LAS LENGUAS INGLESA Y ESPAÑOLA de Delfín Carbonell

  Outlining and Drafting: The Writer’s First Steps An outline is, in essence, a to-do list for writing . Nothing is more mysterious than that. It gives you a sense of direction, a roadmap for what you wish to say. Once your outline is sketched, you move on to the first draft—el borrador —where you begin to give shape to your ideas. The First Draft: Writing “en sucio” The first draft, also known as a rough draft , is the stage where you simply write down your ideas as they come. You may follow your outline closely or discover, as often happens, that new ideas appear while you write. If so, let the outline bend. It exists to serve you, not restrain you. A rough draft ’s purpose is to organize and develop thoughts , not to shine. When drafting, you should avoid stopping to polish your style. Do your best, of course, but resist the temptation to revise while writing. As Google aptly puts it: first drafts don’t have to be perfect; they just have to be written. The Second Draft : Shaping...

Muddy prose is the result of muddy thinking. Clear, easy-to-understand writing is a joy forever. I mention this because, of late, I have been reading and rereading prose that made no sense, even after going over sentences several times. Why this? I take it personally and think that poorly written prose is an insult to the reader. The writer does not give a hoot whether his muddy writing makes sense or not and puts the effort to decipher the hastily written piece squarely upon our shoulders. Most people who put their fingertips to the keyboard do not know their craft and scoff at grammar. "Grammar is not just a pain in the ass; -says Stephen King-  it is the pole you grab to get your thoughts up on their feet and walking." Further: "Simple sentences provide the path you can follow when you fear getting lost in the tangles of rhetoric." And how about vocabulary? "One of the really bad things you can do to your writing is to dress up the vocabulary, looking for lo...