Architects of Ideas: The Writing Process

A common misconception students have when they are starting to take academic writing seriously is that what you do is sit down at a computer, open a blank document, and let the brilliance come pouring out of their minds and on to the screen.

It would be great if it worked that way. But it doesn’t. No matter what it’s being used for, good writing requires a vision and a plan.

Have you ever sat down, typed eight words, read them back, hated them, deleted, tried to start over, got frustrated, and gave up? I know, right! It's frustrating!! 😡  

But this doesn't mean you can't write. It means you are unprepared to write and show the world your brilliance. 

Without first having a vision and drafting a plan, writer’s block, frustration, missed deadlines or superficial, leaky compositions are inevitable.

Laptop reads: Once upon a time, someone did a thing. The End.

Luckily there are steps that we can take that will allow us to more deeply explore the subject matter we are engaged with, offer arguments that hold water, and have a lot more fun in the process; and that’s the key word: think of writing as a process not an action.

For the sake of this explanation I will be using an analogy comparing the writing process with the construction of a building. Again, it’s always important that both hold water.


When somebody wants to construct a building, do they start by carefully making an ornate and welcoming front door?

Of course not. It wouldn’t make sense to spend your energy carefully crafting a doorway unless you knew where it would lead or what type of building it would allow us to enter. You wouldn’t know the best type of door or what dimensions it should take until the building had been framed.

"Nothing is more clear than that every plot, worth the name, must be elaborated to its denouement [or conclusion] before any thing be attempted with the pen. It is only with the denouement constantly in view that we can give a plot its indispensable air of consequence, or causation, by making the incidents, and especially the tone at all points, tend to the development of the intention." 

"The Philosophy of Composition" by Edgar Allan Poe

An elaborately designed door leading nowhere.

So there is no reason why we should start our essays or other writing tasks in this way. Until you know where your argument is headed, you won’t fully realize the best strategies to draw your reader into that argument.

Personally, I write with a generally center-out process, which means, I make sure my argument is clear, fully illustrated and supported, and organized in an effective way before I add (the incredibly important) cosmetic features like introductions and conclusions.

But that's just my style. You should develop the strategy that works best for you, experimenting with your technique, and adjusting your procedure to conform to the requirements of the specific and immediate writing task you are working on. But, no matter what form your method takes, you should think of writing as a multi-step progression of your ideas: a writing process.

Steps in the Building (Writing) Process

1. Pick a project (Get your bearings)

You probably know that we have been engaged in the writing process since the first day of class. Reading different stories, articles, and essays and responding to them is an incredibly important step. Both reading and writing are conversational. They allow us to dip our toe into large conversations, survey where others stand in these debates, and offer our reactions. Reading and writing are so closely related that it is hard to distinguish the border between them. When we read actively we are engaged in a conversation. We aren’t passively accepting what the authors are saying. We are constantly checking in with our own experiences and beliefs to see how the authors’ ideas relate to our own. This can be an incredibly creative activity. As we read, we should be:

A textbook heavily annotated with highlighters, pens, and sticky notes.

This should give us a sense of where we stand in these large conversations. How do we situate ourselves on the continuum of varying opinions or perspectives? Just as a builder has to decide whether to accept a contract to build a bathroom at a national park, a fire station, a school, a museum, or a sky scrapper, a writer has to decide what type of composition they will construct. This gives us a sense of the scope of the process and what steps need to be taken. Are we going to inform? persuade? entertain? all three? agree? disagree? both?

2. Gather your materials (Prewriting)

Just as a contractor has to think about what materials they will need in order to construct a building, as writers, we should start generating the raw intellectual materials we’ll need to construct our argument. There are many ways to practice your prewriting strategies. But the point is to allow your mind to freely explore the topic without judgement about whether or not your ideas make sense. When freed in this way, our minds are capable of coming up with pretty amazing stuff. Let your thoughts drip onto the page unfiltered. Later on, you can evaluate these raw materials and think about how they will help you accomplish your purpose for writing. Prewriting allows you to:

3. Build your foundation (Working thesis Statement)

Once you have a bunch of ideas floating around, you should evaluate them and think about where you stand in this discussion. What tentative direction do you want to head? What question or questions do you want to answer? (ex: what is the meaning of this story? what does this story tell us about generational changes in the south? what does the story show us about the institution of marriage when it was written?) 

What is your opinion? What will you argue in your composition? Having a clear direction to go will allow you to proceed to other steps in the writing process. You can start constructing your argument, thinking about supporting points, doing further research, revisiting the texts you are engaged with, and coming up with ways to illustrate and support your argument. 

A linear progression: 1) prewrite 2) draft 3) revise 4) edit 5) publish

Strong writing depends on authors spending time in each of these stages of the writing process. 

Generally speaking, your working thesis should:

Just like a foundation provides the fundamental footing upon which a building will be constructed, a thesis statement requires other elements of your composition to fit into and serve this clearly-defined shape of your thoughts and opinions.  But keep in mind, you can (and should) always go back and make adjustments to your thesis statement if things aren’t panning out, you get lost in a forest of tangents, you come to an even more brilliant idea, or you hit road blocks. This is why it is called a working thesis. You will find that the writing process is very exploratory. So you need to balance the focus and direction of developing a working thesis with keeping an open mind and a willingness to recalibrate the path you are heading when the writing process uncovers new lines of reasoning.

