prs+writing+description

A lot has changed from my zero draft to my final copy. The same basic ideas and the actual story did not change at all but the way I told the story did. When I first wrote the zero draft I just got all my ideas on paper and then I could expand from there. It really helped me to write the zero draft so that when I started the first draft I had something to look back on and remember all that happened.

Before I started my first draft I read through my zero draft to remind me of everything that had happened in the story. After I read it I was ready to start my paper. I began by starting differently. In the zero draft I set the background and then started the story. In class we talked about just jumping straight into the story and setting background as I went. I liked that idea much better.

I then went through and for each part that I could I to make it more vivid. My zero draft had a little over 600 words and I added so much more to it that by the end of my first I had 1200 words. All those extra words were just describing each part of the story more. I wanted to paint a picture in the reader’s head, but more importantly not make it a boring story. The more you describe something the less boring it is.

It also took me a while to think of a good ending for the story. I didn’t want to stray from the truth at all so I had to think of what really happened after the story. It was a good story and I didn’t want to ruin it with a bad ending or by not telling it correctly. I wanted to make sure the ending was something that happened or was said. Then I remembered what my coach had said to me after the game. Until I wrote this story I thought nothing about what he had said to me but now I realize that it was a good way to end the memoir.

Next I had to write the final copy. I read through all the notes that Dr. Hartman had wrote on my paper and started there. After I finished with all he had said I had my girlfriend read it. She was and editor and high school and always does a great job of marking up my paper. I went through and corrected all the things that she told me to.

Last it was time for me to read through it one last time to see if I liked the way to story flowed. I wanted to make sure that after all the corrections it was the way I wanted it to sound. Sometimes after you correct a lot of things the idea that you wanted to get across doesn’t any more. I wanted to make sure that didn’t happen. I went through and read it again. I changed a few things but realized I was happy with my paper and ready to turn it in.