Whatever you write will not be ready the first time you put it on the computer screen. Everyone, no matter how gifted a writer, needs to learn to refine and revise after the first draft. For example, you may think that writing about your family requires no research, because you were there. And, why should you rewrite the story if “that’s the way it happened?" If you allow your writing to "simmer" for a few days and read it through objectively, you will discover places to polish, items to omit, clarifications to make, or any one of a number of other improvements.
This also becomes the time to improve your style, spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Too many words? Cut them out. Unclear sentences? Rephrase them. Unbelievable dialogue? Change it to make it more convincing.
The fundamentals of editing, while taught in one primary lesson, will show up in most of the assignments. Now that you have read the requirements and helps for this class, go to the first lesson.
Writing Home Page | Registration | Getting Started | Course Syllabus | Basic Skills | Memories & Memoirs | Creative Nonfiction | Our View of the World | Bibliography | About the Teacher Copyright, 1999, Pamela Erickson
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