Words are puzzle pieces, if you can fit them together correctly, just imagine the endless amount of possibilities. People have so much to say, yet they don’t put the puzzle pieces together, and we never get to read their master pieces. People encompass the ability to create the most beautiful and inspiring stories. We can’t let the writing be unwritten. Elie Wiesel’s, “Why I Write: Making No Become Yes” and Joan Didion’s, “Why I Write” showers readers two styles of writers who puzzle words together for a living. Why Britt and Didion write could be for many reasons. Their purpose could be to make sense of life’s big and little experiences, to express their emotions, to tell a tale of a journey, or to express themselves. Who really knows? I …show more content…
#1 An ordinary day is always filled with thinking: getting up before the sky changes colors, thinking, taking an icy shower to wake up your unconscious mind, thinking, getting dressed in your favorite purple hoodie, thinking, and them ready to get the day over with before it has even began, thinking. All this thinking, why? Because it’s the thinking in every moment in your life that makes up your puzzle pieces that will eventually create your story. As Didion would say “I writing entirely to find out what I’m thinking.” (Didion 2) By writing Didion is able to understand her thought and feelings better. *As she writes her thoughts which are like the ingredients* to her thinking. All the questions that Didion asks herself, and doesn’t understand, she is able to figure out after writing down her thoughts because her thoughts hold the answer to all the questions she has. By rearranging them and putting the pieces together, Didion is able to make sense of the world around her. Didion’s thought process is that her mind holds all the solutions to her questions. Didion just has to interpret them correctly and learn as she goes along with life, but this thought process is unique to …show more content…
It allows the audience to relate to the piece better. Britt’s style of writing is corky. Her patterns and voice help in building the style of her writing. Britt is an example enhanced writer. She does well in showing not telling which is important for the readers. Picturing what she means helps reader see Britt’s point in a clearer way. The examples are truly relatable as well, “A fly buzzing at your ear, or a heat stopping siren in the night” (Britt 2) which means I actually know what she’s taking about. Topics of everyday life often make up her examples, and they are focused in a single instance therefore it’s easy to grasp. I just want to thank her for not over complicating writing. It defiantly makes my life easier. Britt also sprinkles in tons of figurative diction. This also helps build her imagery. #3 Instead of saying “jacket”, Britt would say something like “The weather was not to cold therefore my one of a kind light emerald velvet jacket from Paris would keep me covered from head to toe as I walk through the dimly lighted streets of a quiet Chicago city night.” This is how Britt also creates feel in her writing as well. Britt’s stylistic choices embrace the world surrounding
Lamott suggests in “Shitty First Drafts” that many people imagine good writers as being able to miraculously put out a complete and polished piece of work in one sitting. She also plainly reminds the reader that this is an idealized fantasy. Writing is hard work, and it can be very intimidating. To overcome this, she offers the
Writing is a form of communication that can be expressed in various ways. The short story “On Keeping a Notebook” written by Joan Didion guides the reader through her thinking process as she tries to answer why and what it means to write in her notebook. Although, it can be difficult to follow and understand her thinking it fascinates me to see her thinking process come to a full circle. I felt a personal connection with her when she writes “We are brought up in the ethic that others, any others, all others, are by definition more interesting that ourselves; taught to be diffident, just that this side of self-effacing.” Didion’s statement made me realized the experiences one has can affect one’s perspective as one writes and reads despite how
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
It is fascinating to me to read the articles “Why I Write,” by George Orwell and Joan Didion. These authors touch on so many different topics for their reasons to writing. Their ideals are very much different, but their end results are the same, words on paper for people to read. Both authors made very descriptive points to how their minds wander on and off their writings while trying to write. They both often were writing about what they didn’t want to write about before they actually wrote what they wanted too. In George Orwell’s case, he wrote many things when he was young the he himself would laugh at today, or felt was unprofessional the but if he hadn’t done so he would not of been the writer he became. In Joan Didion’s case she would often be daydreaming about subjects that had nothing to do with what she intended on writing. Her style of writing in this article is actually more interesting because of this. Her mind wandering all over on many different subjects to how her writing came to her is very interesting for a person like me to read. My mind is also very restless on many different unneeded topics before I actually figure some sort of combined way to put words on to paper for people to read. Each author put down in their articles many ways of how there minds work while figuring out what they are going to write about. Both of the authors ended ...
The very first chapter we read of Mindful Writing changed my perspective to see that anyone and everyone can be a writer. Brian Jackson, the author of Mindful Writing, wrote, “In this book I want to convince you that anyone writing anything for any reason is a writer…Writing is not something we do just in school. It is a vital means of influence in all facets of life.” It was through that very first reading that I began to think about writing as more than just a dreaded part of school, and I began to think of myself as more than just a student forced to write. Our very first assignment, My Writing Story, helped me to reflect on my identity as a writer. I realized that I was a writer every time I wrote in my journal or captioned an Instagram post. Throughout the semester, as I came to love writing more with each paper I wrote, I was able to create my identity as a writer. I learned that I loved research and analyzing others’ thoughts and ideas, but that writing simply on my own opinions, wasn’t my favorite past time. Through the countless readings this semester, I saw which writing styles I loved and which didn’t speak to me. Each day of class, I chipped away at creating my identity as a writer, and I’m grateful for the lessons that helped me shape and realize that
Many people think that reading more can help them to think and develop before writing something. Others might think that they don’t need to read and or write that it can really help them to brainstorm things a lot quicker and to develop their own ideas immediately (right away). The author’s purpose of Stephen King’s essay, Reading to Write, is to understand the concepts, strategies and understandings of how to always read first and then start something. The importance of this essay is to understand and comprehend our reading and writing skills by brainstorming our ideas and thoughts a lot quicker. In other words, we must always try to read first before we can brainstorm some ideas and to think before we write something. There are many reasons why I chose Stephen King’s essay, Reading to Write, by many ways that reading can help you to comprehend, writing, can help you to evaluate and summarize things after reading a passage, if you read, it can help you to write things better and as you read, it can help you to think and evaluate of what to write about.
