Steps of Writing

Introduction

This essay shall be the last essay in the saga of essays about writing or essays about “essays” or “metaessays”. Once this essay is done, the boring essays shall be no more and I shall begin with my journey in philosophy. Of course the only reason this essay is written is to fulfill the plans as stated and reemphasized in both of my essays. If I had not had that idea,  it may be that this essay would not exist. However, it is also my intention to share my experiences in writing and how I produce my essays.

As such, there will be no assertions or deductions or statements of reality, rather a short, lighthearted essay about how I write my essays. Despite the simple purpose, we can possibly extract a more serious reason, though it is still somewhat insignificant. That reason is the transparency of my writings, I mean it is a possibility that some may accuse me of not actually writing my essays and perhaps all of my ideas are borrowed and so and so. This essay seeks to show that I indeed produce all of these writings with the labor of my mind and my hands.

With the proof and explanations of this essay, it shall be clear how my essays came to be, from seemingly chaotic and random scribbles turned into a structured and well written essay. One may also compare between what I have prepared in my scribbles and my essay. Despite that, the main purpose of this essay remains as a casual sharing of my experiences in writing essays, with transparency as a secondary purpose.

Brainstorm

The brainstorm is the very first step in writing an essay, and usually begins with a prompt. For me, this prompt is just an intriguing idea or observation that I wish to discuss. In the brainstorm, with the basic guides of that prompt I scribble down every single idea I can think of regarding it. There is no organization or ordering, and often I write single words, phrases, and sometimes short sentences. The only rule is to write as much as possible until I am satisfied.

Of course, to ensure that there is a rational limit to that “satisfaction”, then the purpose of the essay is first established in the brainstorm. This is so that the scope of the ideas are limited since the beginning and I may focus the entirety of my ideas towards that purpose, focus, and prompt. With that, the brainstorm process will be richer as I know what to think of, in that sense there will be many more ideas, yet they are more limited.

It is also in the brainstorm that I would begin to search for any reference sources. I would read them and summarize the ideas that I require, while taking notes of the sources and also inputting the ideas from the sources into my brainstorm. Though in my second essay, I actually searched for the source in the outline process and not the brainstorm. As I have known that the information I am looking for can be found easily in an external source. In that case I am only confirming and providing credibility to my knowledge. Otherwise, I look for the sources to actually gain the ideas, and thus is done in the brainstorm.

Below are examples of my brainstorming, for my first essay and the current essay.

Picture 1 Brainstorm of my first essay

Picture 3 Brainstorm of this essay

Outline

Once the brainstorm has been completed and all ideas have been written sufficiently, we may move on to the outline. The outline is simply put, ordering my ideas according to the structure of my essays. As detailed in my first essay, the structure of my essay can commonly be divided into the starting point, the supporting argument, the main argument, and the conclusion (Prasetyo, Essay, 2019). Outlining would simply be organizing the ideas into each of the structural parts.

The outline is commonly done in bullet points, meaning that it is often written in just short words, phrases, and rarely sentences. The outline is only the organization of ideas and so it is ideal that no new ideas are produced. This is why the brainstorm must be done until the purposes of the essay are satisfied. Before that happens, then we must not move on to the outline. Each bullet point may be divided into hierarchies of sections in the essay, to illustrate the fullness of the argument or the idea.

The outline is also the final guide in writing the essay. This means that in creating the outline, it must be done with full awareness and all placement of ideas, its order, and its position must be considered carefully and thoroughly. Strict adherence to the structure is demanded and the order of ideas must be logical and final. This is because it is meant to be final, the field for not final ideas are the brainstorm, not the outline.

Another idea that must not be forgotten is the reference. Great care must be taken to place the reference source in its proper order and position in the essay. That will aid us in knowing where to include the reference source when writing. While commonly only external sources are to be positioned, internal sources should ideally be noted as well. As in these pioneer essays, I have discovered difficulties in finding out how to fit in my previous essays in my current essay in process. I hope to resolve this problem in future essays.

Below is an example of my outlining for this essay.

Picture 3 Outline of this essay

Writing Process

If we have finished the outline until the conclusion of the essay, then we are ready to begin to actually write the essay. In writing the essay, we do not obtain the ideas magically but write strictly according to the outline. In fact it is a major taboo and also hindrance to writing if we divert from the outline, even in terms of position. This is why the outline and the brainstorm must already be perfect.

