The Craft of Revision

by Murray, Donald M.

• ISBN13: 9780155069558
• ISBN10: 0155069551
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-07-13
• Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing

Summary

Pulitzer Prize winning author Donald M. Murray takes a lively and inspiring approach to writing and revision that does not condescend but invites the student into the writer's studio. This revision guide covers the entire writing process and is inexpensive enough to supplement any writing course.

Author Biography

Donald M. Murray is Professor Emeritus of English at the University of New Hampshire

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Write to Rewrite	1	(31)
Why Do We Fear Rewriting?	2	(1)
Write to Rewrite	3	(1)
How Do I Find Something to Write About?	4	(5)
How Do I Create a Discovery Draft?	9	(5)
How Do I Make an Instructor's Idea My Own?	14	(3)
Notes on Writing the Personal Essay	17	(4)
How to Get the Writing Done: Tricks of the Writer's Trade	21	(5)
Interview with a Published Writer	26	(6)
Elizabeth Cooke
Rewrite to Collect	32	(32)
Diagnosis: Too Little Information	34	(4)
The Importance of Information	38	(1)
The Qualities of Effective Information	39	(6)
The Basic Forms of Information	45	(1)
Where Do You Find Information?	46	(8)
Writing with Information	54	(3)
Interview with a Student	57	(7)
Jennifer Erin Bradley-Swift
Rewrite with Voice	64	(21)
What Is Voice?	65	(1)
Hearing Your Own Voice	66	(3)
Diagnosis: No Voice	69	(1)
Hearing the Writer's Voice	70	(4)
Hearing Your Voice	74	(6)
Case History of a Professional Writer	80	(5)
Rewrite to Focus	85	(18)
Diagnosis: No Focus	86	(3)
Say One Thing	89	(5)
Frame Your Meaning	94	(2)
Set the Distance	96	(2)
The Importance of Focus	98	(1)
Interview with a Published Writer	98	(5)
Christopher Scanlan
Rewrite for Form	103	(37)
Form Is Meaning	105	(5)
Diagnosis: Ineffective Form	110	(1)
Form Communicates Meaning	111	(1)
Discovering the Form of the Draft	112	(4)
Design Your Own Form	116	(3)
Case History of a Student Writer	119	(21)
Maureen Healy
Rewrite for Order	140	(14)
Diagnosis: Disorder	141	(3)
Answer the Reader's Questions	144	(2)
Outline after Writing	146	(2)
Interview with a Student Writer	148	(6)
Kathryn S. Evans
Rewrite to Develop	154	(31)
Diagnosis: Superficial	155	(1)
Techniques of Development	156	(4)
Rewriting Starts with Rereading	160	(2)
Read What Isn't Written	162	(6)
Rewrite within the Draft	168	(1)
Emphasize the Significant	169	(2)
Pace and Proportion	171	(2)
A Professional Case History	173	(6)
Interview with a Student Writer	179	(6)
Karen R. Emmerich
Rewrite to Edit	185	(33)
Twenty Ways to Unfinal a Draft	186	(2)
The Attitude of the Editing Writer	188	(2)
Interview Your Draft	190	(4)
Solutions to Common Editing Problems	194	(6)
The Craft of Editing	200	(1)
A Student Case History	201	(17)
Roger LePage Jr.
Reading Your Reader	218	(12)
Why We Need Readers	219	(2)
The Danger of Readers	221	(2)
Reading the Writer in Process	223	(1)
Reading Writing in Process	223	(7)
Rewrite at Work	230	(26)
Tips for Completing Common Workplace Writing Tasks	232	(15)
Interview with a Published Writer	247	(9)
Dana Andrew Jennings
The Craft of Letting Go	256	(7)
Why Writers Don't Let Go	257	(2)
How to Let Go	259	(1)
When You Let Go	260	(3)
Index	263