Revision Strategy #4: So What's Your Point?
- Choose a draft and reread it quickly. Turn it over on your desk.
- Begin a three-minute fastwrite on the draft. Tell yourself the story of your thinking about the essay. When you first started writing it, what did you think you were writing about, and then what, and then what, and then, and then... Try to focus on your ideas about what you were trying to say and how it evolved.
- Begin another three-minute fastwrite. This time focus on scenes, situations, case studies, moments, people, conversations, observations, etc. that stand out for you as you think about the draft. Many of these may not yet be in the draft. Be specific. Plunge into the sea of experience.
- Finally, write the following two words in your journal page: So what? Compose a two or three sentence answer to that question as it applies to the draft. Take your time writing this.
- Rebuild the draft around your answer to the so what? question, from beginning to end. Are the specifics you generated in step #3 developed sufficiently in the draft? Does all the information relate to what you're trying to say in some way?
From: Bruce Ballenger, Boise State University