Transformation Through Writing
I have always valued the importance of writing and rhetoric. I myself am an avid reader and consumer of all sorts of writing, whether it be in the form of audio, videos, or written text. I have written countless papers over my many years of schooling, and even some short stories that I came up with for fun. However, I never stopped to consider whether or not I was an author. In all of my past writing experiences I just felt like I was answering prompts and not really expressing myself. Despite these preconceived notions, I have come to the realization that I am, in fact, an author.
With writing comes variability, and my writing experience has not been an exception. I’ve always felt that I succeed more in creative writing. When there are fewer guidelines limiting the structure and the topic of the writing, I feel that I have more freedom to express myself. One of my earliest and most favorite forms of writing is poetry. I found it to be elegant and expressive with just the right amount of structure. Naturally, I was drawn to write much of it, though my writing has dwindled in the past few years. One such example that comes to mind is a poem that I wrote on the topic of the Vietnam War in 9th grade. My poem discussed how boys that had barely had the chance to become men were sent to fight a seemingly hopeless war. In my writing, I hoped to evoke a somber feeling of sorrow and lament. I wrote this poem to express the turmoil occurring in the lives of Americans who were drafted. The topic of war is one that is constantly discussed, and strongly emphasized in almost all schooling. I felt the need, however, to go beyond the factual and cold description of wartime and to try and make the reader feel as if they themselves were being faced with the nearly insurmountable challenge of a world in chaos. Despite there not being a direct connection between myself and the Vietnam War, I still feel strongly about the topics discussed because of my sense of empathy. Readers do not necessarily have to have a direct link to a topic of discussion in a written work, but can relate to the topic through emotions alone. Writing that is emotionally driven can have a strong impact on its audience.
Writing is not limited to expressing emotions, but may also be used to inform. In 10th grade, I was tasked with writing a research paper on any topic of my choice. I chose to write my paper on the history of DC Comics. I chose this topic not only because I am an avid comic book reader, but also because I wanted to show my class that the comic book world has affected pop culture more than they may have previously thought. Knowing that my classmates were the ones who were going to be on the receiving end of my presentation, I chose to use many visuals from old comic book covers. I spoke on how some popular words (such as “brainiac”) originated from the comics, and how one of the inventors of the polygraph (William Moulton-Marston) was the creator of Wonder Woman and her lasso of truth. I wanted my audience to know that not only were the comics influenced by pop culture, but they also were the influencers of pop culture. Furthermore, I wanted them to realize that they themselves were influenced by the topics discussed. In this writing experience, I made a point of showing that not only was I, the author, connected to the topic, but also all of my audience. A deep connection between the author and topic makes a work of writing strong, but having a connection between the audience and topic makes it even stronger.
While it can be helpful to have a set idea of what I’m going to write about and to have an outline for my work, I sometimes find it best to just let my words flow. One of the best implementations of this tactic is in my creative writing. As an assignment for my 12th grade English class, I had to write a short story based on a single word. The word I chose as my prompt was “retribution”. I had no particular reason in writing on this topic, if only to let my imagination run as freely and as dramatically as I pleased. I wrote about a boy who was raised in a broken family with an almost always absent, gambling father and drug addicted mother. He experienced many hardships due to his upbringing and witnessed his brother getting shot as a result of his father’s dealings. At the end of the story, it is revealed that he was now older and had in fact killed his brother’s killers. The story ended on a cliffhanger with the main character’s promise to himself to hunt down his own father. I wanted to create a feeling of drama and suspense throughout the story. I didn’t necessarily have an underlying message in the writing. My goal was to create a story that would capture the reader’s attention and have multiple twists and turns throughout it’s progression. I wanted my writing to be more than just a typical I wanted to have a vivid sense of peril throughout the story, letting the dangers build slowly from being hidden in the shadows to suddenly being thrust out into the light. My goal was to leave the readers wanting more. I chose to end my story this way because I felt that sometimes “satisfying” conclusions that come full circle are not always as satisfying as they may sound. In order to keep my audience (a group of high school kids) interested, I had to end the story in a way that would not only leave the readers interested, but also not sound too cliche. I feel that in my case, leaving my audience unsatisfied with the ending of my story helped it remain interesting all the way through to the end.
Writing can take many forms and have many different outcomes. As an author, it can be easy to lose sight of the purpose of what is being written. As I reflect on this experience, I am reminded once again of the impact of writing and the influence it has on society and history as a whole. It is always important to keep one’s audience in mind in order to get a point across in writing. It is also important, however, to create work that the author has a connection to.In order to have any impact, the connection must start with the audience. If the audience is lost, so is the work. Being an author isn’t just about scribbling out words and sending them out to be read, but about purpose and meaning. Without perspective, writing becomes stale and uninteresting. I feel that in order to make a good piece of work, a little bit of the author’s heart and soul must go into it. In all of my past experiences, I’ve tried to write about things I have a connection to, from comics, to action, to adventure and history. All writing becomes stronger when the author has a strong connection with the topic they’re writing about. Reflecting on these past writing experiences, I’ve found that while I still tried my best to keep my work interesting, I began to concern myself less with sticking to a set structure, and allowed my thoughts to flow freely. I didn’t need to follow a set of rules in order to be an author. Being an author isn’t limited to writing only facts or only emotions. Authors can write about any topic, as trivial as they may seem. The only thing I needed to do in order to be an author was to create.
