Writing for self-clarification

Once a reader is equipped with the inputs, there comes up the need and urge to communicate. 
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Writing has been often treated as a productive language skill for which a strong understanding of vocabulary, familiarity with the structures, skills in organisation of ideas, and understanding the contextual demands are essential requirements. But recent research has proved that there is yet another dimension to writing which is not often discussed in academic circles — writing as a process of thinking and self-clarification.

Writing is not just an academic performance which demonstrates the acquired language skills, but it is a process through which the writer engages in critical and creative thinking. Many “great ideas” which stay with us as “great” or “relevant” will be put to test once we begin to give shape to those ideas in terms of linguistic units. While doing so, sometimes those great ideas disappear or sometimes “the silly” ones assume greater importance. In this context, writing is not just a performance, but a process. A process which empowers the practitioners of writing to reach an understanding of complexity involved in writing and organisation of ideas. There are five steps involved in initiating ourselves into the process of writing.

The first one is “reading”. One can’t begin to write if he/she does not have enough inputs for writing. The inputs are not just ideas or vocabulary, but an experience of perceiving the world of reality through reading books. In other words, the experience of being “influenced” by the world of ideas would create the context of necessity which results in “self-expression”. Hence, one can’t write if he or she is not yet ready with “what to write”.

The second step is “feeling the urge”. Once a reader is equipped with the inputs, there comes up the need and urge to communicate. Again, the purpose of writing is not “just to communicate alone”, but “to bring changes” in the ways in which people think. This brings to one’s writing the value that the reader seeks.

The third one is “begin to write”. All great ideas come up only in the process of writing. In order to initiate the process of thinking, one has to choose to write. Writing has a forcing function on our thought process. In order to clarify to ourselves if our thoughts are really worthy of sharing or not, we need to attempt to pen our thoughts into words. It is a complex process, but worth attempting.

The fourth step is to familiarise ourselves with the structures of the language. Structures give us frames for our thoughts. The more structures we have, the more ways we can engage in thinking. One who is limited in structures of a language will be limited in thinking also. Hence, in order to get more structures, one has to keep an eye on the structures of the language which a writer can get quite unconsciously through continual exposure to the corpus of that language.

The final step is to ask for feedback. In order to understand the effect of our writing, we should not merely go by our own impressions and interpretation of our writing, but ask others to give their feedback. The feedback we receive may not be always positive as it is impossible to convince everyone. But, it is important to listen to the details of the feedback to analyse if our writing lacks in any aspect which interferes with the understanding of the readers. It is always important to keep an eye of scepticism if words of appreciation flows in, and not to be disturbed by the negative feedback when it is registered. Take both with a pinch of salt and ask yourself if you really enjoy the process. What is more important for a writer is to engage in the process of understanding how writing emerges in the process. Keep writing and keep exploring the multiple dimensions of writing which emerge in due course.

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