Acient J
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My Writing
A Self-Examination of my Writing Style and Process
I have always enjoyed writing, both for recreation and for schoolwork. Putting my words onto paper is a simple joy. I get to organize my thoughts, which is fun, and I can communicate with writing much more fluently than I can verbally. I can honestly say that I love to write—it’s so strong that I’d rather spend an afternoon typing away at my laptop than spend one with a girl. This love probably stemmed from two places: my enjoyment of reading, and my obsession as a child over Pokémon.
My reading for pleasure as a child gave me a good foundation to become a writer. I was the first in my kindergarten class to be given an independent reading “baggie,” and my Benchmark Level was always at least two grades higher than average. It was in early elementary school that I became hooked on books—good, solid books. I quickly slipped from series like The Magic Tree House and The Boxcar Children to ones such as Harry Potter and His Dark Materials, developing an awareness of writing style, grammatical functions, and plot. I learned more about grammar and writing from reading than I ever have in any English class, and I was ready to utilize this knowledge when the desire struck me.
Pokémon was more of a trigger than a cause, and could have easily been anything else. My earliest writings were fan fictions of Pokémon. These projects never went far, and were never very good, but served as a starting point. When my long-lasting obsession died down, I was left, along with a drawer full of trading cards, a desire to write. While I occasionally turned back to fan fictions, I quickly began developing my own setting, style, and characters. This turned into my current project, a full-length novel titled Endar. I have only begun writing Endar a year ago, but I feel that it is different from my other creative writing pieces because it is something that I can truly call my own.
I write creatively, on the spot. I do not use graphic organizers, guidelines, or the “writing process” unless it is required of me. In fourth grade, I was mortified when I discovered that there was a strict guideline to all “key question” essays. My teacher would tell us to write five paragraphs—first paragraph containing a topic sentence, author, title of the book, and plot summary; second paragraph containing one personal experience that relates to the main character; (and so on until the) fifth paragraph, containing a restatement of your three points, your feelings about the book, and a closing sentence—about a book that we had read. While her intention was to provide her students with a foundation for their writing, I believe that instead most of them felt restricted to exactly what the guideline instructed. I could see this when over half the class were using transitions in their writing like, “In paragraph 3, I will tell you about…”, “Now I will tell you about…”, and “In the next paragraph…” I felt pity for them as a fourth grader, but now I feel downright sad. I believe it is this is what caused my current disliking for guidelines and my liking for the ability to write creatively.
My personal writing process starts before I begin writing. I do not pre-write or brainstorm, or write a “rough draft,” but I will usually think about what I am going to write beforehand. “This sounds like a good way to start…maybe this line would do well…will it all follow the guidelines?” These are all thoughts that pass through my head before I write a piece. Once I start writing, it can take me a while to find the right beginning. My introductory paragraph often turns out terribly. It is almost always a “dog” paragraph. When this happens, I expand some of the last sentences into full paragraphs. The first three paragraphs of this paper, for example, were originally one. You can only imagine how terrible it sounded when read aloud. Once I have the right beginning, though, the rest is fun.
What I did with my introductory paragraph—read it aloud—I do constantly when writing. Reading aloud is something I do after every few paragraphs. It gives me a chance to say, “Back up, this doesn’t sound right.” It is for this reason that I do not write rough drafts. Instead, I revise and edit my paper as I am writing it. Many ideas that would have been omitted are expanded upon as paragraphs are spilt apart and expanded in the same manner that my introductory paragraph was. This increases the quality of my writing greatly. I don’t know what my first draft will have ever looked like, but I do know that my final draft will always be better because of my constant reading and editing.
There are two big problems with my writing, the first being that I often stray from the point. When I realize that I am going on a tangent, I need to stop and check myself to get rid of all the unnecessary sentences. I always hate to see that writing go to waste, but I need to stay on track. Fortunately, though, I can sometimes weasel around it by slowly coming back to the point. I still need to get rid of a lot of unnecessary sentences, but at least I get to save some of my writing and continue where I left off instead of backtracking. There’s really nothing worse than having to backtrack when I’m writing.
