Riley Bender, 5363924

Writing 2 WP2 Draft 2

The Pre-Writing Process

When thinking about the aspect of the writing process that I struggle with most as a

writer, I realize that the greatest complication I encounter is before my fingers even touch the

keyboard. In my opinion, the most challenging part of a writing task is gathering your thoughts

and planning what you are going to say to your audience. After reflecting upon this, I began to

ask myself, what strategies can writers use to gather their thoughts before writing?

Turns out, this has been an ongoing discussion between writers and researchers for quite

some time. The idea of “pre-writing” has been a prevalent subject across many articles that I

came across. I realized while conducting my research that “pre-writing” is actually a pretty broad

term. When searching for this term, it was made clear to me very quickly that many people have

various opinions on what this means. Some addressed it as the outlining process before writing

an essay, others considered it a means of brainstorming and addressing one’s thoughts and

feelings, while a few referred to it as the strategies for writing in the best possible environment.

Although none of these perspectives are untrue, it was interesting to me to see that the concept of

pre-writing had so many different elements. I did not know that this term could have so many

different meanings. There was not one specific definition for the pre-writing process.

When I first asked my research question, I was searching for approaches to brainstorming

and organizing my thoughts. This is what I believed pre-writing meant, the activity you

participate in before you begin to write a singular word. Oftentimes, I either have too many

various ideas of what to write about that I cannot decide on one or I have zero idea on what topic
I want to address. Therefore, I wanted to gain knowledge of how one can organize their thoughts

more effectively.

I discovered that Robert Baden, in his article “Pre-writing: The Relation Between

Thinking and Feeling,” had a similar idea of what the prewriting process encompasses. In the

beginning of his article, Baden provides a quote from William Irmscher, “The first thing a

writing assignment does is bring the writer to a realization that his thoughts have to be brought

under some kind of control… pre-writing is advance preparation for the stages that follow.”

(Baden, 1975, p. 368). Irmscher’s quote suggests that the idea of prewriting pertains to the

activity of controlling one's ideas. Establishing this control is an important step within the

preparation process for writing. It is extremely difficult for a writer to begin writing without

determining what they are going to be writing about. But how does one do this? Baden describes

how people often go about the thought process before writing completely wrong. He notes that it

often results in a student being sat at their desk for multiple hours trying to think of something to

write about (Baden, 1975, p. 368). However, this task sounds easier to accomplish than it really

is. Throughout the remainder of his article, Baden argues that composing one’s thoughts is best

achieved after arousing emotion. He emphasizes the idea that in order to write clearly, writers

must also think very clearly. In order for a writer to think openly, their feelings must be

stimulated to the point that they are willing to emotionally commit to the writing task at hand.

Once these emotions have been triggered, the writer can use their thoughts to organize their ideas

in a way that conveys their feelings and perspective. Therefore, topics that arouse emotions

should be sought after. This will ultimately allow the writer to have a more personal connection

to their work, which will produce overall successful writing (Baden, 1975).
 When listening to Baden’s perspective, it made a lot of sense to me. I tend to feel the

most proud of my work when I am able to write about something that I am passionate about and

sparks emotion within me. However, it was quite apparent that Baden’s intended audience for his

article was teachers. He wanted to encourage teachers to give students assignments that

stimulated an emotional reaction. Therefore, I would have to conduct more research to gain the

perspective of a student and the types of activities they can participate in if their teacher did not

give them the opportunity to write about something that they were passionate about. Baden’s

ideas should be taken into consideration when writer’s have control over their work’s subject

matter. If given the opportunity, writer’s should think about topics that inspire them and peak

their interest to help them decide a subject matter for their work. This, in my opinion, is probably

the most important step in the entire writing process. In order to receive the best outcome,

writer’s should write what they want to write about, not what they think others want to hear.

Ultimately, if the writer is not passionate about their subject, the text will have no emotion and

therefore will not spark an emotional response in the reader.

