2. your first reply to someone else’s draft and one of their questions 3. your second reply to someone else 4. your third reply to someone else 5. a summary of some feedback you received from someone else in your life who is *not* in this class (to make this post, reply to your own original post in the thread). It could be a family member, a teacher, a friend, etc. I will wait to enter the grade for your “PART 1” discussion until all 5 posts have been made. Contact me if there’s a reason you need a modification involving fewer posts. ### PART TWO You make a new thread in the “PART 2” discussion board the following week, to share the link to the new version of your work that you revised with the help of the feedback you got, along with a thorough and thoughtful reflection on how the process went, what grade you would give yourself and why, etc. There may be specific questions to focus on in the assignment description for each Revision Project’s Part Two. Links to the Discussion Board topics will be found in the folders for the corresponding weeks in the Blackboard class. ## There are three Revision Projects in the class; how many you should do depends on when you join the class. - If you start the class at the beginning of the semester, complete all three Revision Projects. - If you start the class later in the semester, do the Revision Projects that correspond to the weeks you are present for (skip any from the weeks before you joined). - It usually doesn’t work very well to go way back to a revision project from many weeks ago, because there probably won’t be much activity in those particular discussion board topics anymore. It’s better to focus on one(s) that are more current or upcoming. Check the Pace Chart to see when each revision project appears in the semester. ## When you post your rough draft in the discussion board for Part 1, ask a question to help your classmates give meaningful responses. Here are some examples of kinds of questions you might ask: - Please provide grammar/mechanics editing suggestions, especially with regard to [whatever you’re not great at; for example, verb tense usage, varying sentence structure, comma usage, dialog format, etc] - Do you think the structure is effective? Are the different parts presented in an effective order? What are some ideas for how to rearrange it to make the narrative more compelling? - How’s my [verisimilitude](https://www.websters1913.com/words/Verisimilitude)? Does my factual information seem convincing and help make the story seem real? - Does the plot make sense? What about [specific parts you’re not confident about]? - Are my characters believable/relatable? - How does it flow? Do I have good transitions? Does the introduction prepare the reader for what comes later? - Is my writing style appealing? Do I use the passive voice too often? Are there too many “to be” verbs? - What’s working really well right now? What parts seem confusing or incomplete? - Check out [UNC’s “Requesting Feedback on Writing” page](https://writingcenter.unc.edu/esl/resources/requesting-feedback-on-writing/) for more ideas of both general and very specific questions. > [!note] BUT THESE ARE JUST EXAMPLES! > Ask anything you really want to know, as long as it’s something you can reasonably and respectfully expect your classmates to be able to have an opinion about. ## How do I respond to my classmates’ questions about their drafts in the discussion board? - Share the love! Look for posts that don’t have any/many replies yet, and respond to them. - Pay attention to the original poster’s questions, and strive to contribute something on-point and substantive. - Consider using an “I notice... I wonder...” mindset; offer some observations about what you see in the piece as it is; point out something that you think is working well; then instead of saying “but this part is bad,” say something like “I wonder what would happen if you changed this part to (etc etc)...” - Try to make your observations and suggestions as specific as possible; generalities such as “I like it” and “I don’t like it” don’t help much. - If you don’t have definite “advice” to give, *ask a question* to get them thinking; for example: - Why does it change from past tense to present tense in paragraph 3? - Do you think it makes sense for this character to say this in paragraph 4, based on what they’ve said in the previous parts of the story? - Are the sentence fragments and run-on sentences intentional for effect, or something you might want to fix? - Check out the [Purdue OWL’s literary terms page](https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/literary_terms/index.html) for ideas about vocabulary and concepts to incorporate in your posts. - Please do not use “AI” to generate your responses. If you can’t even begin to imagine why doing so might be considered gross and sad, maybe you should find out if it’s not too late to drop this class? ## What should I focus on while working on my own