FREE WRITING BY PETER ELBOW QUESTIONS

Jared Verebey

09/04/2014

Professor Young

English 1100

Free-writing by Peter Elbow Questions

1.     There are many differences between editing and free writing. When a person edits a paper, they are looking over it to check for mistakes on grammar and spelling. Editing is more for after a paper is written and now needs to be examined and looked over to make corrections. When you free-write, you are really just writing down everything that comes to mind about the topic you are writing about no matter if you think it is right or wrong. Free writing is for expressing everything you can possibly think of before you put the pieces of your essay together and it is before editing. When you complete free writing, you then can edit and make the corrections on how the essay should be pieced together and written.

2.     When a person edits a paper, it might be to specific with how they are correcting it to be too perfect. A paper should be written in the way you speak which is why editing can make the essay bring out a different side of you which is not the real you. Editing can make an essay boring or even difficult to read which is why the quote, “the habit of compulsive, premature editing doesn’t just make writing hard. It also makes writing dead” is a very true statement.

3.     When Peter Elbow quotes, “trying to get the beginning just right is a formula for failure” he is trying to make one specific point which is that if you attempt to be too perfect while writing or trying to make the beginning of your essay too perfect, it will become too boring and make the essay boring write off the bat. A writer should not try to be too perfect with their paper because like Elbow said which I agree with, it is the formula for failure.