5. Structure and mechanics serve just as important a purpose as your actual writing. For the longest time I believed that if I wrote a good enough paper I would not have to worry about any problems regarding grammar, the excellence of the actual writing would surely outweigh all the mechanical errors I made. Obviously this does not prove to be the case; you might write the greatest paper ever, but without good grammar and mechanics no one will understand what you wrote.
4. It turns out that writing is a scary, scary abyss that one can get lost in without a magical little tool called "pre-writing". Before I would think up one main theme or idea for the paper, jump right into the beginning, and then come up with all my examples along the way. Planning ahead essentially turns writing an essay into a connect the dots puzzle (execpt you created the dots and pattern, but I digress) from some horrible maze to try to find that one example that fits what you have tried so hard to put forward.
3. I am the Devil's Advocate. Through writing I have discovered that I often take unconventional opinions when offered a choice, not due to my unconventional beliefs, but because I love watching reactions of others to unpopular, sometimes even offensive opinions. Basically, I am the guy who cheers for the bad guys to get everyone else mad; that will keep everyone arguing on a topic we all agree on just to argue something.
2. I have a bipolar writing tones. I often find myself, especially when writing these blogs, almost writing two completely different entries on the same topic: one humorous and one serious. It really can turn into a horrible problem when I have thought of a very clever and witty joke for the topic I writing about, but really probably should not put anything there due to the subject matter or reactions I would receive (I imagine some half offended-half amused laugh, or just absolute disgust). Maybe one day I can start writing one half under a pseudonym and turn into some half famous person that everyone sort of likes, maybe.
1. I do not write like anybody else. To sum up my most important realization, I always thought that most people wrote exactly the same way; we all wrote like awkward highschoolers and nobody really differed except for a few differing examples. I thought that writers got their books published due to a unique voice that did not resemble 99% of the population. Now I know the truth: we all write differently and writers get published due to their talent, not uniqueness, just because we all have our own little quirky writing styles does not mean they resemble anything worth publishing; "being special does not mean you are useful" happens to be the phrase I relate to the most on this subject.
Well that ended on a rather low note. By the way, to keep with my film-based theme, I watched Spartacus over the weekend.
Два человека смотрели на мой блог из России
I too used to think that everyone wrote the same, we probably all did before this, but now, I see differences. I believe writing partners might have made these differences seem more apparent because we always have someone to compare our writing with. I have noticed some people put emphasis on analysis, while others creativity and so on; with the help of writing partners, I have found and improved my voice.
ReplyDeleteConner use to never pre-rite also. I coud not seem to understand the need for it. I agree though that Ap English has shown me the errors of my ways.
ReplyDeleteI really like your number one realization. I think we tend to forget that we each have our own writing styles because we all write about the same topics, answering the same questions. I have always felt curious about whether Ms. Serensky would be able to tell which paper belongs to which person if she did not read the names on them, just from the writing style!
ReplyDeleteConnor, I found your realization countdown very intriguing and entertaining. I think that you did a great job of providing insight into your own writing process and sentiments about writing in a small amount of space. I really enjoyed number three specifically, probably because you describe something that I would like to do more. I think that taking an opposing or unpopular side of a question or argument allows for more unique analysis and forces people to view a moment from another perspective.
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