Writing About Literature: Preliminary
If you don't get your thoughts into writing in some way, your thinking will be incomplete. It is therefore vital for you to use the writing process as a means of developing your ideas. For many students, it is a psychological necessity to carry out this process by pencil, pen, or typewriter.
-Writing About Literature, pg. 29
It would be wrong for me to say that this entire chapter has simply been a review for me, because I did learn a few new insights into writing about literature. At the same time, I do feel like I was reading a lot of the same stuff that I've had to go over in high school. I'm not going to be quite as blunt as I once was in Writing for the Internet, when I talked about Crawford Killian's book on writing for the web, but I do have to say that I wish this chapter was...I don't know...maybe a little less involved? For example, almost every suggestion given to the reader concerning analysis while reading a piece of literature was followed by a series of questions the reader could ask himself while reading their chosen written work.
Okay, I think I'm done complaining for now, because despite this lengthy start to this book, I did take several things from the book. Early on in the chapter, Roberts gives "guidelines for reading," which are actually pretty helpful, in my opinion. I especially liked his idea of keeping all of your notes for a piece of literature in a specific notebook so that you can go back to them at any time. When I was in middle school, I remember writing my reactions to whatever book I was reading at the time next to my description of the main plot points as the story progressed. Although this was required of me by my 8th grade Adv. English teacher, I still think it really helped me to become not only a better writer, but a better reader as well.
One thing I really liked was the idea of breaking up your analysis into a pro and con. I'm seriously considering using this idea on my next paper to help me to create a strong argument for a piece of literature. I love brainstorming, and being that this is an alternative to the usual "bubble" brainstorming, I'm excited to try it out.
The quote at the beginning of this blog entry made me think back to my days of AP English 11. This English course is still the most difficult class I have ever taken (so far). In more ways than one, that English course prepared me for college, but there is a specific reason that I'm thinking of it now. In this course, we were assigned several readings at a time, as well as analytical questions to go along with the readings. We read poetry by Frost, Whitman and others, and we also read stories by Irving, Milton, Hawthorne and several other American authors/poets. However, writing the answers wasn't really the hard part. Sure it was time consuming, but what made it painful for me was the fact that he required all of his students to hand-write all of our responses. We weren't allowed to type our answers on the computer until the 3rd or 4th quarter of the year. However, as painful as this may have been for me, it made me the writer that I am today. There's something about writing on a piece of paper that...I really don't know how to put it exactly...that makes writing flow easier than if it's written on a pc. I think the main problem is that when we write something on a computer, we have too many distractions. Facebook...iTunes...YouTube...who knows what else...the point is, when you write something with a pencil or pen, you can stay clear of electronic distractions. Then, when it's time to finally make adjustments, you can type the whole thing out and use the computer to move everything around at a much faster rate. Personally, I've always been a fan of printing a copy of my work and marking it up all on my own. It's probably because I was a copy editor in high school as well as a writing assistant, but whatever the reason, writing stuff down on paper always helps me to get my creative juices flowing.
I really hate to say that most of this chapter is a review, but I would be lying if I said it wasn't, but I'm not saying this in a bad way. It was a great refresher--I just hope that the rest of the book is more insightful than this first chapter. Having said that, I do appreciate the tips given throughout this chapter--I just feel that the same tips could have been given with less explanation to follow.
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Jessie Krehlik on Writing About Literature: Preliminary: I'm the same way, Karyssa. I c
Karyssa Blair on Writing About Literature: Preliminary: Very insightful. I'm afraid I
Dennis G. Jerz on Writing About Literature: Preliminary: Thanks for your wonderful refl
Karyssa Blair on Writing About Literature: Preliminary: Very insightful. I'm afraid I
Dennis G. Jerz on Writing About Literature: Preliminary: Thanks for your wonderful refl
Thanks for your wonderful reflections, Jessie. While a computer is a vital part of my writing process, I also gain quite a bit from printing out a draft, going somewhere where I won't be distracted, and marking it up. This is really useful with websites, I find, since it's really easy to sketch a box in the shape you want -- far easier than actually manipulating the CSS to make the box appear there.
I remember attending a talk given by a media studies prof who handed out animal skins -- about 12 inch squares -- and had his students put their final exams on that skin. The students had to think very carefully about what to write, and there was no chance to crumple it up and try again if it didn't work out.
Very insightful. I'm afraid I was a bit blunt and agitated when I wrote my blog, so mine wasn't quite so open-minded. However, reading yours makes me reconsider what I wrote in mine.
I must admit, I suffer from internet addiction. When I write a paper, I still feel the need to check Livejournal, Twitter, Facebook, my 2 email accounts, and several message boards just about every 20 minutes. It's sad. I think I should probably try the whole writing-away-from-electronic-devices strategy sometime.
I love the positive spin at the end! You really were rather open to what Roberts suggested.
I'm the same way, Karyssa. I can't even bring myself to take down the internet while I'm doing homework. Facebook and even just the computer in general, is a huge distraction for me. I can't tell you how many times I've caught myself looking at pictures on my photos on my laptop instead of doing my assignments.
Dr. Jerz-I think the reason I prefer to print out rough drafts and mark them up is because I spent a lot of time my senior year peer editing for younger students--I was a writing assistant. That's really interesting about the animal skin thing. I remember having to write essays in pen in high school, and that REALLY annoyed me, because I couldn't erase my mistakes, I can't imagine what it was like to write on animal skins...