Identifying Composing Style
From Lisa Ede’s Work in Progress.
Identifying Composing Styles
…Even though all writers engage in planning, drafting, and revising, they do so in a variety of ways.
Furthermore, no one approaches every writing task in the same way. (For this reason, it is more accurate to
refer to writing processes rather than the writing process.) Instead, a writer will decide how to approach a
writing assignment based on such factors as the nature and importance of the writing task, the schedule, the
experience the writer has with a particular kind of writing, and so on.
Most experienced writers do, however, have a preferred way of managing the writing process.
Some writers devote the most energy to planning, while others focus more on revising. Still others focus
equally on planning, organizing, and revising.
Heavy Planners. …heavy planners generally consider their ideas and plan their writing so carefully in
their heads that their first drafts are often more like other writers’ second or third drafts. As a consequence,
they often revise less intensively and frequently than other students. Many of these students have
disciplined themselves so that they can think about their writing in all sorts of places—on the subway, at
work, in the garden pulling weeds, or in the car driving to and from school.
Some heavy planners write in this way because they prefer to; other develop this strategy out of
necessity. Marsha Carper, for instance, says that she simply has to do a great deal of her writing “in her
head” rather than on paper because she lives fifty miles from the university and must spend considerable
time commuting. In addition, she’s a mother as well as a student, and at home she often has to steal odd
moments to work on her writing. As a result, she’s learned to use every opportunity to think about her
writing while she drives, cooks, or relaxes with her family.
Heavy Revisers. …heavy revisers need to find out what they want to say through the act of writing itself.
When faced with a writing task, they prefer to sit down at a desk or computer and just begin writing.
Heavy revisers often state that writing their ideas out in a sustained spurt of activity reassures
them that they have something to say and helps them avoid frustration. These students may not seem to
plan because they begin drafting so early. Actually, however, their planning occurs as they draft and
especially as they revise. Heavy revisers typically spend a great deal of their writing time revising their
initial drafts. To do so effectively, they must be able to read their work critically and be able, often, to
discard substantial portions of first drafts.
As you’ve probably realized, in both of these styles of composing, one of the components of the
writing process is apparently abbreviated. Heavy planners don’t seem to revise as extensively as other
writers. Actually, however, they plan (and, in effect, revise) so thoroughly early in the process that they
often don’t need to revise as intensively later. Similarly, heavy revisers may not seem to plan; in fact,
though, once they write their rough drafts, they plan and revise simultaneously and often extensively.
Sequential Composers. A third general style of composing…might best be called sequential composers
because they devote roughly equivalent amounts of time to planning, drafting, and revising. Rather than
trying out their ideas and planning their writing mentally, as heavy planners do, sequential composers
typically rely on written notes and plans to give shape and force to their ideas. And unlike heavy revisers,
sequential composers need to have greater control over form and subject matter as they draft.
Sequential composers’ habit of allotting time for planning, drafting, and revising helps them deal
with the inevitable anxieties of writing. Like heavy revisers, sequential composers need the reassurance of
seeing their ideas written down; the resulting stack of notes and plans gives them the confidence to begin
drafting. Sequential composers may not revise as extensively as heavy revisers, for they generally draft
more slowly, reviewing their writing as they proceed. But revision is nevertheless an important part of
their composing process; like most writers, sequential composers need a break from drafting to be able to
critique their own words and ideas.
Each of these composing styles has advantages and disadvantages. Heavy planners can be
efficient writers, spending less time drafting and revising than do other writers, but they must have great
mental discipline. An unexpected interruption when they are working out their ideas—a child in tears, a
phone call—can cause even the most disciplined thinker to have a momentary lapse. Because so much of
their work is done in their heads, heavy planners are less likely to benefit from the fruitful explorations and
revisions that occur when writers review notes and plans or reread their own texts. And because heavy
planners put off drafting until relatively lat in the composing process, they can encounter substantial
difficulties of the sentences and paragraphs that had seemed so clearly developed in their minds don’t look
as coherent and polished on paper.
Heavy revisers experience different advantages and disadvantages. Because they write quickly
and voluminously, heavy revisers aren’t in danger of losing valuable ideas. Similarly, their frequent
rereading of their drafts helps them remain open to new options that can improve their writing. However,
heavy revisers must learn how to deal with emotional highs and lows that occur as they discover what they
want to say through the process of writing itself. They must be able ruthlessly to critique their own writing,
discarding large portions of text or perhaps starting over if necessary. And because they revise so
extensively, heavy revisers must be careful to leave adequate time for revision or the quality of their work
can suffer.
What about sequential composers? Because they plan to spend time planning, drafting, and
revising—and do so primarily in writing—they have more external control over the writing process than
heavy planners and revisers have. Sequential composers are also unlikely to fool themselves into thinking
that a quickly generated collection of ideas is an adequate rough draft or that a plan brainstormed while
taking the subway is adequate preparation for writing. Sequential composers can, however, develop
inefficiently rigid habits—habits that reflect their need to have external control over their writing process.
They may, for instance, waste valuable time developing detailed written plans when they’re actually ready
to begin drafting.
