Real Writers In Action


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Real Writers in Action

Elsewhere we’ve discussed in-depth the stages of the writing process and shared tips for improving the quality of your own writing, so that it may seem like we think the act of writing is very cut-and-dry. Not so; we realize that every writer develops his or her own method of creation, and that what works for one may be completely ineffective and alien to another. Here we will be examining the ways real writers go about producing academic and literary work. Click on the pictures to see an illustration and read the story of each writer’s process.

	We start with a story of how not to write your papers by Michelle Navarre Cleary, SNL Writing Coordinator. This is a writing process that is guaranteed to lead to pain and suffering. Compare this process to how you go about writing a paper to see if you should change your ways. Having learned from her mistakes, here is the process that works well for Michelle now.
	Joe Hemmerling rarely writes outlines down, spends a long time on his first paragraph and edits as he revises.
	Colby Cuppernull needs outlines, always looks for what interests him in assignments and does many more revisions of his fiction than of his school work.
	Paul Bower very rarely uses a written outline, has to fight his impulse to trash everything he has just written, and usually puts things in order only after he has written an initial draft.

Joe Hemmerling worked as a research assistant, helping to build this web site. Among other things, he is responsible for the great graphical representations of each writer’s process that you find here.

Real Writers In Action