| Are you a basher or a swooper? | |
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+12Brenda Hill Don Stephens Abe F. March alice lin Tory Lynn Dick Stodghill alj A Ahad zadaconnaway Carol Troestler Shelagh 16 posters |
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Shelagh Admin
Number of posts : 12662 Registration date : 2008-01-11 Location : UK
| Subject: Are you a basher or a swooper? Thu Feb 26, 2009 2:17 am | |
| We are all different when it comes to writing. Some of us write whole chapters without doing a single edit while others can't complete a sentence without making changes. How do you write; are you a basher (bash out the words and edit as you go) or a swooper (swoop along following the flow and edit later)?
http://secondlanguage.blogspot.com/2008/12/swoopers-and-bashers.html |
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Carol Troestler Five Star Member
Number of posts : 3827 Registration date : 2008-06-07 Age : 86 Location : Wisconsin
| Subject: Re: Are you a basher or a swooper? Thu Feb 26, 2009 3:25 am | |
| I swoop. If I bash then my writing becomes stilted.
The swooping is much more fun, and sometimes as I write that way interesting characters and/or connections occur.
Carol |
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zadaconnaway Five Star Member
Number of posts : 4017 Registration date : 2008-01-16 Age : 76 Location : Washington, USA
| Subject: Re: Are you a basher or a swooper? Thu Feb 26, 2009 3:26 am | |
| Is there such a thing as a swoosher? |
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A Ahad Five Star Member
Number of posts : 1102 Registration date : 2008-03-25 Age : 55
| Subject: Re: Are you a basher or a swooper? Thu Feb 26, 2009 3:30 am | |
| Shelagh, Mostly a swooper when I write things down as they come into my head, but equally I do stop to correct words and spellings as I go along. In the first sweep, I write bits of the story in a jumble of mess, then come back to reorder things later when I do the thorough bashing. |
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Carol Troestler Five Star Member
Number of posts : 3827 Registration date : 2008-06-07 Age : 86 Location : Wisconsin
| Subject: Re: Are you a basher or a swooper? Thu Feb 26, 2009 3:36 am | |
| I took a course where the class listened to relaxation "tapes." (it was that long ago that it was a tape.) The instructor had given us a topic before we listened to the tape, and then immediately at the end of the tape, we were to write, to swoop with no worries about punctuation or grammar. That is where my fairy tale came from, one that is on inspirational websites and has gotten good reviews.
I tried the same technique when I would do training programs with teachers. I gave it up. It was very difficult for them to do this, and I'm not putting down teachers. They just wanted things correct from the beginning.
Carol |
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alj Five Star Member
Number of posts : 9633 Registration date : 2008-12-05 Age : 80 Location : San Antonio
| Subject: Re: Are you a basher or a swooper? Thu Feb 26, 2009 6:06 am | |
| Carol wrote: - Quote :
- I tried the same technique when I would do training programs with teachers. I gave it up. It was very difficult for them to do this, and I'm not putting down teachers. They just wanted things correct from the beginning.
I noticed that during workshops I attended, where many of the olders teachers, especially, had trouble learning to take writing as a process. They were mostly "bashers," and the newer studies on teaching writing often focus on teaching students to "swoop." After a couple of years, though, many teachers got so caught up in encouraging their students to create, they forgot to show them how to polish things up afterwards. And there is a tendency, in traditional classrooms, to put everybody into one group. It seems to me that a teacher's job ought to involve recognizing both types, then helping bashers to occasionally swoop, and swoopers to bash once in a while. I took workshops in both types of teaching programs. The New Jersey Writing Project, or NJWP, was an excellent way of teaching swooping, but I'm glad I learned to balance it with the Jane Schaffer [sic?] Method, which focuses on structure. When I was preparing my AP students to take that very difficult Advanced Placement exam, I had to wean them off of NJWP and into TJSM. Gotta love those educational acronyms. |
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Dick Stodghill Five Star Member
Number of posts : 3795 Registration date : 2008-05-04 Age : 98 Location : Akron, Ohio
| Subject: Re: Are you a basher or a swooper? Thu Feb 26, 2009 6:41 am | |
| I am definitely a basher. As with so many things I do, I'm sure it is because of my newspaper days. If I see a mistake, don't like a word choice or feel something is awkward, I change it immediately.
