9. Finding Patterns

At some point in the writing process, the writer will move beyond the initial stages of generating ideas and begin to shape those ideas into a story, poem, play, or essay. Though we are moving toward those bigger forms and to our discussion of specific genre conventions, it seems worthwhile to stop for a moment and consider how a writer makes that choice and how to begin to give those ideas some structure. In a way, the previous two chapters have already invited you to do this. By exploring character and by making choices in perspective or point of view, you may already have brought some definition to a story or poem. You have begun to move beyond ideas for a work that you might write, and you have begun to think of it as a work in progress. It’s likely you already know whether the work is shaping up as a poem, story, play, or essay.