Fulwiler Reaction

I can understand where Fulwiler is coming from. He teaches students to revise their papers by limiting, adding, switching, and transforming. I can see how this would benefit students in how to express their ideas and improve their writing. Limiting the paper to certain specific points gives the paper more focus compared to a general statement. Adding more certainly provides extra information that would help better explain a point or argument. Switiching and transforming papers from one point of view to the other forces the student to really understand the argument, see their argument from a different perspective, and practice changing tenses. This is all well and good if you are focusing on creative writing. I think Fulwiler makes the writing process to fluffy and cheesey. He is making students better story tellers. Don't get me wrong, I think his suggestions do produce interesting writing. The reader feels connected when the author gives a specific story. Maybe I am just playing devils advocate, but there is nothing wrong with an academic, fact based paper. Those papers can be interesting, too. At the end of his article, Fulwiler mentions how his students would frame their papers with a fictional narrative. I just think these narratives are fluff pieces, only added because the student needed filler. Fulwiler's main point was that the more you revise a paper and use his techniques, the more interesting the paper will become. I agree with him, but I think facts can be just as interesting depending on how you present them.