All good road trips are a bit spontaneous, sparked from an idea that came out of nowhere. Nonetheless you run with the idea and get the itinerary in order so that the trip can finally begin.
Likewise in my writing, most ideas for my writing are not formulated from deep brainstorming, but rather a spontaneous idea. I often use an outline to organize my ideas so that I don’t run into problems along the way where I get stuck at a dead end.
Next, the journey begins and along the way you take in all the scenery you can while also stopping at any important places along the way. These monuments and landmarks that constitute actual stops in the journey are of more importance than the nature and buildings that might be passed by on the highway or other road.
The scenery is a metaphor for the smaller pieces of evidence being used, while the important places (monuments/landmarks), are the stronger pieces of evidence that take up more time in the essay and contribute more to the overall paper.
Like any good road trip, tourist-y stops aren’t the only ones that can leave a dent in the time of completion of the trip. Someone always forgets to go to the bathroom before you leave. This means that frequent stops must be made to “go potty” or refuel with any gas station snacks that you can find.
This one isn’t much of a metaphor, I often – and I mean often – have to halt my writing in order to get a snack, go to the bathroom, or even just clear my head for a bit. This gives me a bit of space so I don’t get overwhelmed with writing for such a long period of time.
As much as the trip is about the journey, the destination is also pretty important. The stops along the way should lead up to a “grand finale” at the final destination. You don’t want to be disappointed that you didn’t stay at the places along the way. Instead you want to be more excited to be where you are than where you could’ve been.
In my writing, I also tend to build the audience’s curiosity as I move along in my papers, making the bulk of them more prominent as the paper progresses. I feel as though this makes the audience remember my topic more after finishing reading it.
Finally, the dreaded end to the trip. This is the time where you drive back through all of the places you came on the journey in the opposite direction. You don’t want to make the same trip knowing that on the other side of the trip, in this situation, you have to officially end the road trip.
I do not like revising my work. Once I finish a piece of writing I would much rather just submit the work that I have and hope that I got everything right. Through revising I feel like I might over analyze something when it didn’t need any changing.
Although the trip is long and exhausting, the memories (or in my case the finished piece of writing) are worth the effort.