Processes for Writing

Processes for writing vary from one writer to the next and from one writing situation to the next, but most writers can identify four basic stages, or dimensions, of their writing process: collecting, shaping, drafting, and revising. The writing situation may precede these stages—particularly if you are assigned a subject, purpose, audience, and form. Usually, however, you continue to narrow your subject, clarify your purpose, meet the needs of your audience, and modify your form as you go through the stages of your writing process.

Collecting

Writers gather and record facts, impressions, opinions, and ideas that are relevant to their subject, purpose, and audience. Mark Twain, author of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, once observed that if you attempt to carry a cat around the block by its tail, you’ll gain a whole lot of information about cats that you’ll never forget. You may collect such firsthand information, or you may rely on the data, experience, or expertise of others. Collecting involves observing, remembering, imagining, thinking, reading, listening, writing, investigating, talking, taking notes, and experimenting. Collecting also involves thinking about the relationships among the collected bits of information.

Shaping

Writers focus and organize the facts, examples, and ideas that they have collected into the recorded, linear form that is written language. When a hurricane hits the Gulf Coast , residents of Texas , Louisiana , Mississippi , Alabama , and Florida are likely to collect an enormous amount of data in just a few hours. Rain, floods, tree limbs snapping in the wind, unboarded windows shattering, sirens blaring—all of these events occur nearly simultaneously. If you try to write about such devastation, you need to narrow your focus (you can’t describe everything that happened) and organize the information (you can’t describe all of your experiences at the same time).

A chronological order is just one of the shapes a writer may choose to develop and organize experience. Such shaping strategies also help writers collect additional information and ideas. Reconstructing a chronological order, for example, may suggest for you some additional details—perhaps a wet, miserable-looking dog running through the heavy downpour—that you might not otherwise have remembered.

Drafting

At some point, writers actually write down a rough version of what will evolve into the finished piece of writing. Drafting processes vary widely from one writer to the next. Some writers prefer to reread their collecting and shaping notes, find a starting point, and launch them­selves-figuring out what they want to say as they write it. Other writers start with a plan—a mental strategy, a short list, or an out­line—of how they wish to proceed. Whatever approach you use in your draft, write down as much as possible, so you can see whether the information is clear, whether your overall shape expresses and clarifies your purpose, and whether the content and organization meet the needs and expectations of the audience.

Revising

When writers revise a rough draft, they literally “resee” their subject—and then modify the draft to fit the new vision. Revision is more than just tinkering with a word here and there; revision leads to larger changes—new examples or details, a different organization, or a new perspective. You accomplish these changes by adding, deleting, substituting, or reordering words, sentences, and paragraphs. Although revision begins the moment you get your first idea, most revisions are based on the reactions or anticipated reactions of the audience to your draft. You often play the role of audience yourself by putting the draft aside and rereading it later when you have some distance from your writing. Wherever you feel readers might not get your point, you revise to make it clearer. You may also get feedback from readers in a class workshop, suggesting that you collect more or different information, alter the shape of your draft to improve the flow of ideas, or clarify your terminology. As a result of your rereading and your readers’ suggestions, you may change your thesis or write for an entirely different audience. Revising also includes editing to improve word choice, grammar, usage, or punctuation and proofreading for typos and other surface errors.