As a writer do you describe yourself as a turtle or rabbit? Intrigued? Read on to find out what this statement actually refers to.
The suggested descriptions refers to an approach to writing that builds and maintains a writer's momentum using "natural habits" in order to capitalise and make progress in a writing task. This means spending some time working out which approach to writing that first draft is best for your personality.
Two types of writer are described by Michael Alley [1]. You can decide which category best fits you – a rabbit or a turtle?
A rabbit he suggests hates first drafts: "In a first draft, they sprint; they write down everything and anything…rabbits strap themselves to the chair and will not get up for anything. Rabbits finish drafts quickly, but their early drafts are horrendous, many times not much better than their outlines. Nonetheless they've got something. They've got their ideas on paper, and they're in a position to revise."
On the other hand a turtle is the opposite: "A turtle tries not to write down a sentence unless it's perfect. In the first sitting, a turtle begins with one sentence and slowly builds on that sentence with another, then another. In the second sitting, a turtle…revises everything from the first sitting before adding on. It usually takes a turtle several sittings to finish a first draft, but the first draft is strong…the beginning and the middle are usually very tight because they've been reworked so many times. Revision usually entails smoothing the ending as well as checking the overall structure."
If you have turtle tendencies Alley suggests starting with the sections you feel most comfortable writing and for many this will be the methods section, whereas a rabbit type will begin at the beginning and work through each section to the end.
When I wrote my PhD thesis I was certainly a turtle. The emphasis for this task was very definitely on writing because I used a pen and paper during the day to complete the sections, transcribing only the finished text onto the computer at night. For those of you too young to remember, back in 1989 this was cutting edge technology! When I started my first job as a medical writer I soon realised that with tight timelines I couldn't continue to write as a "turtle". So now my writing style combines a bit of "rabbit" with "turtle". I suspect that few medical writers fit strictly into one or other category. Depending on the time available and client requirements a mix of both types will emerge and as deadlines approach rabbit tendencies might be what's most required!
References:
1. Alley M (1987). The craft of Scientific Writing. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall (pages 195-196)
The content has been adapted from an article that I first published in TWS 14(4)2005.
