The Writing Process

1
The Writing Process

• Invention
• Planning and Drafting
• Feedback
• Revision
• Editing
• Reflecting

2
The Writing Process

• Invention
• fast-writing
• clustering
• brainstorming
• ignore the editor in your brain at this point in
  the process get ideas on paper as quickly as
  possible
• focus on one issue at a time

3
Natalie Goldbergs Rules for Invention

• Keep your hand moving
• Dont cross out
• Dont worry about spelling, punctuation, grammar
• Lose control
• Dont think. Dont get logical.
• Go for the jugular.

4
Planning and Drafting

• At this stage, you take your invention work and
  write the first full draft.
• A draft is a full paper with a beginning,
  middle, and end. It is not one or two paragraphs
  that is only a beginning.
• As with invention work, try to write the first
  draft as quickly as possible, trying to get your
  ideas on paper with little interference from the
  editor.

5
Suggestions for Drafting

• Choose a time and place where you can complete a
  full draft in a single sitting.
• Use a computer to make revision easy or write on
  one side skipping lines.
• Be satisfied with less than perfection
• Experiment
• Follow Digressions
• Guess at Words, Spelling, Facts

6
Feedback

• From peers
• From Learning Center
• From teacher

7
How to Give Critical Feedback

• Read the entire piece first
• Start with the positive
• Start with big questions move to small
• Offer advice, but dont rewrite
• Your role is to read carefully, to point out what
  you think is or is not working, to make
  suggestions and ask questions.
• Leave the revising to the writer.

8
Why do we do Peer-Revision?

• When you read someone elses writing critically,
  you learn more about the decisions writers make,
  how a thoughtful reader reads, and the
  constraints of particular kinds of writing.
• In other words, you will become a better critic
  of your own work.
• You embody for the writer the abstraction called
  audience. By sharing your reaction and analysis
  with the writer, you complete the circuit of
  communication.

9
Revision

• Reviseto see again
• Try to view the draft objectively.
• This means that you must do much more than simply
  correct errors you must see the paper again from
  a new perspective and be willing to make big
  changes, including cutting sections, adding
  sections, or moving sections around.

10
How to revise your work

• Start by looking at the piece of writing as a
  whole.
• Fix big problems first
• Does the essay achieve its purpose?
• Are the paragraphs in a logical order?
• Look at each section
• Is the beginning effective?
• Are all paragraphs unified and coherent?

11
Editing

• At this point, you correct all errors in grammar,
  punctuation, and mechanics.
• Nonstandard language distracts and lessens your
  credibility as a writer.
• You need to read your paper slowly and carefully
  at this point.
• It is wise to have someone else whom you trust
  proofread for you someone else will see errors
  that you cannot see because you know the work too
  well.

12
Some Editing Strategies

• Read aloud to yourself. If your writing doesnt
  sound good aloud, it probably wont read well
  either.
• Check each sentence, one-at-a-time, beginning at
  the last sentence.
• This will allow you to read for grammar,
  punctuation, and mechanics, and not for meaning.

13
The Process is Recursive

• The writing process is not linear.
• At any stage in the process, you may need to
  return to the Invention or Drafting stages.
• Invention doesnt stop when drafting begins it
  continues throughout the process.

14
The Last Step Reflection

• After you have submitted your final draft, you
  should reflect on the process
• What have I learned from writing this paper?
• What worked well for me this time?
• What didnt work for me?
• What should I have done differently?
• What are my goals for my next piece of writing?
• What would I like to try that I havent tried yet?