The Paramedic Method of Revising Prose
- “Circle the prepositions.
- “Circle the ‘is’ forms.
- “Ask, ‘Who’s kicking who?’ ‘Where’s the action?’
- “Put this ‘kicking action in a simple (not compund) active verb.
- “Start fast–no slow windups.
- “Write out each sentence on a blank sheet of paper and mark off its basic rhythmic units with a ‘/’.
- “Read the passage aloud with emphasis and feeling [to make sure it can be done].
- “Mark off sentence lengths in the passage with a ‘/’.” (p. 47)