In Donald Murray’s writing he discusses the process of writing and when writing a first draft and how often it is usually the only draft for most writers. He says that this makes them inexperienced and no where near the professional ability of those who write for a living and are very experienced at it. The main difference is that professional writers usually consider their first draft in the writing process just beginning, and amateurs usually consider it the end.
In Murray’s writing, he cites a quote from novelist, Nancy Hale. She says that writers “should be critical of everything that seems to him most delightful in his style. He should excise what he most admires, because he wouldn’t thus admire it if he weren’t.. in a sense protecting it from criticism.” By stating this, Nancy Hale probably means that when a writer reads over their work, it does not appear that there are any mistakes, because they do not want to see fault in their work.
Many experienced writers write and rewrite their works multiple times. Donald Murray cites popular children’s writer, Roald Dahl. He says that “By the time I’m nearing the end of a story, the first part will have been read and corrected at least 150 times.” I do not think that this is to show that writing is a daunting task, but to rather explain how much work goes into writing any particular piece. A student should not only have rewrote their work, but revise it as well because after only one or two rewrites, the work has only begun.
After reading this article, I realize how much more time I need to put into my work, as far as my writings and essays go just because the few revisions I make are not enough to create a well written and well produced piece. Personally, I thank Donald Murray for shedding some light on that subject, that’s for sure.
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