writing

Embrace the Chaos

| Alicia

While the idea of an author sitting down and writing out a story, line by line, is nice, that’s rarely how writing works.

Writing is a messy and chaotic process. Sure, in my classes I teach the writing process, but that always comes with the caveat, “writing is a recursive process.” AKA: writing is messy.

Part of that is because writing is the intersection where thought and language crash together.

Chaos is the source of writing. Everything that will go into writing is mixed in that chaos, somewhere. And you don’t have to know what you’re going to write before you write it. 

[Proceed] without a concern for ‘thesis statements’ and all the claptrap that goes with the irrational maxim, ‘Don’t write until you know what you want to say!’ Knowing that chaos is the source is the condition of knowing how to use it .

Ann Berthoff, a big name in writing theory

How to write with the chaos

Once you accept that chaos is part of the writing process, you won’t feel so attacked when your writing is chaotic.

#175 - It’s Always Darkest Before the Dawn

Let it be.

Accept the chaos, and keep working. It may feel more and more chaotic as you write, but then, right as you are ready to give up, your writing will coalesce, come together as a nonchaotic piece of writing that just clicks.

Writing academic papers: resource roundup

| Alicia

Here are some of my favorite resources for writing academic papers.

Google docs. Free and simple word processor. Word and Pages are also common software, but I prefer free and easy.

My library’s website. The BEST place to start research is your library’s website, which subscribes to academic resources. Google Scholar is okay, but not my fav.

Purdue OWL. I LOVE this online writing lab, especially for citation. I use MLA most, but Purdue OWL also helps with APA, Chicago, and other obscure citation formats.

The Risk of Writing–and it’s not the reason you think

| Alicia

Writing is hard. It’s risky, too, because it is an act that exposes ourselves–who we are–to others.

Thus writing puts one at high risk, evoking great potential for anxiety. As George Herbert Mead (1962) and other social thinkers have noticed, the response of the other is central to our processes of identity formation and perception of ourselves as social actors.

Charles Bazerman

You ever lie in bed, remembering something stupid you said five years ago? Writing is like that, only it’s in your face, ALL THE TIME. Instead of just a bad memory, you can see the awkwardness of your writing, right there.

And so can everyone else. If you say something dumb, people might remember it. But if you write something dumb, people see it, read it, have it in front of them, and can criticize it a lot more than a word that disappears as soon as it’s said.

PLUS, so much of our writing is evaluated in school, and there’s nothing like a grade to create anxiety.

Thus putting ourselves “on the line” with writing creates psychological resistances, opportunities for failures of courage, backing away from our statements, insecurities and uncertainties, and general lack of clarity of thought.

Charles Bazerman

No wonder writing is so hard!

How to Fail Checklist

| Alicia

Failing is a part of successful writing. That’s why teachers are forever assigning drafts: rough draft, peer draft, revised draft. Even the final piece you turn in is still called a final draft.

Almost no writing is great the first time (or the second, seventh, and maybe the 23rd). Probably because there are so many moving pieces, so many aspects to consider, and our brain can only do so much at a time. So here’s how to fail so you can write better:

  • Write out your thoughts. They’ll be messy and make no sense. 
    • Misspell lots–it’s okay. 
    • Don’t worry about grammar or even complete sentences.
    • Pictures are good, too. Crappy little stick figures are my fav.
  • Now that you have SOMETHING on your page (though it fails as an essay), start looking for patterns. Move things that seem to match together.
    • Still failing! This is nothing like a good paper. Great job.
  • Need to add anything? Some research or new thoughts? Go ahead–you’re failing anyway, there’s no harm in adding things, even if they might not work.
  • Write out your thoughts in complete sentences. Your paper will still fail, don’t worry.
  • Add transitions between paragraphs.
  • Feel free to write an intro and conclusion. I never write an intro or conclusion first, often because I have no idea what I’m going to say until I say it.
  • Read your paper out loud and bask in all the mistakes you catch. More failure, yay!
  • Turn in your paper. Congratulations! You failed your way to a good paper.

Every stage except the last (and maybe still then) includes failure. And that’s okay. It’s a good thing. In their book on writing, Richard Young, Alton Becker, and Kenneth Pike talk about “the necessity of making mistakes”:

We are all reluctant to make errors, but without a willingness to make them, original inquiry is impossible. Inquiry normally proceeds by a succession of increasingly intelligent mistakes.

Rhetoric: Discovery and Change by Young, Becker, and Pike

Young, Becker, and Pike also say that false starts, hard work, and inadequate hypotheses are normal, maybe even required for innovative thought.

Cheat Sheet: words and phrases to use in your paper

| Alicia

Phrases

Not sure what to say in your paper? The brilliant book They Say, I Say, by Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein, is ready to help, chock-full of phrases you can use in your paper.

For example, if you want to talk about something another person assumed, you can use this template: ” Although X does not say so directly, she apparently assumes that __________. “

For a quick view of some templates, try this pdf, which also features a list of common transitions you can use.

Transitions

Here are some more transitions you may find helpful:

Word choice

Consider adding these when you’re revising: