From Pulp To Paper

I'm currently reading a book by Kurt Vonnegut called Timequake. It's kind of a weird mix between a biography and fictional story about a decade of consciousness on cruise control.

In one passage from the book, Vonnegut talks about two prominent styles of writing that he's observed among his friends and fellow writers - there are "swoopers" and "bashers", he says.

Swoopers throw everything down, and swoop through a story from beginning to end in a single session. Then they go back over the story, later, to re-vise and correct their mistakes. The final product is essentially made from the frame of the first swoop.

Bashers, on the other hand, painstakingly struggle with each word as they bash their way through a story from beginning to end. Bashers work at a slower pace, because writing is a struggle of perfection.

I don't agree that writers necessarily fit snuggly into either of these categories but I can still appreciate the description.

I think I am a "swasher" or a "booper" - a mix between his two offered descriptions. (The fact that I'm a journalist and not a fiction writer might account for this difference.)

When I write an article, I tend to swoop through the story from beginning to end, making sure I can carry some sort of theme or purpose through the article. It is important to have a wide-view as you write an article in order to focus on important ideas and emphasize points that need to be emphasized. However, when I've finished swooping through the article, I go back to the beginning and bash my way through sentences, inserting facts and new ideas and re-writing every single sentence.

I basically swoop through an article, to shape the skull, spine and skeleton, then I bash the fleshing onto the bones, word by word.

Even this entry is an example of my strange style. I kindof write everything down, making sure to mention the main points of what I want to talk about, and then I go back and insert all of the detaily type information to emphasize my message.