Perl and Fleckenstein on Composing

Sondra Perl

“Understanding Composition”

“What basic patterns seem to
occur during composing?”

Recursiveness

“In recent years, many researchers including
myself have questioned the traditional notion that
writing is a linear process with a strict plan
-
write
-
revise sequence.”



Recursiveness

“In recent years, many researchers including
myself have questioned the traditional notion that
writing is a linear process with a strict plan
-
write
-
revise sequence.”


“. . .
recursiveness

in writing implies that there is a
forward
-
moving action that exists by virtue of a
backward
-
moving motion.”


“Felt Sense”

“The move is not to any words on the
page nor to the topic but to feelings or
non
-
verbalized perceptions that
surround the words, or to what the
words already present evoke in the
writer. . .the move occurs inside the
writer, to what is physically felt.”



“Two Parts of the Same
Process”


Retrospective Structuring


Projective Structuring


“Two Parts of the Same
Process”


Retrospective Structuring

“the process of attending, of
calling up a felt sense, and of
writing out of that place”

“begins with what is already
there”

“What
is "right" or "wrong"
corresponds to our sense of our
intention.
We intend
to write
something, words come, and
now we assess if those
words
adequately
capture our intended
meaning
.”


Projective Structuring


“Two Parts of the Same
Process”


Retrospective Structuring

“the process of attending, of
calling up a felt sense, and of
writing out of that place”

“begins with what is already
there”

“What
is "right" or "wrong"
corresponds to our sense of our
intention.
We intend
to write
something, words come, and
now we assess if those
words
adequately
capture our intended
meaning
.”


Projective Structuring

“the ability to craft what one
intends to say so that it is
intelligible to others”

“asks
writers to attempt to
become readers and to imagine
what someone
other than
themselves will need before the
writer's particular
piece of
writing can become intelligible
and compelling
.”


Kristie Fleckenstein

“Appetite for Coherence”

To judge the success or failure of a particular
passage
requires
the writer to step out of his or
her shoes as a writer and examine the passage
as a reader. Writers need to perceive the
desires or expectations their texts arouse in
their projected readers and then check to see if
those desires are satisfied.


Coherence

“coherence is not ‘in
the text,’ but
something that
readers create with
the
aid of cues
provided by the
writer” (82)


Coherence

These observations serve as
a basis for the
discovery that
coherent meaning
results
from the relationships
we
as
readers
build
between
ideas
—
if we can't build
relationships
by bridging
the
gaps between ideas
-
ideas
such as crab grass
and fans,
we create no coherent sense
of the text
.

Coherence

So what does this teach us?


Coherence

So what does this teach us?


t
he importance of reading in writing


Coherence

So what does this teach us?


t
he importance of reading in writing


a productive way to introduce transitions and cohesive
ties as linguistic cues


Coherence

So what does this teach us?


t
he importance of reading in writing


a productive way to introduce transitions and cohesive
ties as linguistic cues


we can examine the texts of professional writers, noting
how they ensure smooth bridges between ideas