Shitty First Drafts
I can confidently say that nearly every paper I have ever
written has been basic rendition of my first draft. My English teachers never
taught me that a first draft could really be… horrendous. It was my assumption
that a first draft was basically just the same paper, but written in pencil
instead of pen. Aside from my lack of rough draft education, I myself can be
blamed for my relatively rushed writing process. Generally, the mindset of an
average high school writer is to create a page and a half of what is
essentially mindless writing to satisfy the length and content requirements on
exams. Our “rogue drafts” consisted of a 5-min planning period sketched in the
form of thought bubbles. So obviously, if the country wide exams that determine
our writing competency discourage from several drafts, our work will reflect
that mindset. Thus, becomes my surprise at the content of this article. Author
Anne Lamott does a great job of appealing to her audience by speaking in a way
they can relate too. I personally felt that her sadistic sense of humor and sarcastic
attitude created a sense of realness, allowing me to connect with her as a
person rather than someone who is trying to instruct.
Lamott’s
message throughout this article has given me some much-needed perspective on
the writing process, and how I can help myself. It is within our nature to
become discouraged by not achieving immediate perfection. Following this
article, I hope to be able to allow myself to create rough drafts that are less
than my normal standards, and to hopefully better my writing through this process.
I agree with you in that writing for AP English classes did not provide student writers with enough time to even have a real first draft. I also did not think that first drafts were that much different than the others. I personally just added on and polished my first drafts as opposed to writing what I feel not caring what it could look like.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the fact that most teachers don't really tell you that it is normal to have a horrible first draft. With the standardized exams like AP and IB, most teachers expect you to be perfect the first time around and they don't really allow you the opportunity to fix your mistakes in order to enhance your writing. Then, they always complained that the drafts were under par and they never allowed you the time to fix and revise them.
ReplyDeleteI, like the other two comments, agree to the fact that AP does not give a enough time to write a truly thoughtful and good essay.
ReplyDeleteHi Emily
ReplyDeleteI love that you bring the educational system into this discussion, since it's got much to do with the way classes are taught. It's a pity that the educational system doesn't support progress evaluations as opposed to one-sitting tests. The good thing about college, though, is that you can develop your own writing process according to what works best for you.