Revision

In all honesty, I think my greatest challenge with revision is knowing when to stop.

That magical level of subtlety that inspires readers to approach a piece with both eyes open can easily be lost with too much muddling. I second guess myself into doom and clarify my metaphors and themes to the point where there is no space for interaction with the work. No chance for different readers to have different reactions.

I understand this to be a two part problem: First, I often begin with a message that interests me and build the story around it (this is a decidedly backwards approach that I am constantly trying to outgrow) and second, I can't seem to get a fix on my audience's comprehension level.

Since the first problem is with my process, I'll focus on the second, which seems more appropriate to a discussion of revision.

I'm just not sure how to arrive at a better understanding of my audience. I have serious issues with approaching my writing from an objective perspective. Reading out loud and distributing my drafts to as many people as possible both help, but I just can't internalize an audience.

My workshop group helped me with this problem somewhat, whether they know it or not. I've begun to realize that readers aren't enticed to approach a story analytically by the clarity of the story's messages, but by the potency of its images. I'm definitely excited to see the change this observation makes in my writing.