revision process? Here are some ideas: - Challenge yourself to [play with dialogue](https://www.grammarly.com/blog/writing-dialogue/). - Alter your story’s [structure](https://oddletters.xyz/Meerkat-Skool-2425/structure+in+fiction) somehow in the revision process. - Change or heighten a [conflict](https://liberalarts.oregonstate.edu/wlf/what-conflict) in your writing. - Look for places where you could change some [“telling” into “showing”](https://www.vanderbilt.edu/writing/resources/handouts/show-dont-tell/). - Experiment with changing the ending or [resolution](https://www.thoughtco.com/definition-of-resolution-851679) of your draft, to see how it changes the effect of the piece. - Be open to the possibility of your piece’s [theme](https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/creative_writing/fiction_writing_basics/fiction_writing_basics_2.html) becoming more clear as you revise! - You could completely change the form of your writing; for example, take an essay you’ve written and turn it into poetry! - Here’s an example of [working on the revision process during a live class](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cvqQAEszNZnThx9WyNcI7fS1KZQXIewI/view?usp=drive_link) (Thanks, Azjah!) This could give you some ideas of the kinds of questions you can ask yourself, if you aren’t sure how to dive in and start making changes to your writing. ## How will the Revision Projects be graded? 1. Remember, I’ll wait to enter a grade in Blackboard for your discussion for Part 1 **until all five posts are made.** Your grade will be based on how thoroughly you address your classmates’ questions, based on the guidelines above. This assessment involves extended, coherent communication about writing; see the [rubric for Discussion Boards](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1InHLKDrC1ghyAl4ngWZvj1jhycKIcJAL94RTapuWSnI/edit#heading=h.nrr37qfqt7p3) and [relevant reading standards](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1G-ffffPuAtCboosZgrsnNehrBqqzRyL4_HrzhlfPRN0/edit?usp=sharing). 2. For the revisions that you make, we’re not looking for a perfect piece of literature; we’re looking for evidence of the revision process at work. If you didn’t make any significant changes, you either didn’t dive in deep enough, or else you didn’t choose an imperfect enough piece to work with in the first place. The final revision assessments will include questions for self-reflection that will help determine the grade; here’s the [rubric for writing revision](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ar1sMLC66vTiXlSo6eOnrydLI5jg3TDrjHkNIvFD9Ws/edit?usp=sharing). 3. When you self-assess and give yourself a grade, try to get beyond generalities like “PRO, because I did good but could have done better” or “ADV, because I put a lot of time and effort in” and so on. Describe specific challenges you addressed, problems you solved, examples of exactly how you pushed yourself, something you expected of yourself but didn't quite deliver on (and why you think that happened), etc. Identify specific examples from your own writing to show me what you are talking about. You may refer to the [rubric](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ar1sMLC66vTiXlSo6eOnrydLI5jg3TDrjHkNIvFD9Ws/edit?usp=sharing) and choose one or more of the standards or “I can” statements to measure your progress against; again, using specific examples from your writing or reflections on the process to back up your assertions. You’re assessing yourself on the *revision process itself,* not necessarily on how “good” your writing turned out. ### “Yeah but seriously, how do I get an “ADV”?” The Revision Projects are not the kind of assignment where I tell you exactly what to do and how to do it. They are a collaborative inquiry process—a conversation among you and your classmates, and between you and yourself as you revisit your writing to find opportunities for improvement. I won’t be scrutinizing the specifics of each student’s writing; rather, I’ll be observing as you make your own decisions (with the help of the Discussion Board) about what to change and how to change it. During the second part of each Revision Project, you’ll have an opportunity to reflect on the process and show or tell me how it went; that reflection is what I’ll base that part of the grade on. As long as you give detailed and thoughtful responses there, showing that you were willing to dive into the process and were not afraid to “break stuff” and experiment with changing your writing to see what works and what doesn’t work, you’ll get that “ADV.” It’s less about what *I* think about your piece before and after, and more about *your* experience of taking the piece you chose from “before” to “after”—and what you can show that you learned from that. ### If this whole process leaves you feeble and insecure, *talking* to your writing as if it were a literal child, don’t worry — [You’re not alone](https://poets.org/poem/author-her-book).