🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <15928@mindlink.bc.ca> Alan_Barclay@mindlink.bc.ca (Alan Barclay) writes:
>In a message #4543731 Fred Welden says:
>
>"What you want
>to do, in my arrogant opinion, is to splat down what you think you want
>to say on the page as close to all-at-once as you can manage.  Then go
> (condensed)
>In _my_ arrogant opinion, what a one is better off doing is learning to
>write clearly the first time.  Then you don't have to rewrite half as much.
> (condensed)
>I like the analogy of the Zen painter.  As a novice the painter will study
> (condensed)
>beautiful work in one sitting without corrections.
>
>Alan Barclay
>
>alan_barclay@mindlink.bc.ca

I don't agree that writing perfect copy the first time is a sort
of nirvana that every writer tries to reach.   

I think the "splat it down" vs. "review each sentence" question is
a matter of personal style.  If you prefer to make a rough pass and
dump your thoughts on paper for later editing, that doesn't make you
less skillful than a writer who produces perfect copy the first time
(all things being equal).  The dump-and-review writer takes time to
revise the work as a whole, and the sentence-by-sentence writer takes
time to revise each sentence.

Personally, I prefer the dump-and-review method.  In fact, I sometimes
use a tape recorder to save my thoughts, since I find talking less
distracting than typing (also, I do my best thinking while on a
stroll around the block).  I then transcribe my notes and munge them
with a text editor. 

I also use a top down approach to writing, where I get the main parts
down and do the large-scale corrections first.  I then fill in the detailed 
pieces in a sort of refining process.  I'm not dogmatic about the method--
sometimes I write some of the detailed low-level text first, and then
I incorporate it in the overall plan.

I think the style you choose has to do with how you think, and you should
use whatever helps you write most effectively.

-- 
--------------------
Craig Hyatt
NCSU@Raleigh, NC USA
echyatt@eos.ncsu.edu
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