Failure is Just The Beginning
“Failure Can Be an Important Part of Writing Development ” by Collin Brooke and Allison Carr discusses how we as writers can learn from our mistakes to become better. It is important that we as writers are not afraid to fail, in fact, Brooke and Carr assert that the ability to fail is an important quality of a good writer. According to Brooke and Carr, “many students focus on not damaging their grades, creating a “fear” that works against the learning process,” when instead they should focus on what caused them to earn the bad grade, and work to improve their writing from there. Brooke and Carr reference J.K. Rowling as a popular writer who has been open about her failures before her hit series “Harry Potter”. We should not be afraid to fail as writers, as it is part of the learning process and only allows for more growth.
“It is important that we as writers are not afraid to fail”
When you fail as a writer it is important to take these steps to improvement
- Am I happy with where I am?
- What did I do poorly that I can improve on?
- What did I do well that I can continue to do?
Considering these crucial questions will allow us to improve as writers. As we write our abilities to adapt to different writing situations develop. It is important to practice writing often so that these skills are emphasized. Teachers often can set up different types of practicing for students of writing to gain feedback from their peers, this feedback can also help us answer the questions stated above.
Consider the feedback of your peers to make sure your general audience can understand your piece. A writer is not finished upon finishing their first draft, they will come back to it and consider feedback from their peers. Revision is essential to writing and should not be considered a sign of bad writing, and neither is a failure. Failure is an essential part of learning to write, from the words of Brooke and Carr “the teaching of writing should focus as much on the puzzling out failure as it does rewarding success.”
Remember the next time you write a piece that wether or not you fail that piece does not determine your success as a writer, but rather how you deal with that failure and how you come back stronger next time.
Sources:
Brooke and Carr https://myd2l.lcc.edu/d2l/common/viewFile.d2lfile/Database/NjE5NzUxMA/NWWK_Brooke_Carr_Failure.pdf?ou=206098