The second problem of mine cannot be seen within the paper itself, but in the way I write it—or don’t. I will often ignore a writing project until the night before it’s due. That is to say, I procrastinate. Procrastination is probably the worst problem a writer can face because it is a distraction all its own. My ideology when I’m lazy is, “Some of my best writing was put together the night before the due date; I can handle it again,” which of course is true, but does not mean that the paper will turn out any better. I always regret such action. A few conventional mistakes born out of procrastination and haste is all it takes to bring my grade down. The lowest grade I’ve ever gotten on a writing assignment was an A-, and that was a rare occurrence last year, but it’s the principle that matters. It doesn’t matter that I get a high grade when I could have gotten a higher one. All this is because it takes me so much effort to decide that it’s time to start writing.
I do not mean to imply that my writing assignments are sloppy and hastily done. The love and enjoyment of writing that I spoke of earlier, even for school assignments, still exists. At six o’clock today (with “today” being the day before the due date, of course), during dinner, my father asked me how much homework I had left. When I told him, “A few hours,” he was shocked. I told him that this essay was taking up a lot of my time. My grandmother, who was visiting for dinner, advised me to finish my other homework and then continue with my essay so that I could stop thinking about how much more I had left to do. What neither of them realized, on top of the fact that I already had finished my other homework, is that two hours was not the amount of time that I needed to spend on my essay. It was the amount of time that I wanted to spend on my essay. You see, the quality and time put into my assignments does not vary depending on when I write them—procrastination simply unfavorably pushes it back.
I have analyzed every component of my writing except the conclusion. I’m supposedly supposed to “tie up” the essay by restating my “main points,” but that never flows for me. I don’t like using guidelines. I like to create a conclusion that defines my essay. Occasionally it will match my introduction, like the piece of mine sampled below. It was an expository piece giving my opinion on how important sadness is for human emotions.
What would life be without sorrow? I believe that sorrow is not a bad emotion, but a psychological principle. Therefore, a life without sorrow is a sad life indeed. According to Greek mythology, a maiden named Marpessa had to choose between two men who had fallen in love with her. One of them was the sun god, Apollo, who offered her a life of immortality, free of all sorrow, in exchange for her love. The second man, her husband, Idas, offered her devotion. She had to pick between a life of human emotions and one void of sorrow. I would have picked Idas, if I had been in her position. I believe that a life without sadness is not worth living. For one thing, joy would be nothing without sorrow to balance human emotions. Extremely sad experiences leave people stronger and better-prepared for life. Most important of all, however, is that the people living this kind of life would eventually feel some kind of sorrow, and it would feel depressing, not sad. Joy and sorrow are essential in life. They are two sides of a very special coin…
…Hopefully, one would see after reading this that sorrow is an essential, not a burden. If one were to remove sorrow from one’s mind, then one would become something lesser. One would not feel joy as if it were, indeed, a special emotion. If one were to feel joy all the time, then one would feel as if joy were normal. One would not gain insight and wisdom from grief, either. Instead, one would remain oblivious to the terrible things around us—global warming, for example. And one would eventually experience something sad in later life, and would crumble under the sheer depression, for one would not be used to sadness. According to Greek mythology, Apollo thought differently. He thought that sorrow was a burden, and that if one could choose between living a life without sorrow and living a normal life, one should choose ridding oneself of sorrow. Marpessa did not think similarly. She believed, as I do, that all human emotions are essential parts of life. She chose to remain with Idas; she chose to love him, grow old with him, and die. For while it may seem at any given time that sorrow is bad, it is, in truth, the key to true happiness.
Now, as I approach the end of my train of thoughts, I wonder, “How am I going to finish this essay?” It’s a question I’ll always have to answer eventually, but one that can be stalled until the end. I usually go about writing it by trying to match it with my introduction like I did in the above example, and it turns out quite nicely.
I have gone through everything. If you have found reading this boring, I apologize. I do not regret writing what I wrote, though; everything I said here was true. From my love of writing, to my obsessive Pokémon stories, right down to forming my conclusion—it’s all true. And I enjoyed every second of it, as I do with writing in general. I keep a diary, and I think I only do so because I find writing so relaxing. Maybe that’s why I procrastinate. I get myself worried throughout the week about a paper being due, and then I get rid of all the worries with some nice, relaxing writing to calm myself down. That’s how deeply I enjoy writing.
< Message edited by Acient J -- 10/17/2010 8:49:51 >
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