This is probably one of those chapters in a writing guide which people will skip over because they think it isn’t important, and it isn’t specific advice on how to write. But I will be talking about the importance on reflecting on your work and I hope you will find it worth reading.
As part of the creative writing part of my course at uni we have to reflect on our work. For our coursework we write a creative piece and an accompanying reflective essay. At first, I believed this to simply be pointless and annoying. However, as the year has gone on I have come to realise its importance.
What do I mean by ‘reflecting on your work’? A lot of things are involved in this, but essentially it means looking at your poem/short story/novel and thinking about WHY you have chosen to do certain things. And by doing that, it has helped me to think more about those things next time I come to write something because I realise they are important.
Things to consider:
Why did I write it?
There is usually a reason you have chosen to write about what you have. Have you done what you set out to achieve? It may have changed greatly from when you first came up with the idea to when you finish it. As you go along it is easy to go off on tangents and you may have lost sight of what you intended it to mean. Knowing the purpose of your project is really important.
How have I written it?
Your stylistic choices such as tense may be personal preference for what you like writing but it is also good to think about how writing it differently can change its meaning. For example, what tense have you used, first or third person, which character’s point of view have you chosen, structure, setting, tone, language, chapter number/length.
What needs working on?
This is particularly about re-drafting. Once you have finished something it is often hard to know what to work on to improve it. The only way to know this though is to take the time to reflect on what you have written.
When you write you are generally thinking about the WHAT. Reflecting on your project makes you think about the HOW and most importantly the WHY.
This is a short chapter but I just wanted to give you guys something to think about.
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Illumination: A Writing Guide
Non-FictionIn this writing guide I will be sharing tips, advice and inspiration. There will be stuff on particular genres and on general things such as setting and style. I'll also be sharing any words of wisdom I gain from my degree in English Lit + Creative...
