Response to "Writing for Story"

While I was somewhat apprehensive about "Writing for Story" because of some of the things I had heard about it, I ended up really appreciating it, especially the chapter on outlining that Marin recommended that we read the most carefully. While his tone and/or phrasing sometimes bugged me, I really felt like he did a good job of discussing the process many people go through when beginning to write, and his description of "spaghettiing" was almost exactly what I usually go through when writing. It was really interesting to me because a lot of the stuff he said seemed like common sense once I read it, but it was all stuff that would be hard to realize when you were inside the process of writing. For example, his complication-->development-->resolution form of outlining seems like a great way of making sure that your writing will make sense and your thesis will remain clear throughout. This process of outlining sounds really helpful, and hopefully it will help me work with the structure of my personal essay and make it more coherent and cohesive.