SQR1

Understanding Composing

Summary: In Sondra Perl's article "Understanding Composing", Perl uses a teacher's composing assignment as the main reference to explain the several correct and incorrect steps to a successful composing process. When a writer is given a specific topic to write about, he or she may feel compelled to use recursiveness, which allows writers to move foward with sub strands or subroutines in the writing. Also, the author recognizes recursiveness as the most challenging part of writing. However, within any writer's emotions there is a "felt sense", an awareness that gathers everything one feels and knows about a subject. This feeling helps the writer become aware of why the topic triggers certain senses in the writer's body and mind. Two other important key points in the composing process are retrospectice and projective structuring. Retrospective structuring helps the writer discover a surprise in the writing that they do not expect. Projective structuring causes concerns for the writers when they use it to focus on what they think others want them to write and ignore what it is they would like to write about. After her observation on the teacher, the author concludes that the process is more complex than writers are aware of.

Question: In the article, Perl states that retrospective and projective structuring are two parts of the same process. Which structure do you find is a more difficult process in your writing?

Response: I personally feel that in my writing proctective writing would be harder. When I first start to think about what I want to write I come up with too many ideas all at once. I find that one idea might be stronger than the other or that the subject might not be entertaining enough. Once I cannot figure out what would be best, I think about the people who are going to read my paper. I completey discard any ideas I had and then focus on what the readers could want. Usually when I do that I compare my writing to what I have read that was succesful and then once I start writing, the final work ends up being something I would have never written. It is important to write what you want and not worry about others. That way you may discover that your readers can relate to what you truly mean in your writing. I think Perl made a successful choice to include retrospective and projectice structing in the process because it helps writers realize if what they wrote was a complete surprise or if what they wrote ended being somehing they would not normally write.