Last edited by Dick Stodghill on Thu Feb 26, 2009 9:44 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Tory Lynn Three Star Member
Number of posts : 149 Registration date : 2008-01-11 Age : 60 Location : Auburn Washington
| Subject: Re: Are you a basher or a swooper? Thu Feb 26, 2009 7:04 am | |
| When I write something initially, I'm definitely a swoosher. I have a lot of fun just writing what is on my mind in the beginning. I usually write it long hand at first, never with complete sentences as my thoughts just go to fast.
Vickie |
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lin Five Star Member
Number of posts : 2753 Registration date : 2008-03-20 Location : Mexico
| Subject: Re: Are you a basher or a swooper? Thu Feb 26, 2009 7:07 am | |
| Is there such a thing as a swoosher?
I think there was one cruising me in the sauna the other day. |
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alice Five Star Member
Number of posts : 15672 Registration date : 2008-10-22 Age : 76 Location : Redmond, WA
| Subject: Re: Are you a basher or a swooper? Thu Feb 26, 2009 7:38 am | |
| I obviously swoosh and do not take sufficient time to bash. I have a most ridiculous phenomenon--I can immediately spot an error in someone elses's writing, It takes a good bit longer to see my own mistakes. |
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Abe F. March Five Star Member
Number of posts : 10768 Registration date : 2008-01-26 Age : 85 Location : Germany
| Subject: Re: Are you a basher or a swooper? Thu Feb 26, 2009 7:56 am | |
| I think I'm both. I write until finished with my thoughts. The next time I attack my work, I re-read what I wrote and edit. That is an on-going process. |
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Don Stephens Five Star Member
Number of posts : 1355 Registration date : 2008-01-25 Age : 85 Location : Wherever my hat's hanging today!
| Subject: Re: Are you a basher or a swooper? Thu Feb 26, 2009 8:09 am | |
| I think I’m a bit like Abe. I write out a complete thought, then re-read and refine. When I stop for the day or set work aside for awhile, when I restart I reread up to the point where I quit before starting again, so I’m constantly editing and rewriting. Probably has a lot to do with why it takes me a year to write a hundred thousand word novel. |
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Shelagh Admin
Number of posts : 12662 Registration date : 2008-01-11 Location : UK
| Subject: Re: Are you a basher or a swooper? Thu Feb 26, 2009 10:00 am | |
| - Alice wrote:
- ... I can immediately spot an error in someone elses's writing, It takes a good bit longer to see my own mistakes.
You can always rely on someone else to stop your miss takes. |
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alice Five Star Member
Number of posts : 15672 Registration date : 2008-10-22 Age : 76 Location : Redmond, WA
| Subject: Re: Are you a basher or a swooper? Thu Feb 26, 2009 10:33 am | |
| Shelagh
When you are right you are so right! |
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Brenda Hill Five Star Member
Number of posts : 1297 Registration date : 2008-02-16 Location : Southern CA
| Subject: Re: Are you a basher or a swooper? Thu Feb 26, 2009 1:16 pm | |
| I edit as I go. I cannot concentrate on the next scene if something from the previous one is nagging me. It may take me a while to complete a novel, and I wish I could say that because of all the editing as I go, it's perfect. But that's not the case. There's always something from this chapter or that one that I know I could smooth, straighten, or just simply write in a better way.
