LHS Composition Guide

Having a writing conference with yourself

Read your piece to yourself at least once, but probably several times.  The best writers spend a lot to time reading over and thinking about what they have written.  Your next job is to make some decisions about what is down on that paper: the weaknesses of the piece—the parts that need more work—and its strengths—those parts that work so well you want to do more with them.  In other words, your next job is to have a writing conference with yourself.  The writer’s biggest question is always, “What is it I’m trying to say here?”  The questions below may help you find and shape what you are trying to say.

Questions About Information

Do I have enough information?

What is the strongest or most exciting part of the piece, and how can I build on it?

Have I shown (not told) by using examples?

Have I told my thoughts and feelings at the points where my readers will wonder?

Have I told where, when, and with whom this is happening?

Have I described the scene and people with enough detail that a reader can see it happening?

Is there any part that might confuse a reader?  Have I explained each part well enough that a reader will know what I mean?

Does this piece need conversation?  Did people talk?  Have I directly quoted the words they said?

Do I have too much information?

What parts are not needed—do not add to my point or story? Can I delete them?

What is this piece really about?  Are there parts that are about something else?  Can I cut them?

Do I have more than one story here?  What is the one story I really want to tell?

Is this a “bed-to-bed” piece, going through every event of the day?  Can I focus on the important part of the day and delete the rest?

Is there too much conversation?  Too many fussy little details?  Have I explained too much?

Questions About Leads/Introductions

Does my lead bring my reader right into my piece, into the main ideas or actions?

Where does the piece really begin?  Can I cut the first paragraph?  The first two?  The first page?

Questions About Conclusions

Does my conclusion drop off and leave my reader wondering?

Does my conclusion go on and on?

How do I want my reader to feel at the end of the piece?  Does this conclusion do it?

What do I want my reader to know at the end of the piece?  Does this conclusion do it?

Questions About Titles

Does my title fit what the piece is about?

Is my title a “grabber”?  Would it make a reader want to read my piece?

Questions About Style

Have I cluttered my piece with unnecessary adjectives and adverbs?

Have I said something more than once?

Have I used any word(s) too often?

Are any sentences too long and tangled?  Too brief and choppy?

Have I paragraphed often enough to give my reader’s eyes some breaks?

Have I broken the flow of my piece by paragraphing too often?

Is my information in order?  Is this the sequence in which things happened?

Have I grouped together ideas related to each other?

Does the voice stay the same—first person participant (I did it) or third person observer (he or she did it)?

Does the verb tense stay the same--present (it is happening now) or past (it happened before)?