Writing from Start to Finish: A Six-Step Guide

Boston Herald

Can help you knock out writers block.

KLIATT

Australia's Kate Grenville is an accomplished novelist and teacher of writing. She has also authored The Writing Book and Making Stories. She begins her latest book by acknowledging that writing may be hard but that it is also a skill that everyone can improve with practice. Her approach is best summarized by two statements that are highlighted in the margin of her Introduction: "Writing evolves, it doesn't just arrive" and "Write first, judge later." Grenville breaks down the writing process into six steps: Getting Ideas, Choosing, Outlining, Drafting, Revising, and Editing. This process is applicable to both imaginative writing and essay writing. The pattern of the text is to provide chapters for each step that include information about the step, an example of the step, and a "doing it" section where the reader applies what has been learned. This logical organization makes it easy for the reader to find those parts of the text that deal with the type of assignment the student might be facing as well as the particular part of the writing process in which the student might need help. At the end of the text, there is a section of "Other Useful Stuff" that includes summary information on different types of writing, a user-friendly grammar guide, and an application of the six-step process to writing during an exam. The layout of the text effectively uses charts, marginal hints, checklists, diagrams, and illustrations. That the author applies all of the steps to writing one short story and one essay is a plus. Readers are more apt to get the feeling of the process by observing how Grenville moves through each of the steps for the same assignment rather than using different examples for eachstep. This text would work best with junior high students, underclassmen on the secondary level, and struggling upperclassmen. Teachers should find the simplified approach easy to adapt to their own classroom needs. Category: Literature & Language Arts. KLIATT Codes: JSA—Recommended for junior and senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2001, Allen & Unwin, dist. by Independent Publishers Group, 216p. illus. bibliog. index., , Elmira, NY