1. Sommers mentions the importance of recognizing revision as a part of writing rather than an afterthought, claiming that it should not imitate how we might "revise" speech. Do you believe that an intensive revision process is always good no matter what the genre of composition is, or are you more of the mindset that certain styles (like poetry and other creative writing) actually suffer and become muddled with too much revision and that the best creative works often come organically?
2. Bishop talks about the issues of focusing too heavy on the "local, sentence level" of a composition, arguing that if we push students too heavily to value form and grammatical perfection that they may ultimately spend less time concerning themselves with the actual content of their writing. Yet on the other hand, a process oriented lesson plan may result in drafts covered in "red marks" and grammatical issues that always carry over to further compositions because the student never learns the value of focusing on local form. Do you think that there needs to be a balance between the two, or should students merely be expected to push themselves harder to achieve sufficiency of content and clarity of form no matter what the classroom focus is?
Michael,
ReplyDeleteRegarding your second question, I believe balance is absolutely key. Addressing global and local revisions presents a distinct challenge, but by focusing first on content and clarity and later approaching the small stuff I hope to create a process where the red marks don't become too distracting or wind up compromising the larger achievements of a well thought out and thoroughly revised work.
1. I do not necessarily believe there is ever an absence of the writing process in any type of style. Regardless of whether one is aware that they are following a process or have one of their own, they are still engaging in certain steps that allow for them to start and complete a piece that they are content with. To me, not engaging with any type of writing process is impossible.
ReplyDeleteHi Michael,
ReplyDeleteI do not believe that all creative writers working in any given style have the same processes, nor do I believe that any given writer's process remains the same from project to project. It seems possible to me, then, that some writers might categorically value the content they produce spontaneously and without much revision, while other writers might value this kind of content every once in a while. Speaking generally, though, I think revision is an integral part of most creative writers' processes. I know my stories tend to be muddled in their first drafts, and only after studying these drafts do I discover what I should have been writing about from the start, or how I should have been writing about it. Quick quote and then I'll be done: I had a mentor in college who told me the difference between functional writers and non-functional writers was that the functional writers throw out pages. I think this is true, and, if I were teaching a creative writing class, I would be sure to emphasize the importance of revision to my students.