Plan Y: Speaking to my thesis

Plan Y is based on an idea from the first Moving Forward seminar: trying to write in a different genre, but with a twist.  I have been trying to write to a deadline this week, but I’m experiencing the same old problem of being unable to move along with what I want to say.  I seem to get tied up in prose.

Having tried free-writing, but finding that it just leads to the same old rants, I have decided to try something new.  I have Plan X’s Radical Über Chop-up Document to work with, and I’ve decided to just write my first draft as if I was giving a presentation or a lecture.  The twist is, you see, that really I’m not using a writing genre at all, it’s more like trying to access the way that I’d explain it to an audience directly, face to face.

The reason that I think this might help is that I almost always feel more clear over what I’m doing when I’m talking about it, as opposed to when I’m trying to write it down in “scholarly prose” (whatever that is).  Last week I even recorded myself talking through the chop-up document, because it helped me to get on with reviewing the document rather than miserably trying to work at improving it from beginning to end.  This did help, but when I went back to writing my positive ideas fell apart too quickly.

So, Plan Y:

• Write as if I’m presenting the material live, talking it through, using my examples etc.
• If I get stuck then record a section and then write from the recording

Obviously I’m aware that this will only result in an early draft, and it’ll need to be rewritten to make it a “real thesis”, but at least I might end up with the precious draft to work with :).  I’m hoping that by accessing the speaking as opposed to the writing parts of my brain I’ll bypass all the negativity that keeps on tangling me up in knots.