Managing the Complexity of Writing

Introduction

Before an advanced writer begins to write a sentence, he has nearly a million ways of writing what he wants to communicate.  But with each word he writes, the field of choices narrows.  The sentence seems to take the initiative, moving in the direction that Standard English allows.  The advanced writer responds to such constraints almost unconsciously, providing the words and structures that different contexts allow.  He may struggle sometimes to write himself out of an ill-formed sentence, but the sense of what he can and cannot do within the limits of the rules that govern formal writing is certain.  He struggles for clarity, conciseness and effectiveness, not merely correctness.  In other words, for him the formation of sentences is primarily a concern of style, of affecting his readers' eyes, mouths and ears.

Intermediate writers seldom enjoy such ease with writing.  Their concern is not with making sentences better, but with making sentences right.  Their concern is with correctness, for they lack familiarity with Standard English.  Much of their uneasiness can be blamed on the writing process itself, which, because it is different from the speaking process (refer to "Punctuation"), creates a rule-consciousness that can prevent a writer from communicating as clearly, concisely and effectively as she can in a speech situation.  

Men and women who have been speaking in sentences for years cannot be ignorant of sentences.  But when they write formally, which they rarely do except in academic situations, they often mismanage complexity.  There are three reasons for such mismanagement.  The first explanation will center on what the students have not learned about Standard English, the second on their attitudes toward themselves as students, and the third on their unfamiliarity with the process of writing.  Each of the explanations suggests a method of instruction: one that focuses on diction, one that stresses the value of writing, and one that focuses on process.

Diction 

First, an intermediate writer is not likely to have the diction to create the consolidations necessary in writing.  If writing forces one to be more explicit then one would be when speaking and if such explicitness requires various types of consolidations (refer to "Punctuation"), the student who has read and written infrequently may not be able to use some or many of the patterns that consolidate information.  There are at least three situations in which a lack of vocabulary negatively affects the formation of sentences.  A student may not know the word that would enable her to consolidate sentences; she may not know the grammatically appropriate form of a word for a sentence; she may not know a word's appropriate contexts.

Unfortunately vocabulary grows slowly, with the inclusion of a word's acceptable contexts acquired from reading.  Word-class distinctions--learned via exercises that increase students' awareness of suffixes--are also gradually incorporated into the sentences students write themselves.  Finally, students learn the allowable contexts of individual words usually by making mistakes, not by memorizing rules.

Value

Many intermediate writers have learned that words must be correct with respect to grammar, spelling and punctuation.  Because they fear the rules, intermediate writers are not able to use their language as effectively as advanced writers.  That leads us to the second reason for their mismanagement of complexity: first-year college students often lack confidence in themselves and are afraid that writing will expose their weaknesses.  Considering that writing is an act of confidence, an exhibition of one's experiences, emotions and thoughts, a feeling of inadequacy inhibits self-expression, hinders exploration and growth.  Furthermore, many of the assignments--and I am including those I struggled to complete as a freshman--are unmotivational and stipulatory.  Restricted to a particular topic (not her own), to an unfamiliar style (academic), and to an impersonal point of view (usually her professor's), an intermediate writer will not begin sentences with actual subjects, will use passive verbal constructions, will be obscure, and will be verbose.

Process

But even advanced writers initially have such problems.  What primarily separates intermediate writers from advanced writers--and this is the third reason for intermediate writers' mismanagement of complexity--is that advanced writers write through their problems and return to them after they have written a draft, often several drafts.  In other words, intermediate writers have an incomplete process of writing.  Attempting to manage everything at once, they disrupt the flow of their thoughts and attend to problems as they arise.  Writing, intermediate writers think, is about adhering to the rules, and spelling, punctuation, sentential structure, coherence, et cetera must be correct the first time.  But if an intermediate writer does not concern herself with the task of being correct, if she realizes she will be able to perfect her essay later, she will be able to concentrate on what she is communicating, not how she is communicating.  The gap between intention and execution is closed with additions, subtractions, substitutions and inversions--activities that require words to be on a sheet of paper or a screen.

Conclusion

The subject of the privacy and mess of writing--of how advanced writers work, of how and where they get their information, of how they shape it into form--such information is beneficial to intermediate writers.  Because most academic assignments--indeed most writing assignments throughout life--are stipulatory, an intermediate writer more than likely has developed a problematic strategy for writing that makes it difficult for her to judge the fit between her intention and her execution.  She thinks of purpose as what someone else wants of her.  She has learned that she must understand and capture the sense of what someone else wrote.  As a result, she discards what she needs most to be able to write well: her own responses, her own thoughts.  Teachers must inculcate upon their students the importance of noticing their responses to things and to value those responses as possible content for academic essays.