POL 2015
How have you evolved as a writer this past semester ?
The way I have evolved as a writer is, I have learned how to add more sensory details to my writing and that you need dialogue in a story to actually make it good or well to create a more imaginable scene for the reader. What I mean by “imaginable” I mean for the reader to be able to read the story and be able to create the scene, to create an image of the story I am writing, inside their minds. I learned how to do this by reading this book called The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, it’s a memoir about Tim O’Brien’s time in the vietnam war and all the stories people told him, everything he learned and the things he saw while he was in vietnam. Tim even talks about before the war, all things that went throughout his mind before going into the war, and how hard it was to make the decision of going into the war.
Tim O’Brien wrote ““I got a confession to make,” Sanders said,. “Last night, man, I had to make up a few things.” “I know that” “The glee club. There wasn’t any glee club.” “Right.” “No opera.” “Forget it, I understand. “ “Yeah, but listen, it’s still true. Those six guys, they heard sound you just plain won't believe.”” this is one of the many quotes from The Things They Carried that helped me write my own memoir, what this quote is basically saying is that a lot of people lie in their writing because of how hard it is to express how they felt in that situation. Also, with the dialogue for example; sometimes when you're telling a story you tend to say that you said one thing but you say something you did not say, instead you tell the person you're explaining your story to something you had said in your head, and so you end up telling them what sounded better to you than what you had actually said.
Give a specific example of you've grown academically as a writer:
Here’s an example of how i’ve grown academically as a writer, this is just my introduction, my hook and as you can tell it’s very plain, lacking details. In my final revision you can see that it’s much longer and has more details where I talk about how nervous I was and tried to not use the word “nervous” a lot and still be able to show how anxious I was. When I am writing my first draft’s I think about it as a plain burger, before you add the lettuce, tomatoes, onions, so on and so forth, but in this situation the 2 buns are the beginning and ending and the meat is obviously the middle. Then, you add on these extra things to make your burger taste better and more appealing to other people, which is what I do with my writing.
Give a specific social example of how you've grown as a writer:
Whenever I read an article I find the need to highlight everything interesting that I read because I know that i’ll want to go back to it at some and take the information that I have there and include it into my essays. I do this with magazines, and when I go back and read the magazines again I see the the things I had annotated, and remember what it's about without having to read the whole section again. Also, I have been tempted to highlight things in books that aren't mine, or books that I later need to return to people.
What is your biggest area of growth? :
My biggest area of growth is adding my details, I feel as if it’s something that I have most definitely improved in and now have many different references to make my writing better, for example i’ve talked more about my feelings in the situations, what other people in my story are wearing, just things that will help build an image in people's minds.
What is the symbolism of this image in connection to your evolution as a writer? :
For the first picture I choose the cover of the book The Things They Carried by Tim O’brien and put a quote over it, what this quote means to me is that if you want people to believe your writing you need to exaggerate a little so that it’s much more believable. For my second image I choose a comparison of my writing before learning all these great writing tips that I learned this semester and then a picture after all my revisions.
The way I have evolved as a writer is, I have learned how to add more sensory details to my writing and that you need dialogue in a story to actually make it good or well to create a more imaginable scene for the reader. What I mean by “imaginable” I mean for the reader to be able to read the story and be able to create the scene, to create an image of the story I am writing, inside their minds. I learned how to do this by reading this book called The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, it’s a memoir about Tim O’Brien’s time in the vietnam war and all the stories people told him, everything he learned and the things he saw while he was in vietnam. Tim even talks about before the war, all things that went throughout his mind before going into the war, and how hard it was to make the decision of going into the war.
Tim O’Brien wrote ““I got a confession to make,” Sanders said,. “Last night, man, I had to make up a few things.” “I know that” “The glee club. There wasn’t any glee club.” “Right.” “No opera.” “Forget it, I understand. “ “Yeah, but listen, it’s still true. Those six guys, they heard sound you just plain won't believe.”” this is one of the many quotes from The Things They Carried that helped me write my own memoir, what this quote is basically saying is that a lot of people lie in their writing because of how hard it is to express how they felt in that situation. Also, with the dialogue for example; sometimes when you're telling a story you tend to say that you said one thing but you say something you did not say, instead you tell the person you're explaining your story to something you had said in your head, and so you end up telling them what sounded better to you than what you had actually said.
Give a specific example of you've grown academically as a writer:
Here’s an example of how i’ve grown academically as a writer, this is just my introduction, my hook and as you can tell it’s very plain, lacking details. In my final revision you can see that it’s much longer and has more details where I talk about how nervous I was and tried to not use the word “nervous” a lot and still be able to show how anxious I was. When I am writing my first draft’s I think about it as a plain burger, before you add the lettuce, tomatoes, onions, so on and so forth, but in this situation the 2 buns are the beginning and ending and the meat is obviously the middle. Then, you add on these extra things to make your burger taste better and more appealing to other people, which is what I do with my writing.
Give a specific social example of how you've grown as a writer:
Whenever I read an article I find the need to highlight everything interesting that I read because I know that i’ll want to go back to it at some and take the information that I have there and include it into my essays. I do this with magazines, and when I go back and read the magazines again I see the the things I had annotated, and remember what it's about without having to read the whole section again. Also, I have been tempted to highlight things in books that aren't mine, or books that I later need to return to people.
What is your biggest area of growth? :
My biggest area of growth is adding my details, I feel as if it’s something that I have most definitely improved in and now have many different references to make my writing better, for example i’ve talked more about my feelings in the situations, what other people in my story are wearing, just things that will help build an image in people's minds.
What is the symbolism of this image in connection to your evolution as a writer? :
For the first picture I choose the cover of the book The Things They Carried by Tim O’brien and put a quote over it, what this quote means to me is that if you want people to believe your writing you need to exaggerate a little so that it’s much more believable. For my second image I choose a comparison of my writing before learning all these great writing tips that I learned this semester and then a picture after all my revisions.