Essay Writing
The Painful Reality of Putting Pen to Paper
SECTION ONE: THE READER
Like all good stories, let us start with an argument‌
The Great Philosophical Debate with the Good Doctor Be who you are, say what you feel, those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind
“Dr.” Seuss*
*No evidence of a medical degree exists in Seuss’s records.
The Great Philosophical Debate with the Good Doctor Question: Is this true when applying (the so-called) “Doctor” Seuss’s “Advice” to the art of writing?
(HINT: the answer is NO!) Be Who You Are Say What You Feel
Those Who Mind Don’t Matter Those Who Matter Don’t Mind
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I hate to argue with the late great Dr. Seuss, but is it true in essay writing the you should “Be who you are, say what you feel, those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind” I would say Yes and No. Yes, be who you are…but I would take it a step further. Be who you can become. Yes, say what you feel…but I would take it a notch higher. Say what you and others around you feel. Yes, those who mind don’t matter…and don’t waste your energies on those who are downers. But NO, those who matter don’t mind is an outright lie. Those who matter DO mind because they want you to better yourself.
So let us begin‌ In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
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Ok, not THAT far back….let’s start with the creation of writing. Next slide please.
Beginning of Writing In the beginning Man created Beer.
• http://www.historian.net/hxwrite.htm
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One historian suggests that writing has evolved because of man’s invention of the alcoholic beverage of beer. If not directly emerging because of it, the development of the surplus of beer coincides with the development of written language, most notably because in the ancient region of Ur, a city which was situated in what is Iraq, had wheat in abundance. When more permanent agrarian encampments grew due to the growth of crops, it became necessary to count ones property, whether it be parcels of land, animals or measures of grain or to transfer that property to another individual or another settlement. The first evidence for this was incised "counting tokens" about 9,000 years ago in the fertile crescent. Written language was the product of an agrarian society. These societies were centered around the cultivation of grain. A natural result of the cultivation and storage of grain is the production of beer. It is not surprising, therefore, that some of the very oldest written inscriptions concern the celebration of beer and the daily ration allotted to each citizen.
So not to state the obvious… • But whether it be beer records, criminal records, or Olympic records, WRITERS need READERS, and (eventually) READERS need WRITERS. In fact when the emergence of the written form became a thing, a relationship was born.
Writer – Reader Relationship
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If it’s a good, healthy, warm relationship of mutual respect it resembles something like this quote.
Say this with next slide: If it’s a bad relationship, well….
Writer – Reader Relationship
STEP ONE
So now on to YOU (the writer) SELECT OR
CREATE
Your Reader
Writing ultimately is the process of IMAGINARY COMMUNICATION. Reading ultimately is the process of making that communication real.
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It seems logical that as a WRITER, the creator of the work, that a WRITER SELECTS the READER. Is it possible that the READER is not real, the READER is invented by the WRITER. Well, it’s perceptual in nature, but there has to be a bit of “guess work” in the formula. When writing do YOU consider your reader. If YOU SELECT your READER than do you know all the Ins and Outs of the Reader. OF COURSE NOT, because Readers are UNKNOWN. In short, anyone who READS a piece of WRITING is a READER, right? