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Joshua Wilton
Megan Keaton
ENC 1101-26
12 December 2016
A(DHD) Writers Identity
There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed. Earnest
Hemmingway
Not too long ago I stumbled across a notebook of the writing I did for very early
elementary school. It was full of, quite frankly, awful, off topic, misspelled, poorly delivered
writing. It made me think about how much Ive learned and grown since then. Back then I had no
process; the whole thing would basically be stream-of-consciousness brainstorming about
whatever I was told to write about. Now I have this whole process of several different steps, each
one crafted and guided by my numerous writing experiences and the teachers who have guided
me. I have formed complex, objective, and abstract ideas about writing as a whole, and new
perspectives on writers themselves; all of this developing over a long history of writing and
creativity. In this essay I will delve into my process for writing, my views and preferences on
writing, and how I developed my process and ideas.
My writing process is a series of several steps, which are to brainstorm, make a first draft,
a second draft, have them peer reviewed, and finally, to make a final draft. These steps have
developed over a long history of writing. I have a few different ways of brainstorming; making
outlines, bubble charts, asking around for ideas, or, most often, stream of consciousness writing.
I like to use stream of consciousness writing because I have always found getting started the
most difficult part of writing an essay, and it really gets my creative juices flowing. Just getting
down whatever comes to mind is a great way of moving oneself along, getting through writers
block, and finding new ideas and connections. When I started learning to write way back in
kindergarten, basically everything I wrote was stream of consciousness brainstorming - not
because I understood the concept of revision or editing, but rather because I had no filter and

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didnt understand how to pick and choose the details pertinent to my point. I have continued to
use stream of consciousness (henceforth referred to as SoC) brainstorming because it uses my
bodys natural lack of an ability to focus to my advantage, exploring new possibilities that might
not seem connected at first, but result in a near paradigm-altering connection I may not have
otherwise found.
My second step is to create a draft of my writing. As I began to grow I fell in love with
reading, and I began to completely devour books like the Harry Potter series far earlier than other
children. had a tremendous effect on my writing abilities as well as my comprehension; the
books I read taught me how to tell a better story - how to follow and craft a coherent plot, what
sorts of details to include, etc. This led me to my next step, which is to write what could be
considered a draft. After I brainstorm and get a few good ideas out, I make a first draft, which is
usually pretty bad. Bad first drafts are, like SoC brainstorming, a good way of getting started,
because theyre a good way to get something out onto the page and get my creativity flowing.
Its much easier to fix a bad first draft into an ok second draft than it is to just write an ok first
draft. Making a bad first draft just to get something down keeps me from sitting in front of a
blank page daydreaming about possible topics or ideas to write about. Fixing those bad drafts is
easier to focus on than starting with one thats better than the old. These techniques compound
together to give me a clear goal to focus on, which helps me keep my creative flow.
Once I get the first draft done I fix it into a second draft thats quite a bit more coherent.
This process usually involves re-structuring large parts of the essay, re-writing parts that dont fit,
fixing grammatical and spelling errors, and just generally making it readable. My drafting
process developed in elementary school, starting off as just one of those things I was forced to do
by my teachers. When I was younger I always hated the drafting process because I felt like I was
done after one draft, and anything else was just somebody nitpicking my hard work. Now, as an

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adult (technically) with some perspective, I make multiple drafts of almost everything I write,
making sure to communicate my ideas in an effective manner.
After I finish my second draft I like to take it to people I trust, give them as much context
as I can, and have them peer review my writing by reading and critiquing the essay. I started
using peer review more seriously in high school after I was finally diagnosed with Attention
Deficit Disorder, which came as a surprise to absolutely nobody. Getting the medicine I needed
to focus was dramatically helpful for me in school, but it has some rather unfortunate drawbacks,
namely that by blocking out outside stimulus, keeping me from getting distracted from the task at
hand, it can tend to give me a rather nasty case of tunnel-vision. I started seriously using peer
review because I realized that I would often miss glaringly obvious mistakes or issues with my
work that would seriously drop my grade. Getting outside opinions is a great way to see how the
reader will perceive ones work, and adjust it accordingly.
After I get the feedback from my peers I take what they said and use their advice to fix up
my work into a good third draft. From there, I could hypothetically repeat the last two steps
infinitely, changing my essay so that its a little different each time, but an important part of
writing is to know when to stop. Sooner or later Id be spending more time than its worth to edit
my work. Once Ive gotten to the point where I have completed a third or fourth draft, I usually
like to turn it in and be done with it, because second guessing myself will only make my writing
less coherent and more difficult to read.
Writing is not a process that ever really came naturally to me. Most of the time, it takes
serious effort to force myself to write, due to my ADHD. I went undiagnosed and un-medicated
until I was well into high school, which, as one might imagine, was a serious issue for me. Ive
been dealing with it a lot better now that Ive gotten the medication I need, but focusing can still
be a difficulty. Because of this, I like to write in a quiet, distraction free environment, like the
library, or my dorm room if no one else is there. Recently I have taken to putting in my earbuds

