Revision Means Seeing With New Eyes
revising ourselves to revise our work
The problems (and joys) of revision include personal growth. Maybe that's why we fear it, get discouraged by it, give up on it, don't go far enough, or do enough of it.
Revision often involves changing how we see what we've done. This is the same thing that happens with coaching. We learn to reframe the past to better live with it. To create a better future. Enjoy a better outcome. Can we re-imagine our lives and then live into those imagined possibilities?
I'm not saying the past didn't happen. I am saying, if I do all the work of grieving and forgiving myself, I can then build a life I want. I can move on. But I don't always move on. I get stuck. So I feel compelled to write something. I think my writing has nothing to do with my internal struggle, but it always has everything to do with it. We are meaning-making creatures. I'm always trying to move toward healing and light.
So I end up with a manuscript with issues. At times, the internal struggle to revise my work can feel insurmountable. Then (sometimes years) down the road, I rediscover my work, and the ending is clearly evident. Only I wasn't able to revise because revision takes vision. New eyes. Personal growth. Even post-traumatic growth (which is very possible). (See me, I coach!)
All this is to say, if you're struggling with revisions, stop staring at the pages that look as if they are set in stone. Instead, consider doing these free writes.
Ask yourself: What was your original impetus for creating the piece? What inspired you? Events in your life at the time you began it? Events in the world that might be relevant? What's at the heart of the piece? What moves you the most in it? Who were you when you started writing it? And who are you now?
Think about the best version of whatever you're working on. What would the perfect synopsis be? Not the synopsis of what you've written but the synopsis of what you WANT to have written!
What would the most glowing review say? Let this go beyond what is actually on the page and respond to the vision you have of the work. Describe it. I have found that by reading the imaginary reviewer's description of the work, I learn more about what I'm trying to do. I can bring in the tools to do it. To make it more than it was.
Recast! Instead of your characters based on your mom and your cousin, imagine these characters played by Jessica Lange and Billy Crudup. Years ago, one of my plays was about to be read by an important actor. But the role suddenly looked like chopped liver. So I revised - not based on that actor, but by going even further and imagining George C. Scott in the role. The role turned into a porterhouse steak.
By now you must all know that sometimes I write about personal growth, and other times I write about creativity. I see them as mutually supportive. I believe that our personal lives feed our writing. And our writing only moves forward with our personal lives. Whether or not we are writing auto-biographically, the more we can connect with ourselves while we write, the more authenticity we’ll bring.
This means actual emotion from real, lived experience. This means connecting to our history in a way that feels generative and nurturing. This means being open to the stirring up of possibilities. This means change.
Writing from a connected, present place helps us to embrace the transformations our characters desire.
all artwork by Scott Sherman on instagram at ScottShermanStudio
Writing Prompt: Transformation
The Ancient Greeks (who called the theatre the Seeing Place) insisted that there can be no transformation without seeing, really recognizing what is or what happened. A lot of us struggle to craft this moment (or moments) of recognition. Often I see moments of recognition in new scripts where, if they happen at all, the writer has sped through it, as if it's not important, yet often it's the crux of the story.
Transformation cannot happen well without the ability to be compassionate with ourselves. Because it's hard to see, really see, what is. The nature of things. Truth. And without a moment of recognition, there is no need to transform. No reason to transform. Certainly no way to transform.
Consider what compassion would have done for Oedipus. Maybe he wouldn't have had to put out his eyes (judge himself). This is the fear we face in dropping in and touching on our authentic selves. The more we strengthen our compassion as a muscle, the more we can see, the more present and alive we can be.
Take a look at any moment of transformation you are working on, and go to the moment of recognition just prior to it. How have you sculpted that moment? How much time have you taken with the seeing, the recognizing? When I say recognizing, I mean how cognizant is your character of this moment? How much knowledge does this moment impart? What exactly are they aware of, and what will that mean? See from every angle all the ways they might go from here. What are their choices?
Does that change or deepen the moment of transformation? Is there a separate, later moment in time, when the character looks back at that moment and sees something else in it? Are there ripples or later lessons that can be learned? How does it affect anything or anyone else?
Announcements
You can get tickets to a staged reading of my new play WINNERS directed by Kate Trammell as part of PrideFest at the Tank in NYC HERE & your ticket will also get you into the AfterParty I’m arranging, more info soon… TUESDAY JUNE 25th at 7pm ET!
Deadline May 31st! Submit a Jewish 10 minute play to Jewish Plays Project
Deadline June 14th! Submit a Jewish full length play to Jewish Plays Project
Deadline June 30th! Submit an application for IRONS IN THE FIRE, a year-round reading series of new plays in development at Fault Line Theatre
Deadline July 3rd! Experiments in Opera is looking for writers! More Here
The fantastically talented Carole Forman is appearing in Bring Them Back at Theatre for the New City, a meta dark comedy running 5/9 - 5/19. Go see it!
Epic Theatre Company will present Spring Awakening at ART/NY in a neuro-inclusive production this May 9-19th.
If you’re in St. Louis, MO, my play “Neighbors by the Sea” will be seen alongside work by the very talented Joan Lipkin in Social Justice Shorts produced by Bread and Roses and A Call to Conscience, May 17-19th at the Greenfinch Theatre.
If you’re in Asheville, NC, my short piece, “Different.” will be performed in the Different Strokes Performing Arts Festival, June 20-23rd.
Brave Space Sched:
For the week of 5/20-24/24 Monday 12pm ET Brave Space Tuesday 12pm ET Brave Space w/wkshop Wednesday 2pm ET Advanced Brave Group Coaching Wednesday 7pm ET Brave Space for All Humans Thursday 11am ET Brave Space Friday 12pm ET Brave Space For the week of 5/27-31/24 Monday 12pm ET Brave Space Tuesday 12pm ET Brave Space w/wkshop Wednesday 2pm ET Advanced Brave Group Coaching Wednesday 7pm ET Brave Space for All Humans Thursday 11am ET Brave Space Friday 12pm ET Brave Space Friday 3pm ET Brave Sharing Salon For the week of 6/3 - 6/7/24 Monday 12pm ET Brave Space Tuesday 12pm ET Brave Space w/wkshop Tuesday 7pm ET Advanced Brave Group Coaching Wednesday 11am ET Advanced Brave Group Coaching Wednesday 7pm ET Brave Space for All Humans Thursday cancelled - production meeting Friday 12pm ET Brave Space For the week of 6/10 - 6/14/24 Monday 12pm ET Brave Space Tuesday 12pm ET Brave Space w/wkshop Tuesday 7pm ET Advanced Brave Group Coaching Wednesday 11am ET Advanced Brave Group Coaching Wednesday 7pm ET Brave Space for All Humans w/Sharing Salon Thursday 11am ET Brave Space Friday 12pm ET Brave Space
Please note: the second Wednesday of each month will include a Sharing Salon at the end of the Brave Space for All Humans. Everyone is welcome to bring up to 10 minutes worth of work for feedback. Female-identified and nonbinary folx can also share up to 1 page on Tuesdays or up to 10 minutes of work on the last Friday of every month. Email me for the links!
I love this piece Emma and especially the prompt. I’m gonna work on it this week on the moment of recognition before transformation to see if it’s rushed to see if there’s more to mine there. I’m sure there is.