Nuts And Bolts Chapter 1 Analysis

When beginning to write an essay everyone has their own method of doing so. Some may like to brainstorm while others may prefer to go straight into writing about their topic. I personally beginning every essay by collecting ideas about my topic before coordinating them into a type of diagram, next I proceed to do my rough draft before revising over the paper and finally composing my final draft. The point of the writing process is to help break everything down so ideas can be organized and everything can make perfect sense for not just the writer but also the reader.

What’s the first thing you do before getting started on writing a text? Is it turn on music, get yourself alone in a room, turn on the TV? Whatever it is, everyone has their own writing process. Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs state, “…it would seem that if you want to become a more versatile, capable, powerful writer, you need to be pretty aware of which activities, behaviors, habits, and approaches lead to your strongest writing-and which don’t”(170). The writing process has a major effect on the effectiveness of the paper it’s got to do with what it takes you to get the best on paper. My writing process consists of all paperwork, which is related to the writing and music that’ll help me focus.

It's easy to get caught up worrying about what you are going to write, causing you to get stuck before you even begin. Lamott talks about how it is important to write what comes to mind and sift through it later and I agree. Vomiting a load of content onto the page and then proceeding to pick out the gems and stitch them together into a coherent piece is much easier than slowly carving a perfect paper. I struggle with this myself, in fact, I spent at least an hour staring at this empty page before I was able to muster up the nerve to begin writing this. It's a difficult hurdle for a writer to jump however, it's an important thing to master. Few are able to write much or even at all if they agonize over every little detail. Does this sound choppy?

This is because as writers, most of us become frighten to what our readers will think of “this” and “that”. With this constant way of thinking our writing will never improve because we won’t be interested in the actual story being implemented, instead we will substitute that attention towards the thoughts of our readers. Just like King claimed, “Good writing is often about letting go of fear and affectation. Affectation itself, beginning with the need of define some sort of writing as “good” and other sorts as “bad’, is fearful behavior” (King, 128). This argumentative analogy demonstrates how constant fear becomes the dilemma between a reader’s decision to continuously keep reading or to put the book back on the shelf. Constant fear in any writer’s report, becomes the cause of having the need to go to thesaurus to change their vocabulary, yet having no idea if the “substituted” word works. This becomes useful in realizing that one must be able to write without that constant deliberation of questioning ourselves as writers. Perspicuously, another tip that would be useful is having the proper organization/style. Every writer without counting if they are authors or not, are prone to having a style, some sort of organization that defines them. However, to many unassertive eyes’, difficultness appears when knowing the length of your paragraphs. With knowing the length of your paragraphs, it all comes down to one simple portion of this whole writing process? A simple portion that consists of the topic. If you are writing an expository prose, you shall know that the paragraphs will be a bit longer than the rest. Expository proses, whom are continuous paragraphs that “contains a topic sentence followed by others which explain or amplify the first” (King, 130). Nonetheless, you would never find an expository writing piece with two sentences per paragraph; however, what about fictional stories? Within

High school was a time when writing assignments began to have more fascinating prompts, but also needed more structure. I drew ideas for my writing from several different sources including my friends and family’s opinions, things on social media, and my own beliefs. All of these diverse sources enhanced my writing and helped me to become more open minded. I always started a paper by organizing my thoughts and ideas by writing down three or four of the main points I wanted to include. From there, I wrote a rather brief outline only consisting of my thesis statement and the opening sentences for each of my body paragraphs. Before starting my first draft, I would look over my short outline, read the assignment once more, and then begin writing. I did not prepare nearly as much as I should have, but I was still able to produce a good first

According to journalist William Zinsser, a writer must be clear in order to write well. A writer who fills his/her pages with pretentious words, flattery prose, or intricate syntax clouds up his/her sentences and prevents the reader from fully understanding the message at hand. Therefore, Zinsser contends that good writing is achieved when bombastic language and confusing words are avoided. Indeed, stripping “every sentence to its cleanest components”, removing excess verbiage, and molding words into coherent, simple structures prevents the reader from getting lost in a whirlwind of words and thus allows him/her to fully grasp the author’s message (Zinsser 6). In short, clarity leads to writing that is done well.

Writers must have clear, concise writing to keep the attention of the reader and to properly convey their message. Too often have I found myself trying to ‘fluff up’ my writing to make it interesting. But if we want to be good writers, we need to get down to the nitty gritty and get back to the basics. In Zinsser’s article Simplicity, he explains how to do just that.

When writing with fluency your writing has and even easily flow tone when read. The reader is able to focus on the writer's topic. Each word connects to the next word adding structure to the writing. Combining fluency with the structure you developed an organized well put together thought that is easily read and is informative.

In William Zinsser’s, “Simplicity and Style”, simplicity is the main topic of discussion as well as style, unnecessary words can be a distraction to the reader in your writing and which makes your writing less clear than what you had envisioned in your head. Every sentence you write should be at it most fundamental state and should serve as a function to the development of your writing. Although it is hard to create clutter free sentences, when we are mostly predisposed to adding excessive ornamentation to our writing that takes away from our authenticity and causes disruption in the readers thought process. Writing is simply hard and everyone should work on writing clear sentences that is organic to the build of your writing and style while

Another option to make writing more uncomplicated is to understand and research the topic you are writing about. In the passage “Curriculum as Conversation” it states, ”You should be learning HOW to use language and research effectively in all of your intellectual work.” (3). Understanding what your topic is about will make it easier to write and form ideas. Writing without any information or research can often cause you to not fully understand the positives and negatives of your topic. Personally, researching for me has aided me in my writing. I am able to have a much clearer view of what to write and I have more information to cite. Nonetheless, once you view is clear and you have researched your topic, you must enforce your views. For example,

The second strategy I use in my writing is conciseness. In my brochures, I can’t be all

The authors suggest that fewer words bring about a writer's style or concision (p. 126). A list of principles are provided as a tool to assist the writer in reducing concision wordiness. The writer begins by eliminating words with insignificant meaning. The writer then search for paired words, words of inference, modifying negatives, replacing a word with a phrase, and the removal of unnecessary adjectives and adverbs(p. 127-131).

Do you read your sentences out loud after you write them? It is a good idea to do this. Writing that reads easily and sounds conversational is easier to understand. When we talk, we vary the length of our sentences. Some of our sentences are long and exciting and seem to go on forever until it is time for us to finally stop and take a breath. Some are short and sweet. A wise English poet once said, "Variety is the spice of life." Remember this advice as you write your stories, essays and

One way to write coherently is to write with unity. This can be achieved by establishing a main idea and summarizing it into a single sentence called topic sentence. Any sentences or paragraphs that are irrelevant to topic sentence should be omitted. This will make writing unified and coherent.

A painter will often start off with single color and build a foundation for the artwork. When a blotchy mistake is made, the artist must return to the base in order to secure the error. The same concept should be used in writing. The artist must first create the rough draft before removing the clutter which appears over the initial thought. In On Writing Well, Zinsser discusses and explains the importance of: word choices, simplicity, removing excess clutter, the intro and conclusion, and the audience of the writing.