Baden’s ideas were similar to those of D. Gordon Rohman, who discussed the moment of

identifying one’s subject in his article, “Pre-writing the Stage of Discovery in the Writing

Process.” In his article, Rohman focuses more on the discovery of a topic, alluding to the

sequential step following the process of provoking a writer’s emotions and thoughts. He suggests

that there are two reasons for why he wanted to focus on the idea of pre-writing: it is essential for

success within the work as well as the current lack of attention to its significance. He states that

oftentimes writers are not necessarily aware of what they are trying to convey within their work,

however once they recognize it, they are able to figure it out (Rohman, 1965, p. 106). He defines

pre-writing as the “stage of discovery” where a writer assimilates a subject with themselves. He
conducts a project that seeks to find the principle of this process as well as a plan that will allow

students to successfully achieve this. The overall question he was seeking to answer was: what

sort of thinking precedes writing? (Rohman, 1965, p. 106). Rohman found that using journals

and asking students to write about personal experiences and perspectives allowed them to

flourish more because they were able to connect to their writing on a deeper level. Gathering the

information I have learned from both Baden and Rohman in their pieces, I have come to realize

the importance of stimulating one’s emotions and ideas in a way that the writer is able to be

passionate about what they are writing. Once again though, this strategy would be hard in a more

close-ended assignment. What if a student is not given a topic they are interested in writing

about? That is where more research had to be done.

After more research on the process before writing, I realized that these ideas can be

linked to the concept of writer’s block. Writer’s block is a topic discussed in many of the articles

I came across, perhaps because it is such a common and prevalent issue within the world of

writing. Writer’s block is a term that is known by many because every individual at some point

in their writing career has experienced this feeling. Some individuals describe this writer’s block

as feeling both mentally and physically stuck. The author’s of the article, “Block and

procrastination” describe this feeling when they say, “writing block and procrastination are states

of mind as well as physical states, and what writers believe clearly affects their production

potential and actual activities.” (Bishop and Starkey, 2006, p. 19). In their article, Wendy Bishop

and David Starkey validate the stresses that come from these states of block and procrastination.

They address how there has been an ongoing conversation on the matter and how multiple

people have contrasting perspectives on the best ways to deal with these situations. A few

suggestions that have been previously discussed include starting out with lousy first drafts,
writing off topic, lowering our standards then working up, freewriting, getting in touch with our

emotions, and taking breaks within the process (Bishop and Starkey, 2006, p. 19). Ultimately,

Bishop and Starkey emphasize that there is no right way to combat the states of writer’s block

and procrastination but it is important to not let these attitudes prevent you from doing your work

altogether. It is important that writers recognize these feelings as common so that they do not get

discouraged. Instead, they should do research to figure out what strategies work best for them to

escape this mindset.

Despite this, the question remained: how does someone determine what it is they are

going to write about? I explored several different articles that discussed strategies writers can use

to combat this blockage. The article, “Writer’s block - and what to do about it,” by Jeffrey

Skinner and Stephen Phillip Policoff provided me with some answers to my question. The first

and most important step when faced with writer’s block is to take a deep breath and know that

this is not the end of your writing career (Skinner, 1994, p.1) However, there are some strategies

you can use to get the creative juices flowing. The first strategy the authors mentioned was

varying writing locations. Sometimes getting into a writing routine helps, but it somehow leads

writers to becoming stuck. By switching up their environment, it may spark some new ideas that

they have not thought about before. The next strategy discussed was varying one’s reading as

well. What we read influences the way in which we write more than we think. Therefore, by

reading new pieces by new authors, we may be inspired to incorporate their methods within our

own work. Lastly, Skinner and Policoff also emphasize the importance of getting a “jumpstart”

on writing in various ways. It is very beneficial for writers to use writing to compose their ideas

as well. Some approaches to getting a jumpstart include freewriting in a journal to get the

creative engine running or writing a letter to reaffirm one’s audience. However, getting a
jumpstart can also refer to acts such as exercising, people watching, and listening to music

because these tend to be activities that can inspire individuals to formulate new ideas. (Skinner,

1994, p. 2-3) Skinner provides very useful strategies to confront writer’s block. I believe that

every writer could benefit from knowing some of these techniques, and try them out to discover

which works best for them personally.

