Terminalcoffee discussion

How do you write a first draft? Are you a planner or do you just type and go back and see what you can salvage?

I'm a big planner. I can't sit down and actually start writing until I know where I'm headed. I also plan while I write, too. 'cause I'll make a point or something, and it'll make me think about this thing, and that makes me think about that thing, and ooh that's interesting, if I need a couple more pages, I'll think about that....and you get it. It's also why some common criticism about my paper is that it needs to be more organized 'cause my mind doesn't know how to do that! I want to talk about something...but then I want to talk about that other thing right then. I don't want to wait until later. But I'm working on that!

I'm writing a draft now, and it's just 5 pages, but since the final copy is due on Monday, my brain is freaking me out, telling me that I need to do everything at once. I have to do more planning!

Also: I hate close reading texts using library copies. I want to underline, dammit.

my first draft is almost never well-written, but it will get the ideas out there. i always get a lot of my ideas while i'm writing. i have to go back and revise to make it into a coherent readable text. unfortunately i'm a procrastinator so i don't always have time to do that.

I usually waited until the last minute to write papers, so I'd be crossing out and rewriting my first draft as I wrote it. Everything was on those first sheets of paper. (There were a lot of asterisks leading to the other side of the page.) I never rewrote or retyped until I was ready to type up the final version.

They tried to teach us how to do outlines in middle school. I don't think I ever got the hang of outlines. I loathed them. If I were going to write a paper now, I'd do an outline, but at the time, they seemed unnecessarily painful.

I'm an outliner. It's the way I was taught, and it's just easiest for me.

I was never a planner with papers, I’d know what I was going to write about, but that’s it. I’d write the paper, make the necessary corrections and then I’d do the outline. I was never very good at outlines. I write technical manuals on occasion now, and I do start with a basic outline for each section.

I typed all of my college papers on my Royal manual typewriter, so I didn't do a lot of drafts. I organized in my head, wrote it longhand to make sure it made sense, then edited as I typed. Mess up? New piece of paper.

Now, with computers running word processing software, I tend to barf all of my notes onto the page, then cut & paste & rearrange until it all makes sense.

I wouldn't have any idea how to put together an outline, though I'm quite certain it's a major step that takes place in my brain.

The first time I used a word processor, I sang "Hallelujah!" I learned to type on an IMB Selectric which was cool until it came to editing.

Southern Fried Britt wrote: "How do you write a first draft? Are you a planner or do you just type and go back and see what you can salvage?

I'm a big planner. I can't sit down and actually start writing until I know where ..."

It really depends, but usually I like to have a space where I can write things that I feel absolutely free to throw out. Once I begin writing something I then begin to think whether the thing is just for myself or if it needs to be molded for a specific audience. Usually if it's a college paper or an essay with a focused audience I'll try to get some feedback before I move on to my later drafts. I try to get feedback early on before I start to organize, redraft and finally edit.

If it's one of my creative works then I tend to be a little bit more guarded about getting feedback and making changes...usually my agenda is emotional and expressive, so sometimes I don't care as much if people don't get it. Drafting and redrafting at that point is about trying to see if I created something that had the feeling I wanted it to have.

Yes, technology has made certain things easier, but I hate taking my laptop places to write.

Aynge wrote: "The first time I used a word processor, I sang "Hallelujah!" I learned to type on an IMB Selectric which was cool until it came to editing."

Southern Fried Britt wrote: "How do you write a first draft? Are you a planner or do you just type and go back and see what you can salvage?

I'm a big planner. I can't sit down and actually start writing until I know where ..."

It really depends, but usually I like to have a space where I can write things that I feel absolutely free to throw out. Once I begin writing something I then begin to think whether the thing is just for myself or if it needs to be molded for a specific audience. Usually if it's a college paper or an essay with a focused audience I'll try to get some feedback before I move on to my later drafts. I try to get feedback early on before I start to organize, redraft and finally edit.

If it's one of my creative works then I tend to be a little bit more guarded about getting feedback and making changes...usually my agenda is emotional and expressive, so sometimes I don't care as much if people don't get it. Drafting and redrafting at that point is about trying to see if I created something that had the feeling I wanted it to have.

Yes, technology has made certain things easier, but I hate taking my laptop places to write.

Aynge wrote: "The first time I used a word processor, I sang "Hallelujah!" I learned to type on an IMB Selectric which was cool until it came to editing."

Southern Fried Britt wrote: "How do you write a first draft? Are you a planner or do you just type and go back and see what you can salvage?

I'm a big planner. I can't sit down and actually start writing until I know where ..."

It really depends, but usually I like to have a space where I can write things that I feel absolutely free to throw out. Once I begin writing something I then begin to think whether the thing is just for myself or if it needs to be molded for a specific audience. Usually if it's a college paper or an essay with a focused audience I'll try to get some feedback before I move on to my later drafts. I try to get feedback early on before I start to organize, redraft and finally edit.

If it's one of my creative works then I tend to be a little bit more guarded about getting feedback and making changes...usually my agenda is emotional and expressive, so sometimes I don't care as much if people don't get it. Drafting and redrafting at that point is about trying to see if I created something that had the feeling I wanted it to have.

I never outlined, but then I didn't write great essays. Outlining is probably the way to go.

I never outlined either. But for assignments through grad school I almost always wrote the first draft a week or more before it was due, then returned to the draft a day or two before the due date and revised.

People who write a draft by hand before they type disturb me. Doesn't that take forever?

I sometimes make lists, however, when I'm writing, as ideas come quickly and I want to make sure I don't forget anything.

RandomAnthony wrote: "People who write a draft by hand before they type disturb me. Doesn't that take forever?"

There weren't any other options back in the day.

I just wrote a GR review that is in 3 colors of ink, with several asterisks leading to other passages on different pages. It is my final draft. Although, once I type it up, I may revise a word here and there.

What do the three different colors of ink signify?

I sometimes let reviews sit a day but often I post those as soon as I'm finished then edit later when I see all my typos.

I often just do a few quick lines myself. (No, not cocaine!!) With this one however I had begun making notes on scraps of paper, some with quotes, some just with book page numbers, so I had to bring them all together.

I just write and let the ideas come together. I'm not good at outlining at all. I may take some notes to remind myself of points I want to hit.

RandomAnthony wrote: "What do the three different colors of ink signify?
"

Nothing, they just make it easier for me to see where I need to insert some extra passage. So in the middle of a passage in black ink I'll realize I want to insert something, so I stick in a red asterisk which refers me to a red passage I will write on some other page. Then later I'll insert a green asterisk leading to some green text. Numbers could work too but colors are easier to spot.

Outline
First Draft
Revision
Revision
Revision
Maybe more Revision...