Writing Analytically, 6th Edition - Rosenwasser, David & Stephen, Jill [19]
Tips for Managing the Writing Process
Start anywhere that gets you going. The writing process is nonlinear. Very few writers simply begin at the beginning and write straight through to the end. Sometimes your best bet is to write individual paragraphs and then arrange them later.
Allow yourself to write a crummy first draft if that is how you work best. Get something on paper before worrying about what others might think of it. A writer’s assumptions about his or her audience can help to generate writing but can also create writer’s block. When you get stuck or frustrated, don’t worry—just keep writing.
If you draft on a computer, try not to hit delete prematurely. Instead, rename each of your drafts. Hang on to false starts; they may help you later.
Postpone anxiety about grammar and spelling and style. You can revise and correct your draft once you have given yourself the opportunity to discover what you want to say.
Know that what works for one writer might not work for another. There is no one right way to conduct the writing process. Some writers need to outline; other writers need to write first and then might use outlining later to figure out what is going on in their drafts. Some writers absolutely must write an introduction before they can move forward. Others need to jump in elsewhere and write the introduction last. Experiment! Devote some time to finding out what works for you.
Put your unconscious on the job. You can’t always write through an act of will. Sometimes, when the words aren’t coming, it helps to go do something else—take a shower, go for a walk. Often you will find that a part of your brain has remained on the job. We call this resource in the writing process the back-burner—the place where things keep quietly stewing while you are thinking about something else. If you are really stuck, take some notes right before bedtime and write as soon as you wake in the morning.
HOW TO THINK ABOUT GRAMMAR AND STYLE (BEYOND ERROR-CATCHING)
A mantra of the book is that a sentence is the shape that thought takes. The goal of the book’s treatment of grammar and style is to get you to refocus your attention from anxiety about error-detection to particular interest in the structures of sentences.
Many people are unduly anxious about grammar—so much so that they have trouble writing. Error-avoidance is important in the final stages of drafting, but it is also a very limited and limiting perspective on sentences. Instead, look at sentences in terms of logic and rhetoric. Ask yourself, “So what that the sentence is constructed in the way that it is? How does this shape relate to the way of thinking that the sentence contains?”
You need at least a minimal amount of grammatical terminology for understanding the shapes of sentences. Try to acquire this vocabulary as early in a writing course as you can. You need to be able to recognize and construct the following: dependent clause, independent clause, simple sentence, compound sentence, complex sentence, compound-complex sentence, cumulative sentence, periodic sentence. (See Chapter 18.)
Because punctuation makes sentence shapes visible, you should also know the basics of punctuation. In particular, learn the primary rules governing commas. (No, the fact that you pause is not a reliable indicator.) See the short guide to punctuation early in Chapter 19.
Once you orient yourself toward thinking about the shapes of sentences, you will be able to use sentences that clarify for readers the way you organize your ideas and place emphasis. You will maximize your choices and increase your persuasive power. When analyzing the sentences of others, this knowledge will give you insight into the writer’s thinking: how the ideas are ranked and connected.
As for error-catching, you can revise and correct your draft once you’ve given yourself the opportunity to discover what you want to say. And,