I think what comes out in my pieces the most from what he discussed is “the lead”. In my writing, I always make sure my introduction is one of the strongest parts of the piece. I know it has to be because that is essentially, the make it or break it for the reader. If you read even the first line of a piece, or ‘the lead’, and it does not draw you in to read more, what would be the reader’s reason to then continue reading? I always make sure that throughout not only the first line, but the entirety of the introduction keeps the reader guessing but still makes it clear on what my piece will include and who I presume the reader is. Without this key factor, to keep the reader guessing, the excitement of the essay will be less enjoyable for the reader. What seems to be most helpful to me is the trust factor. I think it isn’t just one aspect but it is one aspect that ties into the others, such as ‘specific information’ and ‘closing’. The reader has trust in your writing, whether to tell themselves they want to continue reading or just the information that your writing is spitting at them. This “trust” you give your reader ties into specific information because any good essay has to deliver a certain amount of information that will satisfy the reader, no matter what type of story it may be, a piece can’t just be a bland mix of words. A good essay or piece of writing will have a good amount of information that will preferably inform the reader or just make a story flow better. Also, as a reader, one does not want to be told what to do but allow themselves to finish a story and decide for themselves on what to think, or what Murray calls the ‘closing’. The reader trusts that you will inform them to the extent of making a rational decision for themselves instead of having the decision about any given topic already made for you in the piece. For my next draft, I plan on using his tips to make my piece the best article it can be. I think it is good he including examples from what is considered good writing, which will help me compare what I write and critique according to that.
Sunday, October 19, 2014
Blog #7 - Serena Cecere
I liked the part of Murray's article about Self-Exposure. When I write anything, I hope that I'm leaving a part of myself in it so others can get a feel for the kind of person i am and so they can better understand me. I've recently started to write about things that bother me or things that upset me; anything that really keeps me up at night I've started to put on paper-and by paper i mean digital paper. But I've come to find that I really enjoy doing so because it often helps me find answers to the questions I'm too scared to admit I have, or to the fears I don't want to face. So the part where he says how the writer speaks about their "hidden or suppressed thoughts and feelings" and how it's the strength of an essay, really resonated with me because I understand exactly what he was talking about.
I recently lost two very close family members so when the author speaks about how she wrote about her daughters death, it made me think about my experience. My family and I don't really talk about feelings, we never have, and being that I'm 6 hours from home now, I don't think we're about to start. I've had a tough time trying to handle my loss and being practically isolated from my family now, has made it a lot harder on me. Murray's advise has made me realize that maybe I should start writing about that traumatic event. I was told to do so right from the start, but I never took it seriously, like Murray, it was too private for me. The only reason I'm even writing about it now is because for some weird reason I still feel like no one actually reads my blogs. But basically, seeing how the author wrote about losing his kid has kind of inspired me to try to write about the loss of my family members, maybe it'll help me get some clarity and hopefully, if anyone else was to read it, it would in turn help them.
I recently lost two very close family members so when the author speaks about how she wrote about her daughters death, it made me think about my experience. My family and I don't really talk about feelings, we never have, and being that I'm 6 hours from home now, I don't think we're about to start. I've had a tough time trying to handle my loss and being practically isolated from my family now, has made it a lot harder on me. Murray's advise has made me realize that maybe I should start writing about that traumatic event. I was told to do so right from the start, but I never took it seriously, like Murray, it was too private for me. The only reason I'm even writing about it now is because for some weird reason I still feel like no one actually reads my blogs. But basically, seeing how the author wrote about losing his kid has kind of inspired me to try to write about the loss of my family members, maybe it'll help me get some clarity and hopefully, if anyone else was to read it, it would in turn help them.
Blog 7
"The personal essay allows me to report the important news of the human condition, the stories rarely covered on page one, on radio news, on television."
