The process of writing

The process of creating a written work is simpler than for other types of creating. Most of the time it’s done with a keyboard, typewriter or written out by hand. Each has its own virtues, and strengths. The keyboard is by far the most used of all devices for creating written text. Because technology has given us a way not only of writing, but correcting, quickly with the greatest of ease. Gone is the eraser, replaced with the delete button. And the greater ease is that whole paragraphs can be erased in just two strokes. So, getting a thought out, ever how mushed up and convoluted the first utterance may be, is important. Somewhere in the mass of words is a clear, cogent thought.

So, write a first draft, and a second, then a third until it distills down to a clear expression of an idea. Some ideas require more than one or two sentences to become obvious. Maybe there’s a wrong to be made right, a system with a flaw, or some other correction. Some ideas need a backstory to explain where they came from. A backstory is the succession of circumstances that leads the present situation.

The old saying “practice makes perfect” applies to all forms of human endeavor, be they literary, photographic or athletic. The human parts that create activity need to be adhered to a discipline that develops them and makes them more easily able to perform as needed. Whether writing, running, or shooting still pictures or video its all the same. Muscles need development to more perfectly perform a task. Drumming is an activity where hours and hours of it will loosen up the muscles to consistently perform well. It also helps to see what others are doing that works well for them.

In the first iteration, we mention drafts, and how they are done in stages. The stages show the improvement, and the continual output of better and better writing. One big mistake is done when you don’t think there is anything good in an early draft. In the movie “Educating Rita” the teacher is upset when the pupil yanks out a piece of paper and throws it in the fire. The early drafts can show a thought whose expression is not entirely bad. A little editing on the early work helps to give aim toward the better work. But sometimes an early draft needs deleting completely.

Writing a thought not only gets an idea or style out of the brain, it also drives it in. Advertising copy that does its job well speaks of a creative mindset able to convince people to buy something. A piece of copy that keeps on getting sales over years is called a control because of its positive effect on sales. Ad copy students are encouraged to write control ads several times, to get the style of expression into their minds. This is most effectively done by writing out the ad by hand, several times. Such repetition is a most effective way of picking up the ability to “think like a copywriter”.

So writing is like any other human creative function- it needs doing many, many times to get it better over many repetitions. Sometimes a created piece reaches a point where more work is unnecessary. Go on to another and work that up.

Sometimes it takes a different environment to get the juices flowing. George Gershwin was taking cues from the motions and sounds of a train car he was riding in to create “Rhapsody in Blue”. Similarly, Clarence Saunders and Walt Disney both had their first thoughts of a new business idea while riding a train. For Clarence it was the Piggly Wiggly grocery store concept of self-serve shopping. For Disney it was a mouse he first called Mortimer Mouse. His wife offered the name “Mickey” instead. Getting feedback is another way of aiming a thought to a better end.

Read the works of successful writers whose works have endured over the years. They had their awkward starts, their endless re-writes. They kept on writing and reached their personal milestones of public acclaim. Its out there, keep going, you’ll get there, but only with keeping on going!