have you ever played on a Sandy Beach a Sandy Dune or a Sandbox from the beaches of Lake hon to hotton in Higgins Lakes to Lake Michigan to Lake Superior and so many lakes in between I have always loved digging my toes into the sand did you know authors like to play too sure many of them like to play in the sand but today we are going to explore how writers play with words to revise their writing I'm Mrs defal and as a writer I love to revise revision means to reee our writing over and over again it's the part of the writing process where we rewrite to make our words come to life for our readers one way I absolutely love to revise is by using figurative language which is playful language I love to play with language even more than I love to play in the sand today we will revise our writing using similes idioms and metaphors which are types of figurative language check out this short story I wrote that I know I need to revise please read along with me before Drew raced for the water he said Grandma come in with me please no you go grandma said shaking her head I'll sit here with my toes in the sand a grandma Drew teased Drew Grandma pretended to be offended and then tossled his hair have fun I'll keep my eye on you from here Drew gave his grandma a hug Grandma's hug felt good running so fast Drew skitted into the water floating on his back he looked up into the sky he felt so thankful grandma brought him to the beach Grandma had a good heart as writers we need to choose to revise every time we revise we make our writing stronger let's use figurative language to revise this story let's revise two sentences to include simile when we write a simile We compare two things using the words like or as let's revise this sentence using aimile Gra Grandma's hug felt good let's rewrite the sentence using as Grandma's hug felt as warm as the sand let's revise another sentence to make my writing sound stronger here's one running so fast Drew skitted into the water I love my verb choice skitted is such a strong verb because it shows action yet I want to revise the sentence to include a simile rather than using as I'll use like running so fast you skid it into the water like a pebble skipping across the waves I am going to choose to revise even more let's revise by adding an idiom when we write an idiom we use a common phrase that has a deeper meaning I think this part of my story is unclear when Drew teas Us by saying a grandma I'm not sure readers would see that exchange as teasing I need to revise I'm going to add an idiom so Drew really teases Grandma to do this I need to add more dialogue remember dialogue includes the words a character speaks I'm going to have drew say don't be a stick in the mud I have to remember those quotation marks that frame what is coming out of Drew's mouth like dimples this command don't be a stick in the mud has a deeper meaning when we use this idiom we mean that someone doesn't want to do something fun but we know grandma is having fun with her toes in the sand while she watches her grandson enjoy the water as a writer I often revise my endings I want to choose to make my ending for this story better let's add a metaphor to strengthen the last sentence Grandma had a good heart when we write a metaphor we say something is another thing rather than write Grandma had a good heart I want to write an ending that means more since metaphors also hold deeper meaning similar to idioms that type of figurative language will work really well here grandma was his Treasure of course this doesn't mean Grandma's an actual gem like a ruby or a diamond she's not made of gold or silver but we can infer or read deeper to understand that Grandma is very special to Drew he sees her as a treasure a person he truly values and loves let's reread our revised writing before Drew raced for the water he said Grandma come in in with me please no you go grandma said shaking her head I'll sit here with my toes in the sand a grandma don't be a stick in the mud Drew teased Drew Grandma pretended to be offended and then tossled his hair have fun I'll keep my eye on you from here Drew gave his grandma a hug Grandma's hug felt as warm as the sand running so fast Drew skitted into the water like a pebble skipping across the waves floating on his back he looked up into the sky he felt so thankful grandma brought him to the beach grandma was his treasure writers I hope you'll choose to revise your writing using figurative language remember similes help us compare two things using those special words as and like metaphors let us say something is something else metaphors hold deeper meaning like idioms idioms are common phrases that have layers of meaning the best part about writing is we will never know how how well we can write because we always get better with practice enjoy playing with words as you write the stories that matter to you