Good writers are aware of their preferred composing style—and of its potential advantages and
disadvantages. They take responsibility for decisions about how to manage their writing, recognizing the
difference, for instance, between the necessary incubation of ideas and procrastination. Good writers are
also flexible; depending on the task or situation, they can modify their preferred approach. A person who
generally is a heavy reviser when writing academic essay, for instance, might write routine business memos
in a single sitting because that is the most efficient way to get the job done. Similarly, heavy planners who
prefer to do much of the work of writing mentally must employ different strategies when writing
collaboratively with others, or when engaged in research-based writing.
There is one other common way of managing the writing process—though it might best be
described as management by avoidance—procrastination. All writers occasionally procrastinate, but if you
habitually put off writing a first draft until you have time only for a final draft (and this at 3 a.m. on the day
your essay is due), your chances of success are minimal. Though you may have invented good reasons for
putting off writing—“I write better under pressure”; “I can’t write until I have all my easier assignments
done first”—procrastination makes it difficult for you to manage the writing process in an efficient and
effective manner.
Is procrastination always harmful? Might it not sometimes be a period of necessary incubation, of
unconscious but still productive planning? Here’s what one thoughtful student writer discovered about her
own tendency to procrastinate:
For me, sometimes procrastination isn’t really procrastination (or so I tell myself). Sometimes
what I label procrastination is really planning. The trouble is that I don’t always know when it’s on or the
other…
How do I procrastinate? Let me count the ways. I procrastinate by doing good works (helping
overtime at my job, cleaning house, aiding and abetting a variety of causes). I procrastinate by absorbing
myself in a purely selfish activity (reading paperbacks, watching TV, going to movies). I procrastinate by
visiting with friends, talking on the telephone, prolonging chance encounters. I procrastinate by eating and
drinking (ice cream, coffee, cookies—all detrimental). Finally, I procrastinate by convincing myself that this
time of day is not when I write well. I’d be much better off, I usually conclude, taking a nap. So I do.
Part of my difficulty is that I can see a certain validity in most of my reasons for procrastinating.
There are some times of day when my thoughts flow better. I have forces myself to write papers in the past
when I just didn’t feel fluid. Not only were the papers difficult to write, they were poorly written, inarticulate
papers. Even after several rewrites, they were merely marginal. I would much rather write when I am at my
mental best.
I need to balance writing with other activities. The trouble is—just how to achieve the perfect
balance!
Holly Hardin
Holly’s realistic appraisal of the role that procrastination plays in her writing process should help her
distinguish between useful incubation and unhelpful procrastination. Unlike students who tell themselves
that they should never procrastinate—and then do so anyway, feeling guilty every moment—Holly knows
that she has to consider a variety of factors before she decides to invite a friend to tea, bake a batch of
chocolate chip brownies, or take a much-needed nap.
Analyzing Your Composing Process
The poet William Stafford once commented that “a writer is not so much someone who has something to
say as he is someone who has found a process that will bring about new things he would not have thought if
he had not started to say them.” Stafford’s remarks emphasize the importance of developing a workable
writing process—a repertoire of strategies that you can draw on in a variety of situations.
Attention to your writing process can pay big dividends for you as a writer, as the following
comments by two students indicate:
Thinking about—and experimenting with—my writing process has changed my idea of what writing
is and how it is accomplished. As a process, writing is more like other kids of work and less a visitation by
the muses (as I once thought). I now know that anyone can write, not just those who are inspired.
Jim Hogan
The process approach to writing has given me a new lease on life. Sorry to sound so dramatic, but
before I learned about the writing process, I hated and feared writing. I felt I was a terrible writer and did
what I could to avoid it. Now I actually welcome opportunities for writing. It is wonderful to know that I
don’t have to write a perfect paper on the first try and that all writers benefit from revision.
Terrell Ratchford
Guidelines for Analyzing Your Composing Process
The following guidelines provide questions you can use to describe and evaluate your current composing
strategies. Respond in writing [in full sentences, avoid short, one-word answers] to each of these questions.
1.
What is your general attitude toward writing? How do you think this attitude affects the writing
you do?
2. Which of the composing styles described in this chapter best describes the way you compose? If
none seems to fit you, how do you compose?
3. How do you know when you are ready to begin writing? Do you have a regular “start-up”
method or ritual?
4. How long do you typically work on your writing at any one time? Are you more likely to try to
write an essay in a single sitting, or do you prefer to work on your writing over a number of days
(or weeks)?
5. Ha the availability of word processing and online technologies such as the Internet influenced
your composing process? How?
6. What planning and revising strategies do you use? How do you know when you have spent
enough time planning and revising?
7. What role do collaborative exchanges with others (such as conversations about our writing or
responses to work in progress) typically play in your writing?
8. How do you procrastinate? (Be honest! All writers procrastinate occasionally.)
9. Are you aware of having preferred writing habits and rituals? What are they? Which are
productive and supportive? Which interfere with or lessen the efficiency of your writing process?
10. Thinking in general about the writing you do, what do you find most rewarding and satisfying
about writing? Most difficult and frustrating? Why?