The Writing Process | (A-Level, Basic)
Stage 2. Write
Get Your Ideas Ready
At Stage 1, you do a lot of thinking and a little bit of planning. At this Stage, you are going to write, so you need to get your ideas together.
No matter the product (a poster, an email message, a short paragraph, a short story, a longer passage, and so on), you need to organize it well. Do not organize it while you are writing. Organize it before you start writing.
Ivan Samkov | Pexels
Example of organizing ideas
On the previous page is an example where Mark comes up with ideas for writing about “what he does in his free time." Here are his ideas about photography:
In My Free Time
Photography
- creative
- sharing photos (social media, friends)
- time by myself
- read about photography
- discuss with other photographers
Before Mark starts writing, he decides to organize his ideas better. This way, when he writes his paragraph, he can follow a plan. He comes up with this outline:
In My Free Time
Main Point: I do photography for three main reasons:
- Healthy
- creative activity
- time by myself
- Social
- sharing photos on social media
- showing/discussing my photos with friends
- Educational
- read about photography
- discuss with other photographers
Now, Mark has a main point and a plan. He rewrites his main point as this:
(In my free time,) I take pictures because photography is a healthy, social, and educational activity.
Mark is ready to start writing.
Following his plan, he comes up with the following paragraph. (The sentences are numbered to help us discuss the paragraph later. Move the mouse pointer over Mark’s paragraph to see the sentences below in a different color.)
1 I do many different things in my free time, but my favorite is to use my smartphone to take pictures.
2 I take pictures because photography is a healthy, social, and educational activity.
3 Taking photos is creative and gives me time by myself.
4 This helps my mental health.
5 Being social is important to me, so I share my photos.
6 I send them to my family and friends too.
7 It is fun to explain my photos to people.
8 I also post my good photos to my Instagram.
9 This way, thousands of people can see them.
10 Photography is also educational.
11 When I am not taking photographs, I read photography books to help me be a better photographer. 12 I also learn from other photographers.
Mark writes each sentence according to the plan. (Move the mouse pointer over Mark’s paragraph to see the sentences below in a different color.)
Sentence 1 is just a short introduction. It helps the reader get into the topic.
Sentence 2 is the main point.
Sentences 3 - 4 are about photography as a healthy activity.
Sentence 5 - 9 are about photography as a social activity.
Sentences 10 - 12 are about photography as an educational activity.
Wasting Time or Saving Time?
Some people think, “This takes a long time! Why waste all this time when I just need to write something?” Actually, at Stage 1 (Think), you can think and plan quickly. You save time because you are ready to write your product when you get to Stage 2 (Write).
When you just start writing without thinking or planning, you can get confused. You forget what the main point is, and you have to delete sentences and write them again. Perhaps you start writing about something and realize that you do not have enough to say about it. Then you have to start again.
When you use the writing process, you do not waste time. You save time and write better products.
Is That All?
No. There is a little bit more, but it is important.
When you write your product for the first time, you just put your ideas in your product. Now you are ready for the next stage. At Stage 3 (Polish), you make sure your product is really good!
Up Next: Stage 3. Polish
Continue the lesson to learn how to make your work better.