Poem Revision Ladder
by DiscoLlama Creative Production › Editing
51 minutes 7 Steps
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Read it aloud
3 minutes -
Cut the scaffolding
10 minutesTry deleting the first and last lines. They're often warm-up and summary.
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Sharpen the verbs
10 minutesReplace weak verbs, is, was, seemed, with ones that move.
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Line breaks
15 minutesEnd each line on a strong word, and let breaks create a small surprise.
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Step away
10 minutes -
Final read-aloud
3 minutes -
Save the version
- Save it as a new version, keeping the old one
- Note what changed and why