musings

[dragonyphoenix]

Different thoughts based on a reading in the Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance

The only visible products of a writer’s planning consist of diagrams, outlines, lists, and other “notebooks of the mind,” to borrow John-Steiner’s (1985) description. These externalized plans are typically cryptic and intended only for the writer’s private use. – “Professional Writing Expertise” section from the Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance

This reminds me of the writing class I recently finished. About half-way through the class, realizing that I didn't quite have a plot for my story, I started a new one. The previous story had become quite stressful, largely because it had not plot, and so I plotted the new one out in greater detail, sharing those documents with the class because I wasn't writing chapters yet. My poor classmates were pretty game about putting up with my cryptic documents! They made sense to me, but only because quite a bit of the story was in my head. I doubt I'll ever try to share my planning documents again. It just doesn't work well.

Although some writers try to produce a perfect first draft that requires only minor corrections, – “Professional Writing Expertise” section from the Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance

A perfect first draft? *laughs and laughs and laughs* Oh, that is so not me! 

Professional writers are able to craft their knowledge, through their writing, so that it is understandable to a specific audience. – “Professional Writing Expertise” section from the Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance

My last writing class definitely helped me with this. There were a couple of women who didn't always follow what I was trying to say. One of them in particular, I think of as I'm writing my new story; I ask myself if she would understand what I meant and, quite often, put a note into the text to remind myself, in the next draft, to make that idea clearer.

the author ought to try to read the text from the perspective of the potential reader. This requires adopting the perspective of another individual and imagining how the reader would construe the text. – “Professional Writing Expertise” section from the Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance

Reading Writer's Digest in the library the other day, I found an article by a writer who imagined one specific reader for her story. She came up with a quite detailed idea of who that one reader was, and when writing kept asking herself if that reader would like the scene. It definitely worked as a strategy since the story she did that with was the first of her stories to do really well.