Session 4 - Task

What kind of writer are you?

Tawachai: For years I was confused about my writing because I simply could not carry out my teachers’ instructions to ‘make a plan’ and they were always telling me that my essays should ‘be more organized’. I found it very difficult to make an outline and then stick to it. My mind didn’t seem to work that way. I always had to start writing and sometimes write quite a lot before I knew where I might be going. That meant I had to cut and do different drafts. Sometimes I would find that I had to start writing one section even if it was in the middle of the assignment, and then build up the whole thing slowly, in bits. In the end it worked out and now I seem to have found my own mix of a method.

Winnie: When I write I try to get down some headings that seem to relate to the question. At least they give me an idea of what topics and divisions my writing will have. But I am not yet sure exactly if I have an argument. I start to write what I can under these headings and as I go I am trying to find a way of making these fit together. When I have got my first draft like this I will go back and put in bits that will show the links between the different parts. I may have to move around some material. Sometimes I have to cut out quite a lot because now that I am much clearer about my argument, I realize that not everything I thought was interesting is actually relevant or important. I still have to work out what exactly I have to leave out, add, or move around but gradually I fit the bits together.

Rosemary: I spend a great deal of time reading and making notes – I try to absorb it all thoroughly. I have to read much more than I need. Then I think about it a lot. I can think as I’m doing other things. Finally, I just sit down and write it out in longhand and it’s as though it has all come together in my inner mind. Sometimes I add an introduction once I have finished and I will read the whole assignment through, but really I have never found I could write down a plan and my work hardly ever needs redrafting.

Deborah: First I wrote down some notes – ideas for headings. I used the space of a whole page so that I could space out my ideas in a diagram-like fashion. Sometimes I had a column on one side to note down ideas that I might use later on or for jobs I would need to do before I could begin writing the assignment. I kept this list to one side so that I could add to it as I was trying to develop my central overarching idea on the main part of the page. When I had finished I had some notes which all related to this ‘central idea’ so that I had an outline for the whole piece. Sometimes I like to use visual diagrams for my planning. I think and plan before I even begin to think about starting to write.

The diver writer

Tawachai just plunges in to her work. She always finds that she has to do some writing before she knows what she wants to say and in order to find out. She might use practice writing for this purpose. Only then can she begin to build up a plan. If she were the child building her house with bricks she would get started and see what kind of building emerged from how she moved around the bricks. She would start to ‘just build’ her house.

The patchwork writer

Winnie writes sections at an early stage, which she then has to fit together to make the whole assignment, adding links as she goes. If she were the child building a house of bricks she might make a series of different ‘rooms’ which she would then need to join together to make up the whole house.

The grand plan writer

Rosemary is a writer who doesn’t seem to make an outline at all: she has a ‘grand plan’ in her ‘inner mind’. In fact, she must have a structure in her mind before she begins to write but she can’t quite say what it is until she writes it down. Then it comes out nearly complete. The child builder with a grand plan would have a clear picture in her mind of the house she was going to build before she began and would build quickly without getting diverted.

The architect writer

Deborah has a sense of design in her writing. She would not find it too difficult to produce a complex plan. Writers who find it easy to put their thoughts in the form of a spider diagram or mind map are this kind of writer. They have a sense of a broad structure almost before they know what content will go into it, whereas other writers have to know what they have to say before they can make a plan. The ‘architect’ child building a brick house might start with an outer structure for her building, which she would then fill in to make all her rooms.

Things to think about

1. What do you think might be the advantages and disadvantages of these different ways of organizing writing?
2. Which way of planning and shaping is most like your own approach?
3. How do you think your way may be different from any of these?

In practice, you may, of course, vary your approach for different purposes and for different kinds of assignment. As with all aspects of writing, it is a good idea to be aware of different methods and to try them out.


Taken from “Writing at University: A Guide for Students” by Phyllis Creme and Mary R. Lea. Open University Press (2008)

So, now your task is to answer the question: What kind of writer are you?

One paragraph - using the COMMENTS feature below.