We talk a lot about the "Writing Process" in freshman composition and creative writing classes (and some other classes, too), yet it always seems to be something abstract, a remnant of the 1970s mentality that discovered it. Yet do we really think about our own process? In today's individualized, "me first" society, the Writing Process should be a perfect fit. But my students don't seem willing or interested in exploring the way they write, not just their content. It's not unexpected, at least not by me; we also live in a society that expects instant results, and generating a bunch of ideas that we may throw away and not use just seems inefficient and wasteful.
The use of computers has changed the way we view writing as well – why take the time to do a bunch of stuff by hand when you can just key it in all at once? The logical sense of the wired world seems to fly in the face of the messiness of the human mind. Yet our minds are every bit as messy as they've always been – we don't think in a linear, robotic fashion. We have thoughts and ideas floating or flying by all the time (some of us more than others). Applications like Microsoft's OneNote (which I've only just started playing with) seem to be designed to cater to our messy, pigeonholed natures. I would love to do an extended study on using OneNote as a prewriting tool, in an electronic classroom with real students. Hopefully, Holmes will have a Writing Lab before too long and I'll be able to get a grant for that or something.
But there's still a use for the Writing Process, and maybe somebody is working on adapting it for the internet age (although the "internet age" has been around for a while).
OK, now I'm Googling it; here are some choice returns:
http://edweb.sdsu.edu/courses/edtec596r/students/Marushige/Marushige.html
http://www.edtechleaders.org/Resources/Readings/UpperElemLiteracy/Wood_ComputersWriting.htm
http://technologysource.org/article/writing_process_in_a_multimedia_environment/
http://www.tojet.net/articles/548.pdf
…just a few examples. Looks like a lot has been done on this. That's nice. I'm actually going to study this stuff. If you're one of my students, get ready for some computer-oriented "stuff."
But at its base, the Writing Process is just that – the way we write as individuals. Everybody's process is different. The "steps" are just basic categories the researchers came up with to describe the general work writers do. Each writer approaches his or her tasks uniquely, and the process can change depending on the nature of the task.
For instance, I am a technical writer for a living. My process for creating and maintaining Help and other software-related documents is different than that I use for other types of writing. I do a lot of prewriting – when a new feature comes up or something is changed in the software, I take a lot of notes in meetings where they tell us about what's being done. I draw screens where necessary and diagrams and whatever else I need so I'll understand what's being done. Then I draft based on those notes; I pick and choose the things my users need to know and take out the stuff that's for internal use only, or which they just don't need to know for whatever reason. I will often draft in my release notes, then transfer that draft (marking an additional revision, based on the fact that Help and release notes are aimed at different audiences) into the Help. My documents change form (and sometimes format) numerous times as the documents are revised and improved via meetings with my collaborators and the people who are doing the programming and testing. Quite often something will be rewritten in a grammatically incorrect way, so I have to fix it; that's always fun. It's constant revision and editing, and multiple drafts.
When I write for myself, my process is different. I don't have any collaborators, and I have nobody to please but myself (I do believe in an audience for poetry and fiction, but that's another blog). I tend to prewrite in form, meaning I don't freewrite or list or draw circles or any of that stuff; if I'm drafting a poem, I do it with linebreaks and a structure that finds itself as I write. Now, I have published poems that were first drafts, and I've done hundreds of drafts of poems nobody wants and everything in between, so I don't claim any success with any number of drafts. It all depends on the piece. I've even published a few short stories and magazine articles that were first drafts. If I'm "in the zone," I let it carry me. This, by the way, has not happened in a long time. When I was writing every day, it was much easier to get "in the zone." Now it's very difficult. I haven't written much of anything since I moved into my apartment. But I am inspired and energized by diving in and playing around with form from the get go. Mark Cox used to fuss at me about not prewriting properly, because he does; all I could say was that I found meaning in the form as well as the content, and they evolved together. If I'm going to freewrite, what comes out of that freewrite is likely to be prose. I'm not going to shove linebreaks into it for the sake of making a poem.
This is getting long. I could talk about the Writing Process all day; it's fascinating to think about the way you write, or the way you do anything and why. Think about the way you write, and why you do it that way. A few minor adjustments can make your writing more efficient and more effective in the long run as you find yourself not having to start from scratch when you need new information.
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