In the writing process, I develop the points of the outline into entire paragraphs. As only the major points of each paragraph are planned, the minor details must be thought of as I write. This is a major challenge of my writing and I would usually create “relevant”, but not ideal minor points in the paragraph. The ideal form is that the paragraph flows internally, and even better if it can flow to other paragraphs as well, though this is even more difficult.

In developing the paragraphs, it is always important to pay attention to when the outline mentions a reference source. Here is the part where we must figure out how to fit in the external information with our essay. Then finally pin the citation after the relevant external information. Sometimes I may paraphrase the information, however for internal sources I also enjoy quoting directly, then elaborate or continue from it.

For language, I have a strict order in writing. I would write in Indonesian first, and so with an Indonesian brainstorm and outline, and then an Indonesian essay. This means that the photos of my brainstorm and outline might be incomprehensible for non Indonesian speakers. Only after I finish the Indonesian essay I write the English version of that essay using the Indonesian outline. What this also means is that this English version of this essay is not the first edition rather the “second edition” of this essay.

Now there is a reason why I write bilingually and why I do not recreate the brainstorm and outlines in English. I write in Indonesian because I am an Indonesian, my first loyalty should be to my motherland and I seek to spread my thoughts to my fellow Peoples first. However I still need to spread my thoughts to the international community and that is why I write in English as well. Why I don’t recreate the brainstorm and outline is because I wish to train my bilingual brain, thinking in English and Indonesian at the same time. Meanwhile no other languages will be added unless one of you wishes to translate it for me, as it would be a waste of time for me.

Publication

Once the essay is done, we may move towards publishing the essay. I would publish the essay every time I am finished with each language version, not the entire package. The general procedures is I would publish the essay into its language version of my blog, for my Indonesian blog it is this link, and you are already reading the essay in the English blog. Then I would share the link to some of my friends and colleagues which I am used to sharing my essays with.

Expanded, I first finish my Indonesian essay and then publish it in my Indonesian blog. Then I send it to my friends and colleagues which are more used to my Indonesian essay. Next I finish my English essay and publish it in my English blog, then I send it to my friends and colleagues which are more used to my English essay. Once that is done, that particular essay is done and I can move on to the next essays.

Editing?

Since I have no editor friends, nor do I have any income to pay editors to edit my work, currently there is no editing process. This means my steps of writing are a bit different from the traditional steps of writing, the standard has 5 steps that is with editing and revision, mine only has 3. The implications are that I must ensure that my essays are of utmost quality and are not drafts. I do not see any problems with it as even if my language is flawed, I only seek a sufficient level to express my ideas.

Moreover, even if I do have access to editing, it is still inefficient and I would not use it. As every essay I write, I must send them to the editors and then revise them and then publish it. This would waste my time, and since the essays are more for me rather than readers, as long as I can understand the essay and the ideas are sufficiently well structured, I see no need in editing. However I will indeed plan for editing in larger works such as the final planned manuscripts as mentioned in the first essay (Prasetyo, Essay, 2019).

Closing

There are 3 steps in my writing, the brainstorm, the outline, and the actual essay. If you include the publishing process, it may be 4 steps. The brainstorm is the messy and disorganized but focused scribbles of my ideas. The outline is the structuring and organization of said ideas, and the essay is the final result and development of those essays. As of now, editing is unnecessary and irrelevant in my opinion.

With that, this essay is close to its end and I only have some parting words. While this essay was not a serious one, I do hope it still provides inspiration and have some use in it for readers. I have only meant to have some fun and share my experiences, but with that also marks the end of the preparatory essays. The next essay I have on my agenda is the beginning of my philosophical empire, with a short introduction to philosophy. For the Indonesian readers, do prepare for a heavy reading next time. That is then, now this essay is finished, God bless you.

Bibliography

Prasetyo, I. C. (2020, January 11). Citations, References, and Sources. Retrieved January 18, 2020, from Burning Thoughts: https://pemikiranmembara-en.blogspot.com/2020/01/citations-references-and-sources.html

Prasetyo, I. C. (2019, December 15). Essay. Retrieved January 5, 2020, from Burning Thoughts: https://pemikiranmembara-en.blogspot.com/2019/12/essay.html