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but not playing any music while I write, as they function almost like ear plugs, helping to block
out distractions without introducing new ones like music. The best time for me to write would be
any time between twelve oclock and six oclock PM, before my ADHD medication wears off. I
also like to get my work done before I eat, as a large break will take me out of the flow of what
Im working on. My usual routine is to get working on my homework immediately after I finish
my classes for the day; this way I can keep my flow of concentration going and get my work
done quickly.
One thing Ive started doing that really helped me with my writing is to run the popular
table-top role playing game Dungeons and Dragons for my friends. For those who dont know,
Dungeons and Dragons, or D&D, is played by having one person, called the Dungeon Master, or
DM, run a fantasy world by taking control of the enemies, non-player characters, and
environment, while usually around four other people act as characters in the DMs world. The
game is basically collaborative improvisational storytelling with dice to simulate randomness.
When one first starts running D&D for a group, it is recommended that one starts with a premade campaign setting and story, but I did not do this. Instead, I decided to run a homebrew
campaign, which required creating an entire world by myself for my players to adventure in. This
requires me to think about stuff I never would have otherwise, stuff like where a city gets its
water and food, what kind of troubles an average peasant faces from day to day, how much do
they know about whats going on in the world and how do they know it. This helped me with my
writing by making it easier to find details Ive overlooked in my writing. Probably the most
important way D&D has helped me with my writing is to offer practice for planning only whats
really important. Since I have no idea what my players are going to want to do, some part has to
remain unplanned. To help with this, I have created a system of what I call planning in a circle,
or planning the main ideas of what immediately surrounds them in every direction to the point of

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where theyre going to be able to get in a single session, and fleshing out the details when they
get there. This lets me not have to keep track of every single little thing going on in the entire
massive world Ive created, and instead focus on only the overarching plot lines and whats in
my players immediate vicinity, instead of getting bogged down in the details of every single part
of a massive world. This planning helps me most when it comes to coming up with new ideas to
write about by teaching me what details should be focused on, and the ability to prioritize what
topics to consider or develop has made writing go a lot smoother and much more streamlined.
Running D&D has been really helpful with my creative writing more so than my academic
writing, but the main techniques like forming new ideas and keeping track of the interesting
ones, still apply to both.
It is my opinion that good writing cannot be characterized by a set of rules, but rather by
how well the author makes their audience see or understand the perspective of another, whether
that be characters in a story, the authors own perspective, or just that of someone with ideas
different than ones own. How I developed my views on writing, as well as on everything else,
has somewhat of a long story behind it, and it starts the same way as Im sure it does for many
others. I was raised in a religious household; not extremely religious or militantly so, Christianity
was just really present when I was growing up. I went to a Christian pre-school, went to church
with my family every Sunday, the usual stuff. Sometime around fifth or sixth grade, I think when
I first started to learn about evolution, I really started to question my beliefs. I went through a
few different stages before my journey was complete, but I started off by clinging really hard to
Christian belief, keeping a bible with me wherever I went. However, as more and more evidence
piled up against my traditional views, I couldnt keep it up. For a long time, I looked into
different religions, trying to find one that fit with the new evidence I was being given. I learned
about Buddhism, Wiccan, Zoroastrianism, and even some New-Age malarkey, but nothing really

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satisfied me. What I really wanted was something that I could look at objectively and would hold
up to the world as I knew it. Eventually, as many others did, I had to abandon the idea of
religion, but even then, however, I wasnt free of the deep-seated, subconscious fear I felt, and I
ended up treating atheism like a religion. I was very close to becoming someone who, in this day
and age, would be labeled as a fedora-wearing-neck-beard. It was not a very pleasant time in
my life. It took years but I finally managed to really start looking at my life objectively and,
more importantly, with an open mind. Once I accepted an objective, almost scientific point of
view, it started creeping into my everyday life, and how I view everything in the world around
me. When it comes to writing, my ideas on it come from this objectivity, and an attempt to find
the underlying ideas that shape what writing is, as opposed to how we view it. Good writing
must have rules that apply to other forms of expression and communication; there must be
something linking good writing to good speaking, or to good storytelling, or good game design,
or good architecture, or good time management. As shown by famous author Cormac McCarthy,
a writer I love who famously (or infamously) refuses to use quotation marks when characters
speak, a writers ability to break writing conventions can actually improve their writing.
Therefore, it cant just be following the rules we have that makes writing good; it has to go
deeper than that. How the author commands tone or perspective, like the point of view shifts in
the Lord of the Rings books - from the dark, eerie, arduous journey of Frodo to the intense,
heroic battles led by Aragorn and his fellow members of the Fellowship of the Ring- to how they
communicate their point, like Anthony Burgess did with his famous book A Clockwork
Orange - showing how even monsters like Alex dont deserve to have the power of choice, the
thing that makes us human, stripped away from them, and that we cant make artificial that
which was organic when it comes to the human condition - to the ability to make the reader feel

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what they wanted us to feel, like Lincoln giving the Gettysburg Address - inspiring hope, and
renewing a nations will to fight and keep their dream of a free nation alive - these things make
good writing, and they link good authors. The things that make good academic writing must
apply to good informal writing. Its not that a formal tone makes for better academic writing and
an informal tone makes better creative writing, its that a good author can use whatever tone they
need to convey emotion to their audience. The definition of what one might call good writing
shouldnt change depending on the rhetorical context; instead, good writing should be
determined based on how well an author communicates to and with their reader. In the same way
matter and energy are connected in physics, I believe all good communication is connected. In
the same way gravity applies to all things the same way, the same rules that govern one thing
must also govern the other.
In conclusion, I view writing as a complex, multi-faceted subject with more to talk about
than could possibly be covered in a single essay. People write their entire dissertations on the
topic. My approach to writing is a very organized and objective process built around staying
organized and focused. I have taken influence and grown as a writer from the books Ive read,
the games Ive played, and the worlds Ive built. I would imagine that the techniques I use for
writing will help me as I write for my college classes, due to the fact that college seems to seek
and rewards organized and focused writing and writers. My desire to use peer review, my
brainstorming strategies, and my drafting process are all parts of techniques or skills that have
been emphasized in my English class, which leads me to believe that they will be extremely
helpful. However, only time will tell whether or not these habits and systems that make up my
process will be truly helpful in my college experience. I am very interested to see how my time
at college influences and changes my writing process, views, and overall ability from this point
forward.