A successful writer is he who is able to transmit ideas, emotions, and wisdom on to his readers. He is cable of stirring emotions and capturing the reader's attention with vivid descriptions and clever dialogues. The writer can even play with the meanings of words and fuse reality with fiction to achieve his goal of taking the reader on a wonderful journey. His tools are but words, yet the art of writing is found in the use of the language to create though-provoking pieces that defy the changing times. Between the lines, voices and images emerge. Not everyone can write effectively and invoke these voices. It is those few who can create certain psychological effects on the reader who can seize him (or her) with inspiring teachings, frightening thoughts, and playful games with the language. These people are true writers…
The works both titled “Why I Write” by Joan Didion and George Orwell each aim to inform an audience of an obvious topic, their reasons for writing. These essays are written 30 years apart so there is a difference in time period besides the contrast in each writers’ personalities that could affect their motives to write. Orwell wrote his essay first while Didion’s essay served as a response to Orwell’s ideas. Although these essays share a title, they are different in multiple ways. In addition, they do have many similarities as well.
Writing is a type of art because it requires you to think and be creative in the way you want it to be. I have a diary that I wrote almost everyday. They help me think about my day and sometimes turn my bad day into a good day. I write whatever comes into my head at that moment, and reflect on my day. Writing make me think deeper to what happen and help me turn my negative thought to positive. Writing is a very powerful tool. When I write, I have the power to change the story. I am the author of my own story so I can be as creative as I want.
Morality is, in essence, subjugated by he who defines it. This being the case, morality (defined as right or wrong, good or evil) is malleable as long as it does not impede upon any “ipso facto virtue';(Didion). In the essay “On Morality';, by Joan Didion, this aspect ‘on morality’ is composed. This will be utilized to verify that William Saroyan’s (author of “Five Ripe Pears) guilt of an immoral action is conflicting given specified conditions.
As every well-read person knows, the background in which you grow up plays a huge role in how you write and your opinions. Fuller grew up with a very strict education, learning multiple classic languages before she was eight years old. Fern grew up with writers all throughout her family and had a traditional education and saw first hand the iniquities of what hard-working had to contend with. Through close analysis of their work, a reader can quickly find the connections between their tone, style, content, and purpose and their history of their lives and their educational upbringing.
I am sitting in my bed, thinking about my process of writing as I am trying to go through it. It seems the more I think about it, the less I understand it. When I am writing, I don’t think. Which I know, sounds bad. But, I spend every single moment of every single day over thinking, over analyzing, and over assuming every aspect of my life. When I’m writing, I’m free from that for just a little bit. Until of course, my hands stop typing or the pencil (no pens- never pens) stops moving, then I’m right back on the carousel that is my brain. Heidi Estrem says, “...writers use writing to generate knowledge that they didn’t have before.” (Writing is a Knowledge-Making Activity 18). I believe my ability to write without an exact destination
Writing can be a very difficult process for those who do not know how to go about constructing
I have always been an artistic person, and I saw writing as another way to express myself artistically. Many students my age hated to write but I never saw it as a burden. I carried that passion throughout high school and continue to enjoy it in college. My junior and senior English teacher, Mrs. McGhee, had the biggest impact of my writing skills. She was always a tough grader and always made sure to elaborate on our mistakes. She is the reason I became such a strong writer. She and Anne Lamott have similar personalities. Lamott states, “It’s not like you don’t have a choice, because you do- you can either type or kill yourself.” Mrs. McGhee hated excuses. She expected her students to complete the tasks that were given to them, but, of course, high school students always complained and probably rather kill themselves than write a paper. She constantly motivated her students to work hard and complete their work to the best of their abilities. I cannot thank her enough for the impact she has had on my academic
To start, the characters and situations present in a novel is a reflection of the writer themselves which would eventually become an inspiration for a plot for a story. The first day of the semester I had been asked “who you wanted to emulated in my daily life”. This was a question which was not harder to answer than expected, that needed to be questioned to determine the answer. A common idea that was discussed in the course: “Writing one's problems onto paper is an easy way to find the solution.” by transferring one life(or problems) to a medium which in this case writing it analyzing it in another way. This is important as changing the perception in any scenario is beneficial more so for literature since both the writer and reader are the audience who act as the observers being able to question unbiasedly relating these situations encountered by the characters(fictional or not) to their own experiences. Following this advice I frequently would write down problems in order to visualize data presented from a particular situation whether it is to make a schedule to figure out how to make my own time more productive, personal situations and how one would reasonably react in a situation but most recently what I wanted out of a Post-Secondary Education while filling my applications online. Having to determine the next five years of my life while determining what would be the best option for my future. To find this I made a list of what I wanted from this experience. Upon making this list, comparing it to my selection I was able to determine what computer program would be the right fit. Literature can also be a reflection of a writer at a given moment of time as is a representation of the thoughts and feelings of an individual. An ex...