Are You Really Who You Thought You Were? By: Scott McAnaul
What type of writer are you? Are you a one draft, or a multi draft writer? (Harris) Do you sit down and write one draft and that is what you go with, or do you write multiple drafts and then choose which one you like best? Most of us, including myself are probably somewhere in the middle. I am going to take you into my mind for a day and run you through the processes that I go through to get the best writing out of me.
Whenever a paper is assigned, I immediately begin thinking about what direction I want to take the paper. Do I want to challenge a point, or do I want to tell a story? I make hundreds of decisions in my head before I even turn on my computer. First off I have to get in the right state of mind. If I can’t think about the topic I am writing about clearly, then I will go do something else. If I begin my writing without the right state of mind, my paper will go in the completely opposite direction of what I intended it to. I have to be alone whenever I begin to start writing. My mind simply cannot function when I can hear other people’s voices, their words will get jumbled with mine and I lose focus. In Kent Haruf's article To See Your Story Clearly, Start
by Pulling the Wool over Your Own Eyes, he describes his ideal writing spot. He prefers a coal room in his basement, sitting at a desk covered with little souvenirs that don't really mean much to him but help him write (Haruf 312). For me my perfect writing spot is at my desk alone, listening to all of my favorite songs. I was asked to make notes of my habits as I did a paper for an English class, so I will share these with you throughout this article. Usually for me the actual typing process begins about 48 hours before I need to turn the paper in. I will sit down and start writing what I have been thinking about in my head for the past couple of days or weeks, however long it has been. Just like Anne Lamott says in her article Shitty First Drafts, no one can have a perfect draft the
first time, mine is no exception but I will make corrections as I go (Lamott 301). My first goal is to make the introduction very interesting so I can catch the readers attention. A boring introduction will make people not want to read anything else. After a successful introduction I will begin writing the bulk of the paper. I usually hit my first of many writer's blocks around the time I start on the second page. This was my first of the eight breaks I took throughout writing the paper. These breaks were randomly taken whenever I needed to go to the bathroom, eat, or just do something else to get my mind off of the paper. I am the type of person that can't sit still in an hour long class, so there is no possible way that I could sit down for hours without taking a break. After I got back from the first break I was able to sit down and pick up where I left off without having to go back and read what I already had written. The one time I tried to fight through my writer's block, I sat there and stared at the computer screen re-reading everything I had previously written. I was not able to continue unless I stopped and did something to take my mind off of it. As I continue the writing process I have to make small, quick decisions about whether or not I like how a sentence came out or not, and many other things. A lot of times the ideas I had in my head about this amazing paper I was about to write sometimes just don't come out as planned. This happens to everyone so I try to not get discouraged and I will unfortunately just settle with something I don't like as much and move on. As Muriel Harris states in her work Composing behaviors of One and Multi Draft Writers, people who write only one draft have problems getting the most out of their work (Harris). After writing some more and a few breaks later I finally get to the closing argument. Again, like the introduction paragraph this is very important. It always takes me a long time to figure out exactly how I want to word the last thing the readers will remember me by. I don't want to make the readers feel as if I am not giving them closure on the article, but I don't want to repeat myself too many times either.
Once the first draft is done, this is when I usually go through and start making changes where I feel necessary. I try not to focus too much on the grammar and punctuation aspect yet because that can be corrected at the end. I am looking for sentences that I can cut out, paragraphs to be moved around so the paper flows better, and more of the bigger details that I think will alter the way it is read. Every paper I write I give to someone else and have them read it. Then they tell me what they thought my main point of the article was. If they have a different view from how I wanted it to go, then it is back to the drawing boards for me. I don't ever want a reader to feel confused or not understand what I meant by something so I try and write in a way where it is easy to do so. The third time I go through my paper I start looking for every little misspelled word or punctuation mark that is wrong. I learned a lot about who I was as a writer that I would never have had the chance to do unless I had done this “experiment” on myself. I now know that I am both a one draft and multi draft writer. I come up with many different ideas in my head I just don't let them get on paper like multi draft writers do. I also learned that I never feel rushed or pressured to get it done in time, I always finish my work when I need to no matter how long I take to start it. Whether or not you write the same way as I do, everyone has their own ways to do something. You may find my writing process to be the complete opposite of how yours is. I'm not here to tell you which one is right or wrong because honestly I don't think there is a right or wrong way to do so. As long as you get your point across and you make something that makes you happy then I would consider it a successful paper!
Works Cited
Harris, Muriel. Composing Behaviors Of One And Multi Draft Writers. Vol. 54. National Council of Teachers of English. J Stor. Web.
Haruf, Kent. To See Your Story Clearly, Start by Pulling the Wool over Your Own Eyes. New York Times. 20 Nov. 2000.
Lamott, Anne. Shitty First Drafts. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. New York: Anchor, 1994. Print
Wardle, Elizabeth, and Doug Downs. Writing About Writing: A College Reader. Boston: n.p., n.d. Print.