Discovery Techniques

Actually, there is not one writing process that all writers use for all writing. When we look at the act of writing in detail, there are many different writing processes. However, all of the different processes which writers use share some common elements.

The common elements of writing processes are

discovery,
development
completion.

These elements form three phases, but they also overlap. That is, one may discover things to say even in the completion phase; one may begin development during the discovery phase; many writers find that a piece of writing is never completed in the sense of being perfect.

Discovery

Students who are given a writing assignment often complain that they don't know what to write about. If one doesn't know what to write about, one hasn't learned to use the discovery phase of the writing process.

Often, however, one does know what one wants to write about. In this situation, one may go too quickly into the development phase without thoroughly exploring what one wants to write.

There are many techniques used for discovering something to write about. They include

Free writing.
Clustering.
Listing.
Games and other exercises.
Research.

Discovery techniques are often called "heuristics," from a Greek word meaning "to discover."

Development

The development phase of the writing process includes planning, drafting, and revising the writing being done. Once one has produced ideas, images, information, or other relevant materials during the discovery phase, one is ready to develop those ideas and images.

Planning

In the planning phase for prose, writers often outline their material. Such a working outline helps the writer get an overview of his or her material and to see the relationships among the different parts. A working outline can be as simple as a list of four or five major ideas or as complex as a detailed formal outline. Fiction writers vary widely as to how much planning they do, but some produce extensive plot outlines.

Poets often "plan" a poem by choosing a form. You may think of traditional poetic forms as templates which the poet can use and modify to meet the needs of the actual poem.

Drafting and revising

I have placed drafting and revising in the same section since both activities often occur together. If, while writing a rough draft, you pause to change a sentence, you are revising while drafting.

Drafting and revising are the most obviously recursive parts of the writing process. One writes, rereads, notes possible changes, makes changes, writes further, and so on. It is often helpful to get responses from other people during this process. Even reading a draft aloud to another person can be very helpful.

Computers are invaluable in drafting and revising. Don't, however, forget to print hard copies and use them for revision as well. You will find that reading a hard copy of a draft and marking it up will help your revising greatly.

Revising is more than correcting grammatical mistakes. Revising can involve rethinking the idea entirely, reorganizing the writing, or adding/deleting substantial parts of the writing.

Completion

Completion might not seem to be a phase, but it is. Once one has developed the idea satisfactorily, then one is ready to copyedit the draft, making sure it is correct in all aspects, and to read it over, checking for areas that need more work.

Finally, one produces a final copy of the piece of writing, using whatever means are appropriate to the writing's intended audience and purpose. The means might be writing a final copy of a personal letter in longhand or they might be formatting the writing in a desktop publishing program.