Customer Reviews

Deep Revision: A Guide for Teachers, Students, and Other Writers

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Mary Sue Willis wrote this book about her experiences in teaching elementary school students to keep going after a first draft. I use it in college classes, where the problem is the same: students write the first thing that comes to their mind, but stop there.

Willis presents almost 200 different exercises that engage the mind and make writing fun. For example, reverse revision is a process by which students try to make their writing worse and worse. By observing what obscures meaning and weakens sentences, they can then see what would work to make writing BETTER.

Other techniques, such as meditation, going deeper by adding details, changing media, and changing point of view, are useful for writers at any level of expertise.

The charming examples of writing and rewriting from Willis's students make this book delightful for classroom use.

Since the book and the one review of it mentioned that the book would be useful in classroom situations, I purchased the book thinking that I could use some of the exercises in the college composition classes that I teach. The book, however, was a real letdown! I haven't been able to use any of the ideas at all. Most of the exercises were geared towards creative writers or elementary school students. If you belong to or are interested in one of these two groups, then this book might be useful; if, however, you want to use it to revise expository writing, I would not recommend it.

Mary Sue Willis wrote this book about her experiences in teaching elementary school students to keep going after a first draft. I use it in college expository writing classes, where the problem is the same: students write the first thing that comes to their mind and stop. Willis presents almost 200 different exercises that engage the mind and make writing fun. For example, reverse revision is a process by which students try to make their writing worse and worse. By observing what obscures meaning and weakens sentences, they can then see what would work to make writing BETTER.

Other techniques, such as meditation, going deeper by adding details, changing media, and changing point of view, are useful for writers at any level of expertise.

The charming examples of writing and rewriting from Willis's students make this book delightful for classroom use.

Mary Sue Willis wrote this book about her experiences in teaching elementary school students to keep going after a first draft. I use it in college classes, where the problem is the same: students write the first thing that comes to their mind, but stop there.

Willis presents almost 200 different exercises that engage the mind and make writing fun. For example, reverse revision is a process by which students try to make their writing worse and worse. By observing what obscures meaning and weakens sentences, they can then see what would work to make writing BETTER.

Other techniques, such as meditation, going deeper by adding details, changing media, and changing point of view, are useful for writers at any level of expertise.

The charming examples of writing and rewriting from Willis's students make this book delightful for classroom use.