Saturday, October 4, 2014

How I write

         My writing process is rather simple, honestly. First off, I either sit down and search for some information on the topic, just a broad overview if I can find it, to get the idea of the material so I can decide on a thesis statement. After that, I begin looking for information pertaining to my statement, mostly things that support it, but also some issues with it because if it's being supported by everything, it seems to me like it's too unrealistic. All or most of this is done on the computer, firstly because it's a more easily accessible source of information, and secondly because there's more information there. I write down a few of the most important facts and points that happened or are relevant to the topic and my thesis statement, then form those into an outline. After I've got a functional outline, I first make a rough introduction paragraph, mainly to lay out how I think I want things to flow at first. Nothing too concrete, but something that works to start it. Once that's done, I start on the body, usually going with chronological order if that's applicable, but if not, I usually go with the most 'well-known' aspect of what I'm writing about first, since it appeals to people if they read about something they know about.
        Once the body is completed, I read back through what I've written and correct or change things if it seems to work better or was just outright wrong. After that, I read it yet again or give it to someone else to read, and decide if my stance remained the same throughout the paper. If it did, I refine the rough introduction from earlier into one that can serve as a true introduction. If not, I re-write the entire introduction and rethink my thesis for my new stance on the topic. After the introduction is completed either way, I start on the conclusion. I find it notably easier to do than the introduction most of the time, because it's usually simply re-specifying your thesis and stating the most important parts of the paper itself. Usually, I consider a paper finished after reaching that point and after the person I previously had read it agrees that it is completed.
          Now, if you were asking "Well, where are you while doing this? What are you doing?", this will answer it. For nearly all of my time writing, I'm secluded up in my room, not listening to anything. Any music just distracts me, I stop writing and start to watch Youtube or something, so I sit there with headphones on for no reason at all. The majority of the time, I have a glass of tea or something similar to drink while writing, unless there was not any mixed or made, in which case I just drink water. I've got a spare spiral to write these things down in, but it's not for anything or any class in specific, and is just filled with random notes on random pages. Roughly every half-hour to hour, I'll take a break for a few minutes, go get a snack or something if I'm hungry, watch a video for a few, then get back to work. I think that should answer a few questions about that, but I really don't know what would be asked, and am bad at anticipating questions, so I can't actually answer everything.

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