In the essay, “Revision is Central to Developing Writing ” by Doug Downs he states that writers have to make multiple drafts to develop their writing in a positive way. Writers take time to create their best writing, they also take time in between each draft to continue revising. The author also mentions that writing is never perfect on the first go-around. The author informed us that writers can only write what they “see” in the beginning and revision is required to “see” more and clearer towards the end. Revising does not mean that it is poor writing, but it is a sign that you are skilled and mature.
Doug Downs proves that revision is an essential component to developing writing in many ways. One way that he proves this is by stating “we must also teach writers to develop workflows that anticipate and rely on revision and to discover what methods of revision best suit their own writing process” (Downs). This statement clearly indicates that teachers should be teaching students that it is okay to make mistakes. We as students need to know that we need to be able to revise our work to make it the best that it possibly can be.
(Person flipping through blank pages in a book)
Another way that Mr. Downs proves that revision is an essential component to developing writing is by, implying that without revision you may not see the entire picture right away. When you first write you only get down the short little distance that you see in front of you. Revision helps you see a bit more clear and maybe even in a different direction. The first draft should be “bad” and require many revisions to make it the quality that you wish it to be.
Finally, through collaboration and working with others during the revision phase of your writing it allows you to gain different perspectives. In the text “Revision is central to Developing Writing” the author states “The expectation of revision– the building of time into a writing process– creates both the opportunity for, and sometimes directed prompting for, looking at the text again, differently” (Downs). This message is very impactful, it showed me that if you don’t expect to revise your writing, you will have tunnel vison and only see to the end. If you are expecting to revise you will be open to looking at the text again and in a different way than you did before.
(Tunnel with light at the end)
