Writing and Teaching for Surprise by Donald Murray

In this article Murray goes on to talk about how when a writer is surprised with her own writing, only then will she surprise the reader.  The act of writing should be associated with surprise since we don’t know what will leap on the page until we put it there. He says that we will see a surprise more often if we are expecting it.  He also goes on to say that surprise leads to surprise. 

Writing must become a habit, something the writer engages in everyday, like breathing.  Even if it is just fragments of sentences, it is still writing, it is still engaging the mind with words and ideas.  This habit will bring upon the surprises on a daily basis, if one is engaged in finding new angles and new dimensions of writing. 

Murray says to come to writing when it comes easily, not when you have to force it.  He calls his pen the blind man’s cane, and he allows it to tell him where to go, but not to force him to go anywhere if he is not ready.   

    






     1.  Murray, Donald M.  Writing and Teaching for Surprise.  College English 46.1 (1984): 1-7. Print.