The Craft of Revision Second Edition

Title: Relevant, Engaging, Illuminating Donald Murray's The Craft of Revision is consistently relevant, engaging in form, and illuminating in process. "Take a piece of paper - or an empty computer screen - and brainstorm" (p7). While other books of this genre will insist that the creative process must start with pen and paper, Murray understands the computer savvy writer! Innovations: * Draw computer trees to map the structure of a draft (p131) * Turn the screen off while typing to discover natural voice (p182) * Hear the diverse voices within modern computer manuals (p172-173) "kegs of nails, prefab widows, piles of lumber" (p98). The construction metaphor serves to depict the foundational nature of the revision process. Indeed, Murray's most favorite quote, repeated thrice within the volume, is that of Ernest Hemingway: "Prose is architecture not interior decoration" (xv; p38; p97). Murray will convince you that revising does not start with work-tweaking, nor with phrase choice. Rather, the bulk of the revision process is a reconsideration of the essentials: * What is missing from the draft? (Feelings? Senses? Information?) * Which alternate forms could be used to encapsulate the idea? * Which other voice might be used to express the concept? "The 2-3-1 principle" (p148) Interior decoration is not entirely ignored, however. Once the building is constructed, Murray does provide guidance regarding particular word choice and paragraph structure. For instance, the "2-3-1" principle (p148) indicates that the paragraph should start with the 2nd point of emphasis, continue with the 3rd point, and end with the primary one. Murray himself follows this rule. Consider his three citations of Hemingway, noted above: * In the preface, on page xv, Hemingway's dictum begins the paragraph. It is a fairly important point which prepares the reader for what is to come. * On page 38, the Hemingway quote is brought as a side point, in the middle of a paragraph, as an aid to understanding some specific information regarding communication and reading. * Finally, on page 97, Hemingway's aphorism not only concludes the paragraph, but also the chapter. According to Murray, this is the place for the primary point of emphasis. And indeed, this location immediately precedes the fullest exploration of the construction metaphor, at the start of chapter 6.