ELA3105-ABED_1: The Writing Process

The Writing Process

Communication is the process of sending and receiving messages. Whether our words are written or spoken, our words affect others. Following the writing process improves our chances communicating effectively in writing.

Here's an analogy that compares two processes: building and writing.

The building process is important. It is highly unlikely that a builder would decide to build a high-rise office tower and would go to the location and begin to build without some kind of a plan. The builder would plan the size of the building, do some assessment as to what the land could bear, the density of the soil, etc.
Builders would develop or draft a blueprint. No self-respecting builders begin building without first translating the visions that they have in their heads to a paper version and possibly even a scaled model of the structure.
Then there is the approval process, where the municipality has to be consulted for permission to see whether the structure fits into the overall development plan for the municipality. Sometimes revisions are necessary. Once approvals are granted, the high-rise tower is built. Sometimes issues come up, so editing of the plan or work done so far occurs. Often it takes years before the high-rise offices are finalized and occupied.

Similarly, it is difficult to sit down and write a polished copy of a critical essay, a short story, or even a speech that is the best possible work that you can do the first time.

It is essential to plan your topic and explore some of the elements of the complexity of the issue.
Once this is done, you are ready to draft or write your text.
Then you fine-tune your ideas and presentation by revising and editing.
When you are done, you send your message to your receiver, which is the final stage of the writing process: publishing.

It is very seldom that anyone gets things totally right the first time. In fact, we often have such a fear of making mistakes that we are reluctant to try anything that we can't do well the first time. All of the great inventions of the world have gone through many failures in the process before discovering a way that works. Don't shortchange yourself or your abilities by being unwilling to follow the "tried and true" process of failure to success.