4. Framing the Structural Supports (Outlining)

A contractor needs to make sure that solid supporting structures are carefully placed upon and within the foundation if the building is going to stand. The stronger these structures, the more likely the building is to resist destructive natural elements like weather, earthquakes, or the slow decay of time. Your composition will need to hold up against elements bent on undermining your purpose for writing: elements like criticism and counterarguments. This means that you need to attach viable premises to the argument you assert with your thesis statement. What do you need to give your readers to get them to come over to your line of reasoning? What is the most effective way to organize those ideas and examples? Outlining is sort of like blueprinting your ideas before you commit to typing out a draft. It will allow you to plan out what you need to argue to support your main idea and how you should organize those arguments.

Construction workers on separate sides of unconnected bridge, awaiting connection.
“Hmmm. I guess we should have thought this through more carefully.” 

This will allow you to avoid the frustrating setbacks that always happen when you think it’s cool to “wing it.” Here's a sample outline of a presentation I wrote and designed.

Your outline should allow you to:

5. Filling in the Gaps (Drafting)

Once a building has a foundation and the structural frame, the contractor can now start filling in the gaps and make a building functional. This may include adding electrical and plumbing apparatus, stuffing the walls with insulation, and putting up drywall.

This is when a writer can start filling out and substantiating her argument with assertions, quotes, examples, descriptions, stories, evidence, explanations, and clarifications. Having a clear understanding of what you want to accomplish before starting in on the drafting process is going to save you tons of time and allow you to construct tighter, more effective arguments.

For first drafts, you should try to stick to your outline and power through from beginning to end. Don’t worry if it isn’t perfect or if it is underdeveloped. Just try to more fully flesh out the ideas organized on your outline. It’s ok if it’s still a bit rough around the edges or you suspect that there is other things that you need to put in there. You can develop your ideas in a variety of ways, but there are certain things that each of your body sections should do. Take a look at this handout for tips on substantiating your supporting claims or assertions. This is a rough guide, and you should feel free to experiment or mix up the AXES sequence to suit your specific purposes and style. But generally, your supporting ideas must do all of the things listed on the handout.

 6. Finishing Touches (Revisions)

You made it through a draft. Take a breath. Take a break! But come back to it soon.

Now that your structure has taken shape, you can start to put some blue tape down, identifying both cosmetic and structural defects. “Whoops! I accidentally missed a spot when I painted the foyer. Wait a minute! I don’t want that to be a sliding glass door. That needs to be a set of French doors! Fuchsia carpet in my office?? What was I thinking?!? I wanted Xeriscaping, not a water-wasting lawn!”

Stunning home with perfectly sculpted front yard, zeroscape landscaping.

How can you dress up your writing to entice your readers into your argument? 

In terms of an essay, with a complete draft on paper, you can now think of your argument as a whole. You can visualize it. It won’t be perfect just yet, but this will allow you to identify areas that need to be developed further. View your writing from the perspective of your target audience. Ask yourself, “will my readers know what I mean here, or do I need further explanation or even more evidence to support my claims?” “Does my third body paragraph contradict my thesis statement, or just complicate it?” “Have I considered counter-arguments?” “Would this part of my argument make more sense if it was moved up? Does the chronological sequence of my supporting points make logical sense?” “My word choice is formal AF. Will this bore my readers? Why not let my real voice shine through here and there?”

Non-linear chart illustrating steps of the writing process visually.

Now that your draft is a thing, you can think about effective ways to draw readers in with finely-crafted introductory paragraphs. You can think more clearly about what concluding ideas are going to be the most effective way to make your reader see how important your argument is and continue thinking about it after they set your essay down. Ask yourself, “why does this matter? How can I illustrate to my readers that this issue affects them . . . affects the world?”

You can also work on going back through your essay, correcting surface errors, and clarifying complicated ideas. Essentially, now that your argument is down on paper and clearly developed, you can work on ways to “dress it up,” customize it to your style and purpose, and make it as compelling as possible. All great writers know that the most beneficial things happen to our writing during revisions.

They also know that if you start the writing process obsessing over making your writing seem sophisticated or pretty, you will never get to the  steps that will make your writing actually sophisticated and pretty. Use your revisions to polish, chip away, ornament, and present your ideas in the most appealing way possible.

7. Call in the Inspectors! (Peer review)

Ok. You're done, right? It looks great! Everything seems to be all set . . . but how does it look to others? After all, these are your thoughts, so of course they make sense to you! But the thing about writing is making ideas make sense and come alive in the imaginations of your readers. Have a friend, a colleague, or writing tutor look over your work. Be open to criticism. Remember, if it isn't working for them, even when it is totally clear for you, there are probably some important revisions and further developments you need to make. I know that this can be painful. Our writing is our creation and we grow very protective of it! But trust me, it will only strengthen your work and the extend the reach of your influence! 

"Are you too deeply occupied to say if my Verse is alive?

The mind is so near itself--it cannot see, distinctly." 

Emily Dickinson 1862


Emily Dickinson poses for a photograph.

Engaging in these steps allows you to construct tighter, more appealing arguments, and present your opinions in ways that will establish you as a thinker, a scholar, and a leader. 

Influence: to affect the nature, development, or condition of;