Writing Metaphors

[polymath]

What are your metaphors for writing? Prewriting? Rewriting? Revising? Editing?

Prewriting for me is prospecting for a desirable mineral-bearing ore.

Draft writing is digging into the overburden to access the ore body.

Rewriting is selecting sites of the most concentrated ore.

Revision is refining the ore.

Editing is purifying the ore.

[Ryan]

I like it. Looking at a finished book or piece of writing as an ore or a resource works for me. Words may go away in the form of print but it will be morphed and recycled over and over in the minds of readers and writer. The words we write will influence thoughts and actions, spark memories, and ignite creation.

That's some mighty rich ore. What' the going price per ounce nowadays?

[Sanderling]

I've always thought of writing as sculpting a piece of clay.

I rarely do much in the way of pre-writing. There's the inspiration that hits, the vision you have of what the clay will become. Maybe if you're a plotter this is like making sketches of what you want to create from the clay.

Drafting is that first really rough sculpt as you cut away the big chunks of material to reveal something roughly in the shape of your vision.

Revising is refining the shape, pulling clay off this part, adding clay to this other part, blending in the edges, making it fit your vision.

Editing is the smoothing of the rough edges, making it seem a seamless whole, adding in all the little details that finish it off.