The Maker's Eye: Revising Your Own Manuscripts

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“The Maker’s Eye: Revising Your Own Manuscripts” Taneishia Shaw Strayer University Donald Murray’s view on revision in “The Maker’s Eye: Revising Your Own Transcripts,” shows support for writers detaching themselves from their pages, the components writers examine in a writer’s work, and the function of the Makers Eye. Murray’s observation is accurate as it applies to me in many ways. Roald Dahl says, “You have to learn to read critically but constructively because good writing is essentially rewriting” (as cited in Murray, 1973, p. 9). No one said it better than Donald Murray, “Writers must learn to be their worst enemy. They must accept the criticism of others and be suspicious of it; they must accept the praise of others and be more suspicious of it.” (Murray, 1973, p. 4)Most writers are overly critical about their own writing, so it is difficult for a writer to critique his/her own work. Science fiction writer, Ray Bradbury, supposedly puts each manuscript he writes away for a year to the day and rereads it as a stranger. In order to apply care and one’s own craft to one’s writing, a writer must detach him/herself from you’re his/her own pages. Taking a step back and reading at a point when his/her judgment is at its worst, is the best kind of reading. John Ciardi states, “The last act of writing must be to become one’s own reader” (Ciardi, 1973, p. 6). It is always difficult to critique your own work because you are so proud of it. Drafts are scanned quickly by most writers, only to catch the large errors, but there are a couple of components to look for when revising your work. First off, you have information; a good piece of writing is built from precise, substantiated information. Information and meaning go hand in hand, each piece of information must lead you toward the meaning. Then, we have audience, a writer should always put themselves in the

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