Before Stephen Became King of Literature In The Arlington Reader: Themes for Writers, Stephen King’s essay “Write or Die” narrates the story of how the well-known author became infatuated with becoming a better writer. The thesis of this piece is what once seemed like a punishment, turned out to be King’s calling to become a better writer. This thesis can be proven through King’s use of examples (literary references and critique papers) to describe his surroundings and his mentor’s thoughts on his writing ability. King uses narration to tell the fascinating story of the relationship between and his mentor/boss. Finally, King uses cause and effect to explain the ways he became a better writer.
King starts out by using examples of literary references to describe his surroundings at his new workplace (84). As you continue reading, King begins to bring in the element of
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King goes on to explain that Gould coached him greater than any of his literary teachers at his school or university. Through Gould’s critiques and advice, King began to develop into the writer that he is today. King brings up a conversation that he had with Gould which ended with an influential quote from Gould. It stated, “When you write a story, you’re telling yourself the story. When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story” (86). In speaking of Gould’s quotes, King ends his narration piece with one more quote that stuck with him through his years of writing. King begins to introduce this quote by narrating the story of him in Gould’s office and handing his first few papers to Gould. As Gould is proofreading he tells King, “Your stuff starts out being just for you, but then it goes out. Once you know what the story is and what it is about – or what you think it is, anyway – it then belongs to the reader. If you are lucky, more people will want to do the former rather than the latter”
Vogler, Christopher. The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers. 3rd Ed. Studio City: Michael Wiese Productions, 2007.
By using the description of personal events and being extremely open about his feelings, King is open in creating a sense of responsibility in the readers for not standing up and saying or doing something. His concrete examples aid in the pathos of the letter because they invoke feelings of liability in the readers.
On December 10, 1950, in Stockholm, Sweden, one of the greatest literary minds of the twentieth century, William Faulkner, presented his acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize. If one reads in between the lines of this acceptance speech, they can detect a certain message – more of a cry or plead – aimed directly to adolescent authors and writers, and that message is to be the voice of your own generation; write about things with true importance. This also means that authors should include heart, soul, spirit, and raw, truthful emotion into their writing. “Love and honor and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice” (Faulkner) should all be frequently embraced – it is the duty of authors to do so. If these young and adolescent authors ignore this message and duty, the already endangered state of literature will continue to diminish until its unfortunate extinction.
“The Road Not Taken.” Literature and the Writing Process. Ed. Elizabeth McMahan et al. 8th ed.
Alexie, Sherman. “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me” Writer’s Presence: A Pool of Readings. 5th ed. Ed. Robert Atawan and Donald McQuade. Boston:Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2006. 73-76. Print
Although the greater picture is that reading is fundamental, the two authors have a few different messages that they seek to communicate to their audiences. “The Joy of Reading and Writing” depicts how reading serves as a mechanism to escape the preconceived notions that constrain several groups of people from establishing themselves and achieving success in their lifetimes. “Reading to Write,” on the other hand, offers a valuable advice to aspiring writers. The author suggests that one has to read, read, and read before he or she can become a writer. Moreover, he holds an interesting opinion concerning mediocre writing. He says, “Every book you pick has its own lesson or lessons, and quite often the bad books have more to teach than the good ones” (p.221). Although these two essays differ in their contents and messages, the authors use the same rhetorical mode to write their essays. Both are process analyses, meaning that they develop their main argument and provide justification for it step by step. By employing this technique, the two authors create essays that are thoughtful, well supported, and easy to understand. In addition, Alexie and King both add a little personal touch to their writings as they include personal anecdotes. This has the effect of providing support for their arguments. Although the two essays have fairly different messages, the authors make use of anecdotes and structure their writing in a somewhat similar
Murphy, B. & Shirley J. The Literary Encyclopedia. [nl], August 31, 2004. Available at: http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2326. Access on: 22 Aug 2010.
When a writer starts his work, most often than not, they think of ways they can catch their reader’s attention, but more importantly, how to awake emotions within them. They want to stand out from the rest and to do so, they must swim against the social trend that marks a specific society. That will make them significant; the way they write, how they make a reader feel, the specific way they write, and the devotion they have for their work. Washington Irving, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Edgard Allan Poe influenced significantly the American literary canon with their styles, themes, and forms, making them three important writers in America.
John Steinbeck and Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK Jr.) have both gone down in American literature as some of the most influential authors, but why? Steinbeck was an influential author throughout the 20th century with pieces in many genres. On the flip side is Martin Luther King, Jr., a civil rights leader in the fight against racial discrimination. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the style of these two authors, it is necessary to compare them on the bases of repetition, tone, and purpose.
Greenblatt, Stephen, and M. H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 9th ed. Vol. A. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. Print
Carver, Raymond. Cathedral. Exploring Literature: Writing and Arguing About Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and the Essay. Ed. Frank Madden. 4th ed. New York: Pearson Longman, 2009. 1151-61. Print
and Other Greats : Lessons from the All-star Writer's Workshop. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2006. Print.
113- The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 6th ed. of the book. Vol.
Allen, Woody. Death Knocks. 1968. Approaching Literature: Reading + Thinking + Writing. 3rd ed. Ed. Peter Shakel and Jack Ridl. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011. 1066-1072. Print.
Focusing on the fleeting concept of writer’s motivation, Orwell challenges readers to find the same drive while reading this work, so they can apply it when they read other pieces. Orwell wants his audience to practice the motivation to read, in order for his audience to do justice to authors by digging deep enough in written works to find the message that was so politically, demonically driven. The purpose of this piece was to inform an audience of readers about the struggles of a writer. Since writers and writing are the subjects of the paper, Orwell would not likely be addressing this community because it is probably a struggle they already know. Orwell goes to great depth trying to explain his own writing journey and the general realizations he has gleaned from them, and in doing so, he speaks to an audience of readers who enjoy reading material that has this same depth. Orwell know’s that an author’s purpose is important to his audience because of the detail he goes into, comparing the writing process and the struggle for finding motivation to differing ideas and