1. Generate the Ideas 1. Generate the Ideas
Key verbs for this phase: SPEW and VOMIT
Goal: Empty your head; articulate the ideas. You’re
writing for yourself
•
Write whole sentences or phrases; avoid
keywords
•
Write down the silly and half-baked ideas too
•
Turn off the internal editor/censor
•
Don’t wait for a fully-formed idea; write down
what you’ve got
•
Use the words you have to attract the words you
want
•
Let your mind roam
•
Don’t avoid conflict—list pros and cons
•
Talk to yourself—these are private notes
•
You don’t get the idea and then write. You write
to get the idea.
•
Focus on QUANTITY—let the QUALITY take
care of itself
•
Generate more text than you think you’ll need
Move on to the next stage when you feel nothing
new is coming out.
Take a Break
•
Take a long break if you can afford it.
•
If time presses, divide the effort into thirds: spend
a third of your time on generating, a third
composing, a third expressing.
2. Compose the Ideas
Label the ideas with topic headings
1.
Print out your ideas file and label lines,
paragraphs, chunks of prose with topic headings.
2.
Write marginalia, annotations, additions on
separate paper. But do it quick; don’t linger.
3.
With ideas on paper to react to, you’ll get more
ideas. Write them down.
4.
You’re still writing for yourself. Don’t force
anything.
5.
Don’t worry about sequence; that comes later.
Just tag your ideas.
THINKING ON PAPER CHEATSHEET
Take a break
•
Congratulate yourself on the amount of raw prose
you’ve written.
•
Live with your ideas without the pressure of full
concentration.
Retype the topical draft
Yes, retype it. The whole thing.
1.
Group the topics together. Incorporate the
marginalia, annotations, and additions.
2.
If you feel inspired, add stuff, but don’t force it.
3.
Add little corrections, linking phrases, subtle
changes along the way. But don’t force them.
You’re still writing for yourself.
4.
Think of this activity as mainly retyping, though
more than that is going on.
Rewriting is rethinking. You’re re-engaging with
your material, turning what was static thinking into
active thinking.
Think of it as reshuffling, neatening your notes.
You want to keep the pressure off. Tell yourself this is
mainly mechanical, a clean-up operation.
This is your FIRST DRAFT.
Take a break
Bask in the warm glow of your productivity.
You’ve proven to yourself that you have lots of ideas
and you have lots to say.
Sequence the topics
1.
Print out the topical first draft.
2.
Mark with arrows, numbers, letters, etc. a
sequence or sets of sequences.
3.
Mark some areas “Intro,” “Conclusion,” “Main
Body,” “Supporting Evidence,” etc.
Now you’re starting to transition from writing for
yourself to writing for your reader. Think about the
arrangement of topics that will convince your reader.
Note to yourself the connections among the
various items. Add connecting phrases: this
suggests, moreover, on the other hand, etc. Seal
those relations for yourself and your reader.
This is your SECOND DRAFT.
Take a break.
3. Express the Ideas
This is the performance part of writing, where
you’re onstage.
Goal: Communicating with others.
Now’s the time to worry about style, grammar,
formatting, language, tone, etc. But it should be
easier since you’re now editing structured prose, not
generating and figuring out ideas on the fly.
Sharpen your ideas and arguments. For every
statement, ask “So what?” and “Specify!” as ways to
clarify points and to anticipate stupid reader questions
and stupid reader objections.
Retype
You knew that was coming. Remember: rewriting is
rethinking, no matter how mechanical it feels.
Experience your writing as the reader will experience
it: one word at a time.
This is an advanced stage of revision. The big
pieces should be in place by now. So keep the
changes small, unless the big changes easily suggest
themselves.
Sleep on this draft.
Read it aloud. You’ll be surprised at the small but
important changes that pop out at you.
Show it to others. Get their opinion on how to make
it stronger.
Monitoring Your Progress
Writing is a continuous process of generation,
composition, and expression. Phases are repeated
and sometimes combined (particularly the last stages
of revision).
You may skip from one phase to another,
sometimes to good effect, sometimes not.
Be aware of where you are in the process. Try to
keep generating, composing, and expressing
sequential. Avoid blocks or confusion from doing too
much at once or reaching for a final effect too early.