With writing comes variability, and my writing experience has not been an exception. I’ve always felt that I succeed more in creative writing. When there are fewer guidelines limiting the structure and the topic of the writing, I feel that I have more freedom to express myself. One of my earliest and most favorite forms of writing is poetry. I found it to be elegant and expressive with just the right amount of structure. Naturally, I was drawn to write much of it, though my writing has dwindled in the past few years. One such example that comes to mind is a poem that I wrote on the topic of the Vietnam War in 9th grade. My poem discussed how boys that had barely had the chance to become men were sent to fight a seemingly hopeless war. In my writing, I hoped to evoke a somber feeling of sorrow and lament. I wrote this poem to express the turmoil occurring in the lives of Americans who were drafted. The topic of war is one that is constantly discussed, and strongly emphasized in almost all schooling. I felt the need, however, to go beyond the factual and cold description of wartime and to try and make the reader feel as if they themselves were being faced with the nearly insurmountable challenge of a world in chaos. Despite there not being a direct connection between myself and the Vietnam War, I still feel strongly about the topics discussed because of my sense of empathy. Readers do not necessarily have to have a direct link to a topic of discussion in a written work, but can relate to the topic through emotions alone. Writing that is emotionally driven can have a strong impact on its audience.
Writing is not limited to expressing emotions, but may also be used to inform. In 10th grade, I was tasked with writing a research paper on any topic of my choice. I chose to write my paper on the history of DC Comics. I chose this topic not only because I am an avid comic book reader, but also because I wanted to show my class that the comic book world has affected pop culture more than they may have previously thought. Knowing that my classmates were the ones who were going to be on the receiving end of my presentation, I chose to use many visuals from old comic book covers. I spoke on how some popular words (such as “brainiac”) originated from the comics, and how one of the inventors of the polygraph (William Moulton-Marston) was the creator of Wonder Woman and her lasso of truth. I wanted my audience to know that not only were the comics influenced by pop culture, but they also were the influencers of pop culture. Furthermore, I wanted them to realize that they themselves were influenced by the topics discussed. In this writing experience, I made a point of showing that not only was I, the author, connected to the topic, but also all of my audience. A deep connection between the author and topic makes a work of writing strong, but having a connection between the audience and topic makes it even stronger.
While it can be helpful to have a set idea of what I’m going to write about and to have an outline for my work, I sometimes find it best to just let my words flow. One of the best implementations of this tactic is in my creative writing. As an assignment for my 12th grade English class, I had to write a short story based on a single word. The word I chose as my prompt was “retribution”. I had no particular reason in writing on this topic, if only to let my imagination run as freely and as dramatically as I pleased. I wrote about a boy who was raised in a broken family with an almost always absent, gambling father and drug addicted mother. He experienced many hardships due to his upbringing and witnessed his brother getting shot as a result of his father’s dealings. At the end of the story, it is revealed that he was now older and had in fact killed his brother’s killers. The story ended on a cliffhanger with the main character’s promise to himself to hunt down his own father. I wanted to create a feeling of drama and suspense throughout the story. I didn’t necessarily have an underlying message in the writing. My goal was to create a story that would capture the reader’s attention and have multiple twists and turns throughout it’s progression. I wanted my writing to be more than just a typical I wanted to have a vivid sense of peril throughout the story, letting the dangers build slowly from being hidden in the shadows to suddenly being thrust out into the light. My goal was to leave the readers wanting more. I chose to end my story this way because I felt that sometimes “satisfying” conclusions that come full circle are not always as satisfying as they may sound. In order to keep my audience (a group of high school kids) interested, I had to end the story in a way that would not only leave the readers interested, but also not sound too cliche. I feel that in my case, leaving my audience unsatisfied with the ending of my story helped it remain interesting all the way through to the end.
Writing can take many forms and have many different outcomes. As an author, it can be easy to lose sight of the purpose of what is being written. As I reflect on this experience, I am reminded once again of the impact of writing and the influence it has on society and history as a whole. It is always important to keep one’s audience in mind in order to get a point across in writing. It is also important, however, to create work that the author has a connection to.In order to have any impact, the connection must start with the audience. If the audience is lost, so is the work. Being an author isn’t just about scribbling out words and sending them out to be read, but about purpose and meaning. Without perspective, writing becomes stale and uninteresting. I feel that in order to make a good piece of work, a little bit of the author’s heart and soul must go into it. In all of my past experiences, I’ve tried to write about things I have a connection to, from comics, to action, to adventure and history. All writing becomes stronger when the author has a strong connection with the topic they’re writing about. Reflecting on these past writing experiences, I’ve found that while I still tried my best to keep my work interesting, I began to concern myself less with sticking to a set structure, and allowed my thoughts to flow freely. I didn’t need to follow a set of rules in order to be an author. Being an author isn’t limited to writing only facts or only emotions. Authors can write about any topic, as trivial as they may seem. The only thing I needed to do in order to be an author was to create.