Chapter 2: Prewriting
Learning Objectives
- Understand the purpose of prewriting.
- Identify your own writing practices as linear or associative.
- Practise the three suggested prewriting options—outline, mind map, and freewriting—in different writing situations.
Many of us write haphazardly, using strategies we may have evolved as beginning learners. There is something incredibly frustrating in sitting and looking at a blank page, waiting for inspiration to strike. Wondering what to write about and how to start are normal parts of the writing process, and they happen to everyone—even people who make their living as writers. How can you get past the blank page? Prewriting can help. The following strategies—outlines, mind maps, and freewriting—may or may not work for you. Even if they don’t, however, they can help spark ideas for what will—and free you from the dreaded blank page.
