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

~ (Author) "You hand a manuscript to a teacher or a boss or an editor and wait nervously for a response..." (more)
Key Phrases: New York, New Jersey, Expository Writing Tutorial (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

If you or your students dread the process of revision, this book will prove transformative. Deep Revision covers topics such as revision as a natural process, learning to revise by editing other people's writing, changing media to revise, and revising nonfiction with fiction techniques. Meredith Sue Willis offers a wide array of specific revision exercises for fiction and nonfiction, and numerous examples of student writing are provided.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Teachers & Writers Collaborative; Later Printing edition (December 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0915924412
• ISBN-13: 978-0915924417
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #968,502 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Crazy wonderful ideas for writers, August 11, 2000

By	Linda Burgess (Sugarloaf, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Deep Revision: A Guide for Teachers, Students, and Other Writers (Hardcover)

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.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Letdown, November 2, 2004

By	Leanne (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Amazon Verified Purchase

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.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Crazy wonderful ideas for writers, August 11, 2000

By	Linda Burgess (Sugarloaf, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Deep Revision: A Guide for Teachers, Students, and Other Writers (Hardcover)

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.