Loading ...revising
I’ve been working on a sweet little love story for a few weeks, it has nothing whatsoever to do with Eleanor, Miguel, Anna and Beckett. If I were to measure my progress on the piece in bridge terms, I’d say I’m about .7 silver away from having a readable draft. Ever known somebody who needed .7 silver to make Life Master? It’s not all that hard to come by, provided somebody’s paying silver. My favorite part of the writing process comes at the end of the first draft, when the story is complete but the language is rough. I enjoy stretching the sentences taut across the page like wrinkly bedsheets then smoothing them out by hand.
Revision is the art of smoothing out the sentences, straightening the story spread like a coverlet, dressing up the language like pillows artfully arranged. Revision is the act (perhaps art) of making the work beautiful, readable, complete. It’s an active process with which I am intimately familiar and thoroughly comfortable, only wish it were useful in playing a bridge hand. I’m constantly revising myself in the bidding, clarifying or expanding on the information partner has about the fit between our two hands. Pretty comfortable territory. Once the opening lead is made and dummy comes down, though, I’m forced to commit to a line of play — either on defense or as declarer — and that’s more difficult for me. It’s time to learn to think like a bridge player.
November 1st, 2007 at 7:13 pm
Roslyn Teukolsky had an article about this several years ago in Bridge Today,
I think. Constantly evaluating the
situation, computer-wise at the table,
each new piece of info. Our brain is a
sponge, but we need to soak up every
bid, pass, etc. Does this help, or have
I had too much wine?
November 1st, 2007 at 9:32 pm
Is there such a thing?