I most strongly identify with this statement, because I always want to know the whole story. The black and white that is portrayed on CNN, Fox, and MSNBC is never the end of the situation. I want to know their thinking, their motivation, the mental aftermath. That is the beauty of being human, knowing that nothing is black and white, knowing that the story never ends. If you tell your friends or parents about what you did that day, you most often tell them about the events, rarely touching on your mental state. That is what fascinates me, the motivation behind the IRS scandal or delay in the Keystone Pipeline. It has been said that the human condition never changes, and that is exemplary in literature of the past. In "The Canterbury Tales," the plot is stuff with greed, lust, and humor. Topics that are so often found on television today. This tells me, and is important in the author's quote, that in order to understand current events, you have to understand the past. Humans are all too often self motivated.
Murray has done an excellent job in identifying motivations and reasons for writing personal essays; I cannot think of any other. I found the section on editing to be the most helping, since I am stubborn and always seem to stick up for my own writing decisions. I need to take the time to really focus on how I can make my next draft better. So often I find my drafts differing only in content and grammar. I rarely retool the whole thing. That could be an experiment I try next.
I most strongly identify with this statement, because I always want to know the whole story. The black and white that is portrayed on CNN, Fox, and MSNBC is never the end of the situation. I want to know their thinking, their motivation, the mental aftermath. That is the beauty of being human, knowing that nothing is black and white, knowing that the story never ends. If you tell your friends or parents about what you did that day, you most often tell them about the events, rarely touching on your mental state. That is what fascinates me, the motivation behind the IRS scandal or delay in the Keystone Pipeline. It has been said that the human condition never changes, and that is exemplary in literature of the past. In "The Canterbury Tales," the plot is stuff with greed, lust, and humor. Topics that are so often found on television today. This tells me, and is important in the author's quote, that in order to understand current events, you have to understand the past. Humans are all too often self motivated.
Murray has done an excellent job in identifying motivations and reasons for writing personal essays; I cannot think of any other. I found the section on editing to be the most helping, since I am stubborn and always seem to stick up for my own writing decisions. I need to take the time to really focus on how I can make my next draft better. So often I find my drafts differing only in content and grammar. I rarely retool the whole thing. That could be an experiment I try next.
Blog #7
"I discover how much I didn't know I knew. Writing educates me."
This quote particularly stuck out to me. I never really thought about it until I read this, but writing actually plays a vital role on education. The amount of times that I was doing a paper and researched a topic has led me to gain a lot more knowledge. Not to mention, every time I want to sound "smarter" and replace basic words, I go on thesarus.com. From that website, I have very much expanded my vocabulary. Even just writing a text message and looking up the proper way to spell a word has helped my education.
One of the pieces of advice that Murray gave that I found helpful were the two paragraphs on the intro and the closer of a paper. I found this very helpful because I feel like my intro and closers are never as strong/well written as they should be. I think the most important part of the paper is the introduction to grab a reader's attention. Murray says how its important to have ideas talked about from the very beginning of the essay to just give a brief over-view of what the paper will be about. I think that is a good idea. The paper will definitely be more organized and easy to read if it is done that way. I think in my next feature article I can use this advice to help better my introduction and briefly give a little preview of my topic.
Blog #7
"To discover who I am. Writing the personal essay celebrates my difference, authenticates who I am, justifies my existence"
This quote really resonated with me. When I write I find myself figuring out how I actually feel about a topic. It forces the writer to evaluate how they feel, but not only how. The personal essay makes the reader ask why they do. It could be for any number of reasons, perhaps an event or a person. I like that it makes one self reflect. So many times things happen without given a thought, a simple game of catch everyday with dad or a family vacation, these seemingly insignificant events have the power to influence the writer and give him/her particular views. When a reader then reads these events and experiences it allows them to identify with the writer and possibly conjure up their own thoughts and emotions, which may be very similar. It provides a way for not only the writer to discover themselves, but also the readers. A simple personal narrative has the ability to allow for self reflection in both parties. Even though the personal essay allows for others to identify with each other, it does a more significant job, it points out our differences. The thing that makes us all unique is our own individual differences. The personal essay points out those differences and can give a reader an entirely new perspective on something. This new perspective then allows the reader to discover something different and possibly identify with that view. I enjoyed the advice given on providing more voice, I think this allows the essay to be more interesting and also adds to the trust between the reader and writer (also adding to Murray's suggestion of building that trust). The personal essay has many functions to it then just sharing a story.
