Appreciating Differences - Jack Falt - Ottawa area, Ontario, Canada

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Book Review by Jack Falt

Loomis, Ann B., Write from the Start: Discover Your Writing Potential through the Power of Psychological Type,  Gainesville, FL: Centre for Applications of Psychological Type, 1999, ISBN 0-935652-49-3, 132 pp, illustrated.

The Tell~A~Type newsletter is available to all our member to express their opinions, tell us what they are doing, or to engage in vigorous debate. However, it would seem that few are up to the challenge. Perhaps people feel that writing is so difficult, or that they are not good enough writers. Here is a book that will ease the burden of writing.

I can remember as a child how tedious a task writing was. I hated getting my papers back all covered with red marks indicating all the errors. They didn’t inspire me to do better. They just reenforced how much I hated writing. As an intuitive I was too impatient to reread my work to look for errors and then do a rewrite. What a blessing a computer is! I just merrily type away and worry about the mistakes later. It even tells me what spelling mistakes I have made and how to correct them. It points out my grammar errors and makes suggestions on what would be better of writing it. Now I can just make correction right in the document and print it off. I no longer have the chore of rewriting. Usually, they say one should write in longhand as a way to be more in touch with ones creativity. I find I can sit with my laptop in my favourite chair and just let the words flow.

There are, of course, many books on the skill of writing. There are even a couple using psychological type: Most Excellent Differences edited by Thomas C. Thompson (CAPT, 1996) and Writing & Personality by John K. DiTibero & George H. Jensen (Davis-Black, 1995). This book I found to be very readable and practical with lots of examples and specific exercises.

The begins with the usual explanation of the eight preferences. As well the author includes the 20 question Loomis-Grandstaff Writing Inventory that uses questions on the individual’s writing methods that indirectly psychological type. She then gives a short general description of each type and a typical writing style for each type.

The author compares the building of a house to the process of writing. The first stage is the dreamer or creative stage. What are all the possibilities you could have in your house? From the many possibilities what topic to write about are you going to choose? What are some possible ideas to consider? For each type the author then describes the tendencies, troublespots and tools to try.

The next stage looks at the design of the writing. Will it be in a chronological, problem-solution,
cause and effect analysis, etc. format? Here again are listed the tendencies, troublespots and tools to try for each type. It is important at this stage to commit to a format that best serves your purpose and follow through using this format.

The builder stage is the development of the material and adding detail. Here techniques such as giving definitions, using examples, and sharing anecdotes add to the interest of the material. The use of the nonpreferences is considered. Often you are required to write for people whose preferences are dissimilar from yours. Guidelines for writing for the four functions are given. The use of cluster diagrams is one way to expand the intuitive insights.

The inspector is the final stage. Just as you check over the house for flaws, you edit, revise and polish your composition before it gets printed up. There are five quick ways to improve your style. There are tendencies and tips for each of the eight preferences to consider in the inspection stage.

The final chapter looks at type dynamics and how the dominant function will likely influence your writing. It also looks at how type development with also affect your writing through the years.

Since sentence variety is important to give your composition more interest, the nine patterns of sentences are listed in the appendix..

This is an excellent book for teachers to use at the high school and college level. It is also very helpful for self improvement of your own writing skills. Many of us would have found writing less of a chore if writing had been taught to us in this psychological type manner.

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