The Writing Process

Understanding the Traits of Writing 17

Understanding Writing

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go? Write about it! If you heard a beautiful birdsong on your way to school, why not write about that, too? If you’d like to fly around the rings of Saturn and strafe the cloud tops of Jupiter, you can write that, as well.

Writing takes you to distant locations and deep layers of time. It teaches you about your world, opening your mind to the wonders around you and the possibilities before you.

This chapter helps you launch on the adventure of writing. You’ll review the writing process and learn to analyze any writing situation. Soon, you’ll see yourself as a writer!

What's Ahead?

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Becoming a Student of Writing

To become a writer, you should do what writers do: Write! Follow the tips on this page to begin.

Write for yourself, every day.

Start a journal in which you write about your life. Daily writing helps you sort out your thoughts and know yourself.

Read for yourself, every day.

Find stories that you love—and savor them. Learn their tricks for characters and description and plot. Then try writing something similar, but in your own voice.

Write about subjects that truly interest you.

Did you know that high-interest topics immediately improve your writing? That’s because you know and care about them, and you have the vocabulary to express lots of ideas.

Focus first on ideas . . . and work toward correctness.

Start off by simply expressing yourself. You can fix punctuation and spelling later.

Learn the craft of writing.

Work with the traits of writing. (See pages 17–22.) Discover your own process of writing. (See pages 29–77.)

Experiment with different forms of writing.

Write stories, essays, poems, podcasts, and more! Each gives you a unique way to communicate.

Keep writing, and keep becoming.

To be a writer, all you have to do is write. If you keep writing, you’ll become better and better at it.

"Life's like a movie, write your own ending.

Keep believing, keep pretending.

We've done just what we set out to do.

Thanks to the lovers, the dreamers, and you.”

—Jim Henson

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"Swoopers write a story quickly, higgledy-piggledy, crinkum-crankum, any which way. Then they go over it again painstakingly, fixing everything. . . . Bashers go one sentence at a time, getting it exactly right before they go on to the next one. When they're done, they're done.”

—Kurt Vonnegut

Previewing the Writing Process

Are you a swooper or a basher? You’ll find out as you personalize the writing process over time. You’ll customize these five steps.

Prewriting ■

Writers fill their brains with amazing ideas, and then they must write about them. They select a topic, gather details about it, and make a writing plan.

Writing ■

Writers create a first draft following their plan (or not). This is their first look at a developing story or essay.

Revising ■

Writers read what they wrote and improve the ideas, organization, and voice. They may ask someone else to read their work and suggest ways to improve the words and sentences.

Editing ■

After revising their drafts, writers start to focus on each letter and punctuation mark. They get rid of errors by editing and proofreading.

Publishing ■

The word publish just means, “make public”—or share your writing. You can publish in your classroom, school, home, community, or world!

Points to Remember

Writers move back and forth between the steps in the process.
For example, you might conduct research and start your first draft, only to go back to find some more information.
Writing is both an individual and a shared activity.
Writing is communication. At first, you’re communicating ideas to yourself, but you’ll want to reach others. They can help you along the way by reviewing your work and giving suggestions.

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The Writing Process in Action

"Now let’s walk through each step of the writing process. Notice that it can be more like dancing than walking—moving back and forth between the steps.

Prewriting ■ Choosing a Topic

What will you write about? What excites you? For topic ideas, check out the selecting strategies listed in the handbook. (See pages 32–34.)
Find a specific topic that really interests you and meets the requirements of the assignment.

Gathering Details

What do you want to say about your topic? Gather details using collecting strategies. (See pages 35–37.)
Do the details suggest a specific part of your topic to write about? Choose a thought or feeling to focus on as your thesis. (See page 38.)
Decide how you would like to organize your writing. What details will you use and when? How will you begin and end?

Writing ■ Creating the First Draft

Write your first draft. Work quickly, just getting all your thoughts down. Discover what you want to say.
Begin by hooking the reader and leading to your focus.
Support your focus with details in the middle.
End by reviewing your ideas and leaving the reader with something to think about.

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Revising ■ Improving Your Writing

Set your writing aside for a while so that you can see it with fresh eyes.
Review the ideas, organization, and voice of your work.
Rewrite, reorder, add, and cut to make big improvements. Then also consider specific words and sentences.
Ask someone else to read your draft and suggest improvements.
Make sure your thesis or focus comes through clearly in the beginning and ending.
Use a revising checklist.

Editing ■ Checking for Conventions

After finishing large-scale changes, check punctuation, spelling, grammar, and usage. See the “Proofreader’s Guide” for rules.
Ask a reliable classmate to help you catch any errors.
Use an editing checklist.
Prepare a neat final copy of your writing. Proofread your work one last time.

Publishing ■ Sharing Your Writing

Share your finished work with classmates, friends, and family.
Decide if you are going to include the writing in your portfolio. (See pages 70–73.)
Consider submitting your work to a school publication, a writing contest, an online magazine, or another publication.