Introduction to Composing as a Process Summary
The misconception about writing that it is looked upon as the final written piece, not as a “process” which it really is. Writing is a long extensive process of “exploring, planning, drafting and revising.” It also a process that involves repeating the stage of drafting. Many scholars articulate that writing not only helps us write something on a page but also discover and find new ideas.
Freewriting Summary
Freewriting is amongst the best ways to improve your writing. The most common mistake that is made by many potential writers is that they focus on making their writing sound perfect from the first word they write. This is where the freewriting exercise helps one out. It forces a writer to write without any stops or breaks for editing or to make what is written sound better in any. In fact, in the reading, it is said that most of the times when we speak well, it is not because of the fact that we got the beginning “right”, but because we kept going. In other words, although editing is important, it should be the last phase of the writing process.
Shitty First Drafts Summary
This reading further emphasizes the concept and importance of editing. It is said that the first draft should always be dealt with as the “child’s draft.” In other words, the first draft should just serve for a person to jot down his ideas, disregarding how it sounds or what it’s structure looks like. The second draft is where one makes the changes and “fix it up.” The third, or final (depending on the writer), draft is where the finishing touches are given to the piece. In a sense, it is the dental draft where one looks over every tooth to see if everything fits and is “healthy.” Lastly, one important thing to keep in mind is that the “voices” that encourages one to make everything seem perfect should be ignored at all means, especially at the first draft, or else the work would only sound fancy but the overall content would be of very low quality.
Response
All three articles were primarily based on the techniques that are highly recommended to improve your writing. The article about freewriting was the most intriguing one for me as since childhood I have been told to do free writes and I never knew how to write it and more importantly, how is this going to benefit my writing as a whole. But after reading this article, I understand that I need to do more of these free writes because it will help me focus on what to write about rather than how to write it. One connection that seems prevalent throughout all these readings is that it encourages the writers to divide up their work: planning, drafting and then editing. In addition to this, one should give enough time to each of these stages. In other words, writing is not a process that can be done in one sitting.