Writing: A Creative Process We Should Enjoy

            When we write, we are creating. That may seem to be an obvious statement, but we tend to forget it or never quite realize it in the first place. Even in the context of writing an academic research paper, there is a creative process involved and there is room for personal style. Even within the most serious thesis, there is room for fun.

            In 2013, I attended a writing workshop at USC -it was a round table discussion led by Professor Roberto Diaz and writing specialist Shilarna Stokes. They said something I will never forget: If a piece is not enjoyable to write, it will not be enjoyable to read. This is one of the most important statements, if not the single most important, that I have heard about writing and this served to set a tone for me as a graduate student.

            As an undergraduate student at California State University Los Angeles, a professor spent much of a term (probably the majority of it) forcing us to develop outlines and stressed how important this is to our writing. By the time I began writing the term paper for that class, referring to an outline for all of my structure, I felt as though it would be too late to develop any new ideas; according to this traditional model, it seemed that ideas should be explored and exhausted during an initial brainstorming phase only.

            I took the outline method to grad school with me and during my first semester, I felt extremely restricted. I was not enjoying the writing process and felt more concerned with word or page counts than I should have. For my first large term paper, I brainstormed, researched, developed a thesis, gathered books, and started developing an outline. Everything felt rigid and forced. Then I came up with an idea for a twist on the thesis very late in the game. I escaped from the outline and changed the tone of the last third or so of the work into something far more entertaining for me to write. The professor remarked that the twist was a surprise and the paper was an impressive undertaking.

            I have since abandoned the use of outlines for any of my written work. As a result, I view writing as an opportunity to create –it is an opportunity to develop my voice as a writer. I am open to gathering thoughts, ideas, and developing content up until I finish proofreading; any good idea, especially a unique one, is worth considering at any stage.

            For some, working with an outline may be useful and necessary, it just does not work well for me. Outline or no outline, I believe Diaz and Stokes are exactly right. I want to enjoy my time writing and I hope that some sense of that carries over to the reader. I would not want to eat a meal that was prepared by someone who resented the process of cooking it.