So, I go back and start the edits again, and I'll keep at it until I can read the entire thing and feel that certain satisfaction that it's the best I can make it. |
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RunsWithScissors Four Star Member
Number of posts : 823 Registration date : 2008-12-31
| Subject: Re: Are you a basher or a swooper? Thu Feb 26, 2009 2:07 pm | |
| I'm definitely a swoosher. I type in scenes. Usually anywhere from 7-10 pages at a time. I just type, type, type, then go back and read through it, adjust it, edit it, add something, take something away, tweak it a bit here or there. Then, when I get ready to add the next section, I re-read what I wrote the time before (usually changing it a bit again!) and then continue on with the next section. When I've actually finished the entire book (do we ever really finish a book?), I go back through the entire thing several times and have two other people read the entire thing, noting what thoughts hit them along the way and pointing out inconsistencies or typos. Gosh, I make it sound like work. It's not. It's my favorite way to spend time. Well... one of my favorites. =) |
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Phil Whitley Four Star Member
Number of posts : 907 Registration date : 2008-04-01 Age : 81 Location : Riverdale, GA
| Subject: Re: Are you a basher or a swooper? Thu Feb 26, 2009 2:11 pm | |
| I fall into the Basher category. I edit as I go, writing and re-writing sentences while my original thought is still fresh. Plus, if I don't correct obvious errors as I go I may never find it again!
I do my swooping in a spiral notebook beside my bed - for those late-night inspirations. |
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Rhymer Four Star Member
Number of posts : 278 Registration date : 2008-12-24 Age : 33 Location : usa
| Subject: Re: Are you a basher or a swooper? Thu Feb 26, 2009 2:16 pm | |
| I was a swooper with my first book, a basher wanna be with my second and now I find I have turned full fledge basher with my third. |
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Brenda Hill Five Star Member
Number of posts : 1297 Registration date : 2008-02-16 Location : Southern CA
| Subject: Re: Are you a basher or a swooper? Thu Feb 26, 2009 2:16 pm | |
| It's fascinating how different we all are, but that's the way it should be. Someone can say I need onions for a dish I want to make, but we'll have different methods of chopping, slicing, dicing, frying, or sautéing them. |
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RunsWithScissors Four Star Member
Number of posts : 823 Registration date : 2008-12-31
| Subject: Re: Are you a basher or a swooper? Thu Feb 26, 2009 3:03 pm | |
| Throw some garlic in with those onions and we've got a party! |
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Dick Stodghill Five Star Member
Number of posts : 3795 Registration date : 2008-05-04 Age : 98 Location : Akron, Ohio
| Subject: Re: Are you a basher or a swooper? Thu Feb 26, 2009 3:05 pm | |
| This may spoil Brenda's day, fascinating as she may be, but I am in total agreement with her first post. It's also the way I do things. Knowing that, she may change to being a swooper. |
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Brenda Hill Five Star Member
Number of posts : 1297 Registration date : 2008-02-16 Location : Southern CA
| Subject: Re: Are you a basher or a swooper? Thu Feb 26, 2009 3:10 pm | |
| Good heavens, Dick. We have something in common? Even the saints are shaking their heads over that one. |
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madhatter Four Star Member
Number of posts : 502 Registration date : 2008-02-13 Location : Tallahassee, FL
| Subject: Re: Are you a basher or a swooper? Thu Feb 26, 2009 5:40 pm | |
| I was a basher. Then I took part in NaNo--the National Novel Writing Competition--where the author attempts to write 50K words in one month. I learned to swoosh. I get more accomplished when I swoosh. Plus, I have to be in a certain frame of mind to bash. Bashing is the true work of writing. I'd much rather be swooshing. Hey, can we make that into a bumper sticker? |
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Abe F. March Five Star Member
Number of posts : 10768 Registration date : 2008-01-26 Age : 85 Location : Germany
| Subject: Re: Are you a basher or a swooper? Fri Feb 27, 2009 2:01 am | |
| Bumper Sticker: "Bashing or Swooshing can make you Mad-hatter."
"To Bash or not to Bash. That is the question. Can Swooshing be done about it?" |
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alj Five Star Member
Number of posts : 9633 Registration date : 2008-12-05 Age : 80 Location : San Antonio
| Subject: Re: Are you a basher or a swooper? Fri Feb 27, 2009 4:53 am | |
| OK, this thread has become an example of how false information gets quickly accepted. The original word was "swooper," not "swoosher." Ann |
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