Final Project: Radical Revision of Memoir
Your Radical Revision counts as your final exam. You will receive a score out of 50 points. In a single Google Doc, include the following items in the following order:
1. Letter (5 points)
2. Original Revision of Memoir
3. Radical Revision of Memoir (25 points)
4. Revision Rationale for Memoir (20 points)
Letter (5 points): Write a brief, 1-page MLA-formatted letter to me in which you describe what you learned from this course about the art & value of imaginative writing. What did this revision process teach you? What did you learn about yourself along the way?
Original Revision of Memoir: Before your radical revision, include the original revision of your memoir that you submitted for my feedback (green circle assignment on Google Classroom). Simply copy & paste it into the document. Having both versions side by side helps me (& you!) determine how radical your revision truly is.
Radical Revision of Memoir (25 points): After your original revision, include the transformed version of your work after applying the feedback you received from me, some of the radical revision strategies, & constructive experimentation.
Revision Rationale (20 points): After your radical revision, carefully reflect upon & justify your revision process. Essentially, defend your craft choices as a writer, & demonstrate that you made thoughtful, purposeful decisions upon transforming your work. Using complete sentences, thoroughly explain the changes you made to your memoir & the reasons behind those changes. In your rationale, number your responses & include:
explicit connections to the feedback you received from me & how you applied it; cite at least 2 specific comments/suggestions (clearly state which ones you applied to your radical revision) that I left on your work. (10 points)
explanations of your application of at least 2 different radical revision strategies (clearly state which ones you used for your radical revision) from the list provided on the back of this handout & any others that you came up with on your own, highlighting their influence on your revision process. (10 points)
IMPORTANT NOTES: When working on your radical revisions . . .
Do not erase any of the feedback I left for you on your original revisions. I will need to reference my comments & suggestions when grading your portfolio.
All original instructions & grading criteria, including length requirements, still apply. Please revisit the original assignment checklists.
You cannot change your original topic/subject matter for any assignment. It will be impossible to give you any credit for your radical revisions if you do this.
*See the next page for the radical revision strategies & guidelines!
Radical Revision Guidelines
Real revision is not done in one sitting. I am looking for RADICAL revision.
synonyms for radical: thorough, comprehensive, extensive, drastic, major, extreme
In other words, it is your job to RE-envision, RE-imagine, & essentially RE-create your memoir, while adhering to the original essay task & your original subject matter.
A radical revision does not mean proofreading alone. Fine-tuning mechanics, usage, & grammar, as well as adjusting formatting issues are minor edits. These types of changes, though important, do not count toward true, deep revision. If your original & radical revision look pretty much the same, with the exception of minor technical changes, your revision won’t be very “radical.”
Give a handful of these strategies a try. Reference these in your revision rationale:
Start over completely, re-writing your memoir from beginning to end without thinking too much about your original revision. See what happens. Then take a look at this new version of your essay and decide which of its elements you would like to incorporate into your final radical revision and how.
Seek more information about what you wrote about (conducting interviews, looking at old photos, researching on Google, etc.).
Change the opening &/or ending to something completely different, or swap them.
Change the tense in which you originally wrote your piece to present or past tense.
Incorporate italics to indicate flashbacks/flashforwards, internal thoughts, etc.
Experiment with stream of consciousness–more organic, raw lines of thought.
Eliminate entire paragraphs/pages &/or compress them into smaller spaces.
Identify the verbs in your writing & replace some with stronger, more specific ones.
Identify passive adjectives in your writing that are “TELLING” & replace them with active images & actions that “SHOW” what you are trying to describe instead (show, don’t tell).
Use a coding strategy (e.g., colors, lines, etc.) to label short, medium, & long sentences in your writing to see where sentence length/structure is stagnant & then try to make your writing more dynamic/impactful.
To help with the pain of letting go of your “darlings,” make a “compost pile” file on your computer for discarded, but cherished, writing bits. They may eventually become “fertilizer” for future creative projects . . .
Attached: (Here is the memoir for the Radical Revision)***
