Writing six to eight pages can be a frightening task. The beginning of my writing process usually begins with a staring contest with the infamous blinking cursor on my disturbingly blank laptop screen. Racing thoughts of my how I should embody my thoughts into words are usually marred by the overwhelming notion of writing a long six to eight pages of my defense of those thoughts.
To this day, I have difficulty starting a written piece. This isn’t only because of the length, even though that does contribute its own fear factor, but also because of my desire for my work to reflect my thought process…my ‘genius’. I know this sounds selfish and conceited, but I think that most people who want to succeed write selfishly. This perfectionist quality is a blessing and a curse. Although it takes me a long while before my fingers begin hitting the keyboard’s keys, I end up with something I’m proud of, and something others will appreciate just as much (every writer’s dream come true). It does not matter whether it’s a fear or writing a long paper or if its just a fear of putting something that you think wont reflect your clever ideas (OR probably both), starting to write has plagues many amateur writers. So the question remains: what’s the best way to start writing?
I answer with a vague, “depends on how you like to write and what you want your work to reflect.” However, the ability to begin writing begins with the writer’s courage to get past his/her own needs; in that, he/she should not be intimidated about hitting the ‘bulls-eye’ on their first shot. We do, after all, have revisions. I found that if I start my essay with random thoughts and putting down whatever comes to mind instead of writing and re-writing my first line several time, then it becomes much easier to piece my thoughts together and go over the aesthetics later (which is much easier to change than the coherence of an essay.)
This advice, while useful, is much harder than it sounds. Letting go of the mindset with which you want to write your essay and the mindset that you think will make your essay ‘good’ is a very difficult task. A writer has to learn what it means to write not for the sake of one’s own pride before he can actually write to give his/her ego a little boost. I’ve been told this a thousand times over, and I’ve only recently taken it into account; I always thought I would, in some way, compromise my essays worth. It’s most definitely a difficult thing to do, but I urge those who want an experiment to try to see if they can be more time-efficient and, perhaps, even more proud of what they write.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Wanting your work to reflect your "genius," as you mentioned, is not the underlying problem, or at least, not as I see it.
The problem is that at the start of a paper I have no idea what I want to say; usually I choose to write about poems/texts that I do not in the slightest understand in the hopes that after the paper I will "get" them. This habit makes it rather hard to come up with a coherent introduction off the bat.
I agree that the best method is probably to write what does come to mind and organize/refine later, but my point in commenting was more that even in writing the final draft you MUST write to have your intelligence visible on paper; the difference is, by the final draft you know exactly what you are talking about.
I agree with both of you. I think the best method to write is just writing whatever comes to your head. Well at least things that make sense because people can write pretty weird things if you think about it.
I also agree with what Pavel said about writing for a purpose and not trying to "hit 'bull's eye' in the first shot." Because almost no one is perfect enough to write a masterpiece in their first try. It always has to be how much effort someone put in the paper, and how much background does that person have in writing. As the famous expression goes, "Practice makes perfect." But i would like to modify to make that A LOT of Practice makes perfect (lol).
Ahh the dreaded blinking cursor, it always pops up unexpected and unwanted! Especially when in a time pressured event, where you NEED to get something on paper, and fast... that is when it happens. Dun dun dun, the arrival of the blinking cursor. It may seem comical now that its over, but its the most irritating thing to happen when faced with a challenge, and a paper to write.
I think it is mostly about the pressure put on ones self. For me, the blinking cursor only pops up when I am under some extreme pressure to write something, like starting your paper at midnight, the night before it is due. But I have come to feel as though, if I write down on paper my basic thoughts a few days before, than it comes easy, especially when I give myself plenty of time to write the paper.
The best strategy in my oppinion, which I admit I myself rarely fallow, is to start at least 4 days early.
The 1st day, jot down thoughts, and what you want your paragraphs to focus on, respective to the paper as a whole.
The next day, start the paper. Whether you finished it or not, make a start and print it out.
Then take a day off and return the fourth day. Read you hard copy and write all over it, expand and contract the necessary paragraphs and length of the paper, and delete repetition. Try to prove yourself wrong, and then expand in your paper on why your right. This will make for a stronger arguement. You may find that you want to take the opposite position, which you have time to do because you have your formulated idea, and skeleton to build on. This last step is where I always really figure out what I am writing about, and what my stance is.
So with these steps, it is okay to not be sure of your arguement, and to actually have both sides in one paper. Because that last and essential step will give you the time you need, and the foundation you need to pick your final stance, and strengthen it.
When I have the blinking cursor disease... usually right before the paper is due, I condense these steps into one night, and it really helps to at least get a rough draft in. :-)
I agree with your sentiments on time efficiency. The combination of the difficult of the piece you are writing about and the length factor render trying to "one shot" the paper an inapt strategy. This is probably one of the greatest changes I've had to make to my writing process. Before, getting started on writing something was generally very quick for me, but these last two papers presented a much greater challenge.
Post a Comment