There has been debate about whether a simple outline or a visual concept map is more

effective for organizing one’s ideas before a writing task (Kellog, 1990; Anderson-Inman and

Horney, 1996). Authors like Ronald Kellog argue that outlining is more effective whereas others

like Lynne Anderson-Inman and Mark Horney claim that using a visual concept map is

extremely helpful. Ronald T. Kellogg discusses in his article, “Effectiveness of Prewriting

Strategies as a Function of Task Demands,” that although there has been extensive research on

the writing process in recent years, the benefits of how prewriting strategies benefit writing

performance has not been explored enough. He conducted a study in which students either

started drafting right away without any pre-writing, first created a written outline, or developed a

visual network of ideas and their connections which he referred to as “clustering”. The results of

his study showed that making an outline was the most effective strategy for creating ideas and

organizing. Clustering increased the amount of ideas generated during pre-writing but had no

effect on the document quality and put writers at more of a disadvantage in terms of fluency

within their writing. Those who used an outline produced language more fluently than those who

did not. (Kellogg, 1990, p. 340). Therefore, Kellogg is arguing in his article that outlining is a

more successful method within pre-writing than clustering.

On the other hand, one article suggested that concept mapping (“clustering”) is in fact

helpful. Lynne Anderson-Inman and Mark Horney, authors of “Computer-Based Concept

used concept mapping software as a brainstorming strategy. This idea is similar to the clustering

method that Kellogg spoke about in his article. In Anderson-Inman and Horney’s article, they

provide evidence that concept mapping software allows students to conduct visual thinking that

can enhance their writing. They explain that computer-based concept mapping can help students

to develop and organize their ideas with a visual map that is easily modifiable. They argue that

this is a very productive way to approach brainstorming (Anderson-Inman and Horney, 1996).

The idea of using computer-based software is a fairly controversial topic within the discussion of

prewriting. Baden notes in his article that within the new age of logic and computer systems, the

idea of stimulating feelings before writing has lost its credibility (Baden, 1975). Therefore, it is

up to students to determine whether or not this kind of approach would be effective for them,

personally.

The list of approaches to topic discovery and organization goes on and on. But the

common perspective I found was that the process of pre-writing is way more important than

people think. There are so many various perspectives on what the best approaches to this process

are. Some of these include making sure you choose a topic you are passionate about and will

evoke emotion, brainstorming using outlining or visual maps, freewriting, situating yourself in a

new environment, etcetera. I can conclude that there does not seem to be a specific correct

answer on how to go about the process, but it is definitely not a step that should be skipped. It is

important for young writers to know that feelings of writer’s block and confusion toward what

their topic should be is a completely normal feeling. Hopefully, this article offers insight and

advice that students can utilize and discover what works for them. I will definitely use the
knowledge I have gained in this project to set aside more time to fully appreciate the pre-writing

process.

Bibliography

Skinner, & Policoff, S. P. (1994). Writer’s block - and what to do about it. The Writer (Boston),
107(11), 21–.
Kellogg. (1990). Effectiveness of Prewriting Strategies as a Function of Task Demands. The \
American Journal of Psychology, 103(3), 327–342. https://doi.org/10.2307/1423213
Baden, Robert. (1975). Pre-writing: The relation between thinking and feeling. College
Composition and Communication 26.4, 368-370.
Anderson-Inman, Lyne; Mark Horney. (1996). Computer-based concept mapping: Enhancing
literacy with tools for visual thinking. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy 40.4,
302-306
Rohman, D. G. (1965). Pre-writing the stage of discovery in the writing process. College
composition and communication, 16(2), 106-112.

Bishop, W., & Starkey, D. (2006). Block and procrastination. Keywords in Creative Writing,

19–25. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt4cgr61.9