A Heavy Reviser's journey to success!
Bellow is a lone college student's musings on her writing process.
What type(s) of writer do you consider yourself to be?
What type(s) of writer do you consider yourself to be?
As a writer, I would define myself as being a
Heavy Reviser. Drafts and outlines are tools that, though universally encouraged in English
classes, I have never found to be helpful. Rather, writing
comes most easily to me when I stop thinking, and start doing. Revision, of
course, is required after, as my brain does not always take into account
certain formalities when working so quickly.
Does your writing process include several of the above approaches? If so, which ones?
I believe all writers are equipped with a
variety of approaches to their writing process. I personally though would not
at all place myself under the "Procrastinators" group. Writing has
never been a burden to me. It easily surpasses Chemistry homework on my to-do
list. As such, it is completed well before deadlines (with Chemistry on the back-burner).
In a more technical sense, I am much like a
Sequential Composer in my attention to detail when it comes to revising. And,
as stated above, I relate very well to the Heavy Revisers, as I like to write
first and perfect later.
Does your writing process seem to be successful? What are the strengths and weaknesses of your approach?
After many, many English classes, I do finally believe that I have found the approach that best suits me. I enjoy writing, and as such, am always open to becoming better. My strengths are in creative and reflection writing. My weakness would definitely be on the flip-side of creative writing: genres which are blunt and lack embellishment. My approach is appropriate for lengthy writings, and not concise ones.
Do you think it might be beneficial for you to try a different approach? Why or why not?
I absolutely think it would be beneficial to try a different approach. As I mentioned above, my approach limits the genres of writing that I can succeed in. By switching my way of writing, I could broaden my skills and become successful in all the many areas of writing.
Reflection:
When reading Mika's Post, I was instantly inspired by their explanation of their own traditional writing process. It was very unlike my own, as he prefers to draw inspiration from occurrences in everyday life. We were similar in the fact though that we both believe we could benefit from a more structured form a writing. It was nice knowing I am not online in my avoidance of structured writing.
In Nick's Post I was laughing instantly. His view of writing and blogging as the "devil" was something I could relate to, though not on our feelings about writing. It reminded me a lot of my post, as I mentioned my dislike of chemistry! We both also mutually agree that we could definitely benefit from a little less procrastination every now and then.
Does your writing process seem to be successful? What are the strengths and weaknesses of your approach?
After many, many English classes, I do finally believe that I have found the approach that best suits me. I enjoy writing, and as such, am always open to becoming better. My strengths are in creative and reflection writing. My weakness would definitely be on the flip-side of creative writing: genres which are blunt and lack embellishment. My approach is appropriate for lengthy writings, and not concise ones.
Do you think it might be beneficial for you to try a different approach? Why or why not?
I absolutely think it would be beneficial to try a different approach. As I mentioned above, my approach limits the genres of writing that I can succeed in. By switching my way of writing, I could broaden my skills and become successful in all the many areas of writing.
Reflection:
When reading Mika's Post, I was instantly inspired by their explanation of their own traditional writing process. It was very unlike my own, as he prefers to draw inspiration from occurrences in everyday life. We were similar in the fact though that we both believe we could benefit from a more structured form a writing. It was nice knowing I am not online in my avoidance of structured writing.
In Nick's Post I was laughing instantly. His view of writing and blogging as the "devil" was something I could relate to, though not on our feelings about writing. It reminded me a lot of my post, as I mentioned my dislike of chemistry! We both also mutually agree that we could definitely benefit from a little less procrastination every now and then.
I was very interested in reading about your writing process. I also identify as a sequential composer, but also as a procrastinator. I liked your specific mention of Chemistry homework as I am the complete opposite. I can see how heavy revising would apply very well to longer writings, and I wish you the best in writing the shorter, more concise ones. I know you said you don't typically find outlines to be helpful, but I love them and I much prefer more to the point writing, so if you're trying to be brief in writing they might be useful.
ReplyDeleteHello! I was reading through your blog post, and I realized that we have some things in common. For example, I would classify myself to be a heavy reviser as well.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I have some questions for you to consider:
1) Has your writing style stayed the same or changed over the course of the semester?
2) Did the planning and pre-writing that was involved in the course work help or hurt your writing process overall?
3) In what ways can your current writing style improve?
1) Though I would say that my writing style has stayed the same through the semester, I would definitely say my writing process has changed. This course has placed a heavy emphasis on structure and conventions over pure writing. The different sorts of projects we did really helped to broaden my understanding of how my writing process works, and what's best for me.
Delete2) This question was a 50/50 sort of thing for me. Much of what we did to prepare for the projects was helpful to me. The course was laid out in a way that ensured we couldn't get lost; however, I found that the outlines were not very beneficial to me. I would make them to ensure I received the grade, but I found that (for all three of our projects) my final product never ended up looking like what my outline suggested.
3) There are so many ways in which my writing style could improve. This course has showed me, in particular, that I need to start broadening my writing style. High school for me consisted of multiple essays. This mode of writing was almost entirely dropped in this course. I found it was very helpful for me in finding out how I could expand my knowledge as a writer. A blunt answer to your question: I need to explore more!!
Thank you for your questions! =)