Writer’s block can freeze your productivity. One study (Rose, 1984, p. 72) suggests that writer’s block thrives when writers labor under false rules. I call these rules bad folklore.
Over the years, students have reported rules they claimed their writing teachers enforced. Below are the top ten. All are wrong … bad folklore that hobbles good writers.
- Never begin a sentence with And or But.
- Never begin a sentence with Because or However.
- Never begin a sentence with a preposition (Sheesh. How does the Book of Genesis begin?)
- Never begin a sentence with “The.” (Yes, someone actually believed that!).
- No two sentences should begin alike. (Laboring to obey this rule will cripple any writer.)
- Vary your sentence length and structure to keep readers’ interest. (Nonsense. Good writing bases sentence length and structure on the old-new rule and its corollaries—never on arbitrary variation.)
- Never end a sentence with a preposition. (Even the Brits scorn this old chestnut.)
- Write the introduction first. (No, it is usually faster to draft the document first. Ideas for good first paragraphs often pop up late in the draft, as you summarize.)
- Edit sentences as you draft. (Derails your train of thought and saps your confidence.)
- Write your thesis before you draft the paper. (While an initial thesis may help you focus, good writers learn as they write. I often “post-write” a better thesis than the one I had prewritten.)
1 comment:
I was told to always outline before writing anything. This advice clearly works for most people, but it paralyzed me for a long time. I found that I needed to write paragraphs in order to process my ideas and research material. Only then could I produce an outline.
As one instructor after another required us to hand in our outlines before writing any drafts, I developed a habit of writing a secret, preliminary draft. I then distilled this draft into an outline, rearranged the outline to perfection (or what I thought was perfection), and handed it in.
My finished paper didn't usually bear much resemblance to either outline or the preliminary draft, but I still needed that draft to get my thoughts in order.
I don't know how many people this would work for. For most, it would probably be unnecessary work. But I found that it was less stressful and more expedient to write first and outline later, than to fret over the outline for days without producing anything.
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