How the Language Works

It is extremely difficult to discover what goes on when people write. Direct observation of someone engaged in writing or typing tells us little about what is happening ‘beneath the surface’. And direct observation of written product gives very limited information, for it fails to preserve the order in which revisions are made, or the amount of time devoted to producing any part of it.

All writing involves a planning stage, during which we organize our thoughts and prepare any outline of what we want to say. Even the shortest of the message requires a moment or two of planning. At the very least, we need to work out of what our readers need to know, in order for our message to be understood. We also need to anticipate the effect of our words could have.

Much more is involved when we write more complex messages. In particular, we have to supplement the notion of ‘writing’ with that of ‘rewriting’. Any model of what happens when we write must take into account the act of revision – from the first stages of making notes, jottings, and headings, through various drafts, to the final version. All writers introduce errors and make self-corrections while composing.

Writers also pause a great deal – stopping the movement of their pen or of their fingers while they type. During these pauses, other kinds of body activity take place. The eyes may scan the text or look away. The hands may stay close to the page or keyboard (suggesting that the writer expects to resolve the problem quickly) or move away (suggesting that amore serious process of reflection is taking place.) Pauses reflect the occurrence of mental planning and provide clues to the difficulty of the writing task.

A model of written composition must also allow for the fact that what people see when they write may affect the way they think. Authors’ comments are illuminating: ‘It doesn’t look right now I’ve written it down’, ‘ That’s not what I’m trying to say.’ Full meaning does not always exist in Edwards Albee’s: “I write to find out what I am thinking about’. Such remarks emphasize the main lesson to be learned from the study of the process of writing: it is not a merely mechanical task, a simple matter of putting speech down on paper. It is an exploration in the use of the graphic potential of a language – a creative process, an act of discovery. ~ Page 128