Peter Elbow And Donald Murray's Approach To Writing A Writing Style

As demonstrated by both Peter Elbow and Donald Murray, an author’s approach to writing a piece, whether it is written freely or structured, changes the perspective the reader will take. The different methods followed to achieve their style will depend on the purpose of each writer’s piece. The pieces “Freewriting”, by Peter Elbow, and “The Maker’s Eye: Revising Your Own Manuscript”, by Donald M. Murray, both discuss how to create competent writing; however, Elbow sees writing primarily as a process, whereas Murray sees it as a tool for achieving an end product. The authors describe the goal of each strategy, as well as the benefits obtained from the different styles of writing. They also presented the criticism and changes used to improve writing …show more content…
“Each section of a piece must be adequately developed” (Murray, 122). He views the product of writing as the most important aspect. Throughout the piece, there must be certain details found inside the format to lead it to proper form such as “[…] a solid framework of logic, argument, narrative, or motivation which runs through the entire piece of writing and holds it together” (Murray, 122). In order for the readers to properly follow the text, Murray claims the information must be guided by the reason of the writer. Unlike freewriting, which does not organize ideas logically, the formal product must be structured properly. “Each piece of specific information must carry the reader toward meaning” (Murray, 122). Murray stresses the reader must have a solid comprehension of the writing for it to be successful. The ideas of the final product will not be significant to its audience unless the information is pertinent to each …show more content…
Very little judgement should go into the process of freewriting, since its purpose is to simply put the writer’s thoughts onto paper. “Freewriting teaches you to write without thinking about writing […] Freewriting helps you learn to just say it” (Elbow, 14). Instead of criticising the placement of every word, Elbow helps writers not to worry about format but simply to get everything on paper. Although reading over one’s work normally leads to a proper draft, revising one’s freewriting must e done with caution. “Don’t read over your freewriting unless you can do so in a spirit of benign self-welcoming” (Elbow, 15). It is possible that if freewriting is read over in a negative light, the writer may no longer wish to continue the activity in the future. Elbow warns the reader of that possibility, stating “if reading over your freewriting or giving it to someone else gets in the way of future freewriting, as it may well do, then it’s better just to throw it away or stash it somewhere unread” (15). Freewriting is intended to guide the writer to bring ideas to mind, but when judged too harshly, they may simply block that concept out of their