7 Write Fast, Edit Slow: A Technique for Writing and Editing your Work

By: Kathleen Steeves

Reflection Question: What things/circumstances distract you most from writing? (what slows you down/takes you away from the task at hand?)

It’s a Common problem: You sit down, you work for hours, but at the end of the day you have still somehow achieved little or no progress on the actual writing.  This can be very frustrating!

The “write fast, edit slow” technique is one strategy for getting past external and internal distractions and maximizing the productivity of your writing times.  This section will break down the technique into each of its component parts, providing suggestions for application to graduate level writing.

1. Write Fast

The concept is simple: when you’re sitting down to begin a new chapter, paper or project, just write – get your ideas on paper in any form. Do not edit.  Do not try to craft the perfect sentences.  Do not fill in missing citations or run to the library to get that book you just remembered you need.  Do not even fix typos or punctuation.  Just write.

• The Rational: Many times the hours we dedicate to writing become about running to the library for that book we need, reviewing a few sentences over and over, looking up a citation on the web, and possibly becoming distracted by facebook or e-mail along the way. Thus, you may find you can work for hours, but no tangible writing progress is made.

Alternatively, trying to write perfect drafts is also time-consuming, frustrating and no fun. Sometimes pouring so much of yourself into a draft at the very beginning can also be futile. This is because it is hard to know at first exactly where or how you should say something in the first draft, because the whole picture is not expressed yet.  You may work to painstakingly craft sentences that will not even end up in your final paper, cut out in the process of revision.

Perfectionism is not an effective use of your time at this stage.  American fiction writer, Anne Lamott, in her book on writing called “Bird by Bird,” suggests that all good writers write “Shitty first drafts,” stating that “this is how they end up with good second drafts and terrific third drafts” (21).  It is how you give yourself permission to think, enjoy the writing process, and let ideas flow freely

• Applications in Graduate Writing:
  • Give yourself permission to be a bit “cluttered” in your draft.
  • Make notes to self – if a source or citation is missing, don’t interrupt your flow by going to find what you need. Type a note to yourself about what to insert and then keep writing.  You can fill in the info when you revise.
  • Start with Headings, Subheadings & Key words: Type all of your headings and subheadings into your document at the very beginning, when you sit down to write and then work to fill them in. “When the size of what you have to write is small enough, you can deal with it more effectively emotionally” (271). You can even put more headings than you will keep – like one per paragraph or one key word for each idea.
  • Skip around: You can do this! You do not have to write everything in order.
  • Write with your computer screen off: This will force you to just keep writing and not get caught up in fixing errors or agonizing over getting the perfect sentence. Purely get your ideas out onto the page.
  • Adjust your expectations for yourself: Instead of telling yourself you need to polish every sentence/get it all completely right the first time, tell yourself you are just writing to help yourself develop your ideas at the moment. Give yourself permission to write more informally and play with ideas on the page in the first stages of writing.

2. Edit Slow

After you have all of your ideas on the page, this is when you will go back to revise, edit and proofread. This will actually take longer than the writing phase, as now you will concentrate on several higher and lower order things – everything from spelling and grammar mistakes to making sure your ideas are in order and your evidence backs up your arguments.

• Applications in Graduate Writing:
  • Edit incrementally: Instead of trying to edit for everything at once, make several passes through each chapter editing for different things each time.
  • Work from higher to lower order mistakes: Start by looking at the bigger picture. First, look for and edit out information that is redundant or unnecessary.  Then re-arrange what made the cut for style/flow.  A few reader-friendly ways of ordering your arguments:
    • Simple to complex
    • Short to long
    • More familiar to less familiar
    • Less contestable to more contestable
    • More important to less important (or vice versa)
    • Earlier understanding to prepare for later understanding
    • General analysis followed by specific applications
  • Next, review paragraph transitions and sentence structure.  Do proofreading (spelling/grammar checks) last.
  • Make a “Personal Style” Sheet: When it comes to proofreading, consider making up your own personal style sheet of your own common errors and use this to look for each error you frequently make. Check each item on the list.  Go through your writing looking for one error at a time.
  • Hard-Copy Proofreading – print out chapter and read every word (read out loud). You might use two different coloured highlighters to alternately mark sentences – separating them and reading them carefully.  If you tend to miss things in your citations, highlight each one and go back and look through them.  Knowing your own common mistakes can be very helpful for successfully editing and improving your writing.