Writing Topic: Rules for Writers Chapter 1

     The main purpose in "Rules for Writers, Chapter 1," is to inform the readers that writing is not a process of putting your thoughts on paper, but "figuring out what you think."(2)  The way Mrs. Hacker explains doing this, is doing it in stages, which she is sure that you will go back and revise once you've gotten further into your writing process and realized the beginning may need a change.  She has broken the first phase of the  writing process down into four stages to give writers a guideline to follow while writing.

     The first stage Mrs. Hacker introduces is, "generate ideas and sketch a plan."(2)  In this stage, she first recommends thinking about what you will write about while you're performing a daily activity and assessing the situation you will be writing under (time constraints, subject, length, etc).  She then goes into the subject your writing will be on and what will be expected of it, how you can get your information on the subject, why you will be writing and to whom, and how to present your ideas to the audience.  In the second stage of the first phase of the writing process, she goes into ways you can explore your subject to get you to the question, problem, or issue you will write about.  Mrs. Hacker lists several ways of exploring your subjects including:  listing, clustering, freewriting, etc.  For the third stage, she talks about coming up with a thesis, which will contain your central idea in one or two sentences in the first paragraph of your writing.  She recommends drafting a thesis early in the writing process, which may be rough and not what you will use in the final draft, but it will be a tool in organizing your first draft.  The final stage she goes over is sketching a plan.  She teaches us there are two ways of doing this, both using an outline, either rough, or formal.  Mrs. Hacker says rough outlines work good early in the writing process, and have advantages over a formal outline, but a formal outline is, "useful later in the writing process, after you have written a rough draft, especially if your topic is complex."(18)

     I plan on using the information from this chapter in many ways in my writing.  One of the points I know I will take with me throughout my life, is the section on "purpose."  I don't remember ever thinking about who I would write to when writing anything, although I think everything I've written (besides letters to friends and family) to date has been for educators.  Even so, as I advance in my life I know I will be responsible for writing to different groups, for different reasons, and now I'm confident that I'll be able to capture the attention of the group I'm writing to by clearly stating my purpose.