Writer's Workshop #6: Visualize to Revise

By Hillary Wentworth, Writing Specialist

If your paper was a shape, what would it be? A straight line, an octagon, a DNA-style double helix?

I once participated in a workshop where attendees were asked to visualize their essays as just that: a shape. Thinking about my work, I picked up some colored pencils and began to draw on a plain white piece of paper. Even though the act of scribbling made me feel a bit childish, I took the exercise seriously. During those 10 minutes, I created a multicolored swirl where each pencil color signified a different theme in my essay. As the swirl began, the colors were separate, weaving and wandering, until all coming to a pinpoint at that conclusion.  Another participant imagined his essay as a pyramid, another as an arrow, a balloon, and so on.

Sure, it’s fun to think of ideas as having a concrete shape. But it’s also beneficial for revision. When I compared my image to my actual rough draft, I noticed a disconnect between how my mind visualized my essay and how the ideas were actually structured. To revise, I first tacked my colored swirl to the wall beside my desk. Then as I read through my work, I had the image of the swirl in mind. In other words, the swirl became the goal, the driving force of the revision. I asked myself: How can I make this essay more swirl-like? That might sound crazy, but it allowed me to look at the writing in a new way—a way without words. A swirl worked because I wanted the ideas to be brushing past each other, not quite touching until that ultimate endpoint.

Though I used this exercise for my creative writing, I’m sure it can assist academic writers as well. The image might not be a swirl but an hourglass, starting broad and then getting specific, then getting broad again. Alternatively, an academic essay could be a star burst, with the central point shooting out into many other tiny points.