http://brownstudy.pbwiki.com/f/mikestipsheet.pdf
Page 1 of 2
THINKING ON PAPER CHEATSHEET
Evil Metaphors & Cliches 1
(anything) from hell
a laugh a minute
a question mark hangs over
about face
ahead of the curve
all in due time
all the way to the bank
at the end of the day
at this point in time (prefer “now”)
barking up the wrong tree
bated breath
bear fruit
bend over backwards
better late than never
blazing inferno
braindump
brainstorm
break down barriers
brutal reminder
building bridges
burn the midnight oil
burning bridges
business at hand
call it a day
carnival atmosphere
chew the fat
clean bill of health
cookie cutter
devil is in the details
dog eat dog
dog in the fight
due to (prefer "owing to" or "because of")
eat your own dog food
firestorm
firing on all cylinders
fly by night
food fight
freak accident
full-scale search
gangbusters
get a handle on
grease the skids
herding cats
holding feet to the fire
horror smash
hot pursuit
impact (as a verb)
in order to (prefer "to")
in the black
in the nick of time
in the red
last-ditch effort
leaning forward in the saddle
leave no stone unturned
Evil Metaphors & Cliches 2
left at the altar
lessons learned
let a thousand flowers bloom
level playing field
long pole in the tent
low-hanging fruit
may or may not (may implies "may not")
nose to the grindstone
not ready for prime time
on a weekly basis
on steroids
open a can of worms
outpouring of support
proactive (one is either active or inactive)
quite frankly
red herring
reinvent the wheel
run it up the flag pole
rushed to the scene
same sheet of music
sense of urgency
showstopper
shrouded in mystery
silos
slippery slope
sooner rather than later
split second
stove pipe
straw man
survival of the fittest
synergy
talk off line
teach how to fish
tense standoff
the cart before the horse
the eleventh hour
the fact (of the matter) is
the long and short of it is
think outside the box
time after time
time and again
time heals all wounds
time is money
time is running out
to be honest with you
touch base
unsung heroes
up the ante
utilize (prefer “use”)
wealth of experience
wipe the slate clean
with all due respect
work in a vacuum
zero tolerance
Evil Passive Verbs
is, am, are, was, were, be, being, been, I'm,
it's, he's, here's, she's, that's, there's, they're,
we're, what's, who's, you're
Books
Thinking on Paper by VA Howard & JH Barton
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
Art & Fear by David Bayles & Ted Orlando
Revising Business Prose by Richard Lanham
(or any of his books on revising prose)
URLs
Continuous revision process
http://markforster.net/index.php?view=38
Paramedic Method for Revising Prose
http://www.yale.edu/bass/2paramedic.html
Mike Shea’s writing tips PDF
http://mikeshea.net/writing_tips.pdf
See how this presentation evolved:
http://brownstudy.pbwiki.com/InlsFinalProject
Remember…
• Don’t wait for the Muse. Writing is an activity,
something you do—it is not something that
happens to you.
• Inspiration doesn’t strike when you’re
writing—it strikes when you’re in the shower.
• Writing is like prospecting for gold.
Sometimes we make a lucky find of a nugget
on the ground, but most of the time, it takes a
lot of sifting to find the precious metal in the
sand.
• Use the words you have to find the words
you want.
Diagnosing Prose Problems
1. Circle the prepositions (before, after, in, on,
to, apart, for, into, above, from, by, beside,
over, among, through, around, between, etc.)
2. Circle the "to be" forms.
3. Ask "Who is kicking whom?"
4. Put this action (the "kicking") in a simple
active verb.
5. Start fast—no mindless introductions.
6. Watch out for “shun” forms
(recommendation, initiation, interpretation,
etc.)
7. For each sentence, mark off its basic
rhythmic units with “/”. How monotonous does
the passage sound?
8. Read the passage aloud with emphasis and
feeling.
9. Mark off sentence lengths in a passage with
“/”. Do sentence lengths vary?
Process Variations
Continuous revision. Generate ideas, think
in full sentences, but stay inside one file.
Revising and embellishing, not retyping. Every
time you go back, you add more to it. Works
best with the "little and often" strategy. Good
for when you want to teach yourself about a
specific topic.
Oral presentation with no final written
product. Generate, organize, and sequence
the ideas as explained. Use these as the basis
of your outline. If you don’t want to use notes
during your presentation: Open a blank file
and type out your presentation without
referring to your notes. See if you own the
information.
Orwell s Questions
• What am I trying to say?
• What words will express it?
• What image or idiom will make it clearer?
• Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?
• Could I put it more shortly?
• Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly?
Orwell s Rules
• Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure
of speech which you are used to seeing in
print.
• Never us a long word where a short one will
do.
• If it is possible to cut a word out, cut it out.
• Never use the passive where you can use
the active.
• Never use a foreign phrase, scientific word,
or jargon if you can think of an everyday
English equivalent.
• Break any of these rules sooner than say
anything outright barbarous.
Causes of Writer s Block
• Doing too many things at once. For example,
expressing ideas before they’re fully
articulated.
• Trying to get it right the first time.
Believing you need to have the right words
now, instead of writing now and finding the
words later.
• “Real writers only do first drafts.”
• Waiting for the Muse / inspiration / your
subconscious to gift you with ideas.
Fear. Dread. Boredom.
• “All I need is will power and self-discipline.”
