Monday, July 05, 2004
Drafting
Writing Book I’m reading:
Crafting Prose by Don Richard Cox and Elizabeth Giddens
Chapter 3: Drafting:
Guide to Drafting and Revision:
First you produce writer based prose to get your ideas on paper; then you alter that draft until it becomes reader based prose, or a clear and effective communication of your own ideas, polished and ready for a reader. Remember that your own writing will usually make sense to yourself. Draft, then shape ideas afterwards. It may take more than a couple of drafts before you find your focus.
Don’t put off starting a draft just because you are not sure what you want the finished project to be like.
Finding a Purpose:
Sometimes you already know your purpose when you begin writing. At others, you may discover your purpose after a process (invent, research, and draft).
Thinking about Organization:
Organization is the process by which you determine when to say what.
Remember “form follows function”: Don’t have rigid ideas about the organization. The structure of the work should emerge from the ideas. Don’t force the ideas into a preordained outline or formula.
Tips for organizing:
Jump into drafting to see how you naturally select and organize the ideas.
Group and shuffle note cards.
Fit material into conventional ordering patterns (general to specific; specific to general; order of importance; chronological order; spatial-regional or national; narrow to broad or broad to narrow)
Find a movement for your writing. Consider where you want to begin and end.
Scratch out notes and rough outlines.
Drafting:
The quality of the first draft is not as important as its existence!!! This is not the time to work hard. It is the time to let your mind take your writing where it will. Drafting is discovery.
Drafting quickly and steadily:
Write the easiest or hardest first. The easiest if you need momentum to get going. The hardest if you will stop dreading that and get on with it.
Pace yourself and settle into the project. Set reasonable daily goals.
Expect a draft to be a mess. By having low expectations for it, you won’t resist the changes needed later.
Be critical AFTER the draft, not before or during.
Refer to notes you have made to remind yourself to stay on course and to remember key words.
End drafting when you are at a spot where you know where you want to begin the next day.
FINISH the draft no matter how bad you think it is.
When you begin a new drafting session, read over what you have done before to get you going or spark ideas.
FOCUS/SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITING
What are some of your writing problems?
Getting started is my biggest writing problem. I usually won’t boot up my computer if I don’t have at least an hour or two to devote to writing without interruptions or distractions. I think I would do more writing if I were willing to spend fifteen minutes doing it. I fear that if I did that, by the time I “got going” I’d have to move on to something else, non-writing.
What makes writing rewarding?
I have to say, having someone else read my work. I love positive feedback. Sometimes I even get a kick out of negative feedback if it is presented in an intelligent way. But, having someone say, “I really loved reading that,” is what makes writing rewarding.
Who has influenced you most as a writer? There have been so many wonderful people who have influenced me the past 2 or 3 years that I would find it hard to pick one. Fortunately, they have been very positive. I would have to mention Yahoo! Writing groups; LRWG instructor, Lou; Bea my confession writing teacher; Xanga readers; of course Pat B. who bought my story for True Confessions. I don’t know what was the biggest influence.
How do you go about drafting? I have several different ways of drafting depending on how inspired I am about a particular story. Sometimes I just start writing. These times the entire story is pretty clear in my mind and I know what I’m going to say and where the story will wind up. Other times I use a loose outline, which I, of course, wind up deviating from. Other times, I just write out how the story begins, ideas about the middle, and how I want the story to end. I also know I may wind up deviating from these plans as well. Sometimes just having a general plan or idea down gets me going.
What generalizations can you make about your moods, thoughts, and habits during drafting?
If the story is clear in my mind, I may start writing very quickly as if I hope the ideas won’t just fly away and never return. I think of nothing but what I’m writing. I get grouchy if someone interrupts me when I’m writing this way.
Other times, I don’t know exactly where I’m going with a story. I may be typing or writing slowly and leisurely, staring off into space frequently and thinking on what I want the next sentence or scene to be like. I may consider all the different possibilities for each scene. If this happens what might come next? Or, what if something else happens, what might be the result. These are good times to distract me. When I walk away and do something else for a time, the perfect answer usually comes to me when I am away or when I sit back down to write.
Sometimes when things aren’t flowing at all, I get very frustrated. I usually quit then and come back later. I have problems then, because sometimes it’s either a very long time before I go back to the project or I just forget about it.