This quote really resonated with me. When I write I find myself figuring out how I actually feel about a topic. It forces the writer to evaluate how they feel, but not only how. The personal essay makes the reader ask why they do. It could be for any number of reasons, perhaps an event or a person. I like that it makes one self reflect. So many times things happen without given a thought, a simple game of catch everyday with dad or a family vacation, these seemingly insignificant events have the power to influence the writer and give him/her particular views. When a reader then reads these events and experiences it allows them to identify with the writer and possibly conjure up their own thoughts and emotions, which may be very similar. It provides a way for not only the writer to discover themselves, but also the readers. A simple personal narrative has the ability to allow for self reflection in both parties. Even though the personal essay allows for others to identify with each other, it does a more significant job, it points out our differences. The thing that makes us all unique is our own individual differences. The personal essay points out those differences and can give a reader an entirely new perspective on something. This new perspective then allows the reader to discover something different and possibly identify with that view. I enjoyed the advice given on providing more voice, I think this allows the essay to be more interesting and also adds to the trust between the reader and writer (also adding to Murray's suggestion of building that trust). The personal essay has many functions to it then just sharing a story.
Blog #7 - Alexander Wohlert
The reason for writing that resonated the most with me was "To give myself voice. I am heard when I write; I vote in the human community, registering my opinions, what I stand for, what I fear, what I stand against, what I celebrate." I enjoy sharing my opinions and thoughts with others, especially if they provide benefit to someone or something. It can sometimes be difficult to get your point across through speaking and having access to talk with the certain people that can make change happen. Through writing, I can express my thoughts and emotions more clearly. It's possible for me to think of the right words to say when the pressure of speaking on the spot isn't there. Words are able to spread to a wider audience through writing than speaking due to all of the technology we have today.
I found Murray's advice about length and closing most helpful to me. I often catch myself adding unnecessary words or thoughts into my writing to satisfy length requirements, when Murray suggests making sure that every word contributes to the essay. Murray also suggests not closing out essays with statements about how the reader should feel or what the reader should think. Let the reader do their own thinking and allow them to react naturally. I can apply both of these suggestions to my article and revise any areas that may conflict with these new ways of improving my writing.
I found Murray's advice about length and closing most helpful to me. I often catch myself adding unnecessary words or thoughts into my writing to satisfy length requirements, when Murray suggests making sure that every word contributes to the essay. Murray also suggests not closing out essays with statements about how the reader should feel or what the reader should think. Let the reader do their own thinking and allow them to react naturally. I can apply both of these suggestions to my article and revise any areas that may conflict with these new ways of improving my writing.
Blog #7- Justin Borrero
"To discover who I am. Writing the personal essay celebrates my difference, authenticates who I am, justifies my existence." This reason resonates the most with me for why I write personal essays. Writing a personal essay helps you remember to good and bad times you had in your life and helps you clearly define who you are as a person. A lot of times when I am writing a personal essay I remind myself of events that happened in my life a lot more vividly and think to myself, wow I really did that or that really happened. Writing personal essays is the best way for me to jog my memory about the past. This is most useful for me when I am bored doing nothing a feel like I don't go out much, but then it comes back to me that I do plenty of things with plenty of people and reassures me that I more than what I think I am.
The only time I can think that I would write a personal essay that wasn't mentioned would be for class.
The advice about the length of an essay from Murray was most useful to me. Rather than fill the paper with words to reach a certain length, you should make sure every word, every phrase contributes to the paper rather than just take up space. This makes the paper a lot better as a whole
In my feature article I am now going to use words that only promote my topic, since my article is a sales pitch for a vacation location, and make sure as I am telling about the topic I weave in something more to grab the readers attention and motivate them to make my topic there next vacation place.
The only time I can think that I would write a personal essay that wasn't mentioned would be for class.
The advice about the length of an essay from Murray was most useful to me. Rather than fill the paper with words to reach a certain length, you should make sure every word, every phrase contributes to the paper rather than just take up space. This makes the paper a lot better as a whole
In my feature article I am now going to use words that only promote my topic, since my article is a sales pitch for a vacation location, and make sure as I am telling about the topic I weave in something more to grab the readers attention and motivate them to make my topic there next vacation place.
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