Comments-[ comments.]
Crafting Prose by Don Richard Cox and Elizabeth Giddens
Chapter 3: Drafting:
Guide to Drafting and Revision:
First you produce writer based prose to get your ideas on paper; then you alter that draft until it becomes reader based prose, or a clear and effective communication of your own ideas, polished and ready for a reader. Remember that your own writing will usually make sense to yourself. Draft, then shape ideas afterwards. It may take more than a couple of drafts before you find your focus.
Don’t put off starting a draft just because you are not sure what you want the finished project to be like.
Finding a Purpose:
Sometimes you already know your purpose when you begin writing. At others, you may discover your purpose after a process (invent, research, and draft).
Thinking about Organization:
Organization is the process by which you determine when to say what.
Remember “form follows function”: Don’t have rigid ideas about the organization. The structure of the work should emerge from the ideas. Don’t force the ideas into a preordained outline or formula.
Tips for organizing:
Jump into drafting to see how you naturally select and organize the ideas.
Group and shuffle note cards.
Fit material into conventional ordering patterns (general to specific; specific to general; order of importance; chronological order; spatial-regional or national; narrow to broad or broad to narrow)
Find a movement for your writing. Consider where you want to begin and end.
Scratch out notes and rough outlines.
Drafting:
The quality of the first draft is not as important as its existence!!! This is not the time to work hard. It is the time to let your mind take your writing where it will. Drafting is discovery.
Drafting quickly and steadily:
Write the easiest or hardest first. The easiest if you need momentum to get going. The hardest if you will stop dreading that and get on with it.
Pace yourself and settle into the project. Set reasonable daily goals.
Expect a draft to be a mess. By having low expectations for it, you won’t resist the changes needed later.
Be critical AFTER the draft, not before or during.
Refer to notes you have made to remind yourself to stay on course and to remember key words.
End drafting when you are at a spot where you know where you want to begin the next day.
FINISH the draft no matter how bad you think it is.
When you begin a new drafting session, read over what you have done before to get you going or spark ideas.
FOCUS/SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITING
What are some of your writing problems?
Getting started is my biggest writing problem. I usually won’t boot up my computer if I don’t have at least an hour or two to devote to writing without interruptions or distractions. I think I would do more writing if I were willing to spend fifteen minutes doing it. I fear that if I did that, by the time I “got going” I’d have to move on to something else, non-writing.
What makes writing rewarding?
I have to say, having someone else read my work. I love positive feedback. Sometimes I even get a kick out of negative feedback if it is presented in an intelligent way. But, having someone say, “I really loved reading that,” is what makes writing rewarding.
Who has influenced you most as a writer? There have been so many wonderful people who have influenced me the past 2 or 3 years that I would find it hard to pick one. Fortunately, they have been very positive. I would have to mention Yahoo! Writing groups; LRWG instructor, Lou; Bea my confession writing teacher; Xanga readers; of course Pat B. who bought my story for True Confessions. I don’t know what was the biggest influence.
How do you go about drafting? I have several different ways of drafting depending on how inspired I am about a particular story. Sometimes I just start writing. These times the entire story is pretty clear in my mind and I know what I’m going to say and where the story will wind up. Other times I use a loose outline, which I, of course, wind up deviating from. Other times, I just write out how the story begins, ideas about the middle, and how I want the story to end. I also know I may wind up deviating from these plans as well. Sometimes just having a general plan or idea down gets me going.
What generalizations can you make about your moods, thoughts, and habits during drafting?
If the story is clear in my mind, I may start writing very quickly as if I hope the ideas won’t just fly away and never return. I think of nothing but what I’m writing. I get grouchy if someone interrupts me when I’m writing this way.
Other times, I don’t know exactly where I’m going with a story. I may be typing or writing slowly and leisurely, staring off into space frequently and thinking on what I want the next sentence or scene to be like. I may consider all the different possibilities for each scene. If this happens what might come next? Or, what if something else happens, what might be the result. These are good times to distract me. When I walk away and do something else for a time, the perfect answer usually comes to me when I am away or when I sit back down to write.
Sometimes when things aren’t flowing at all, I get very frustrated. I usually quit then and come back later. I have problems then, because sometimes it’s either a very long time before I go back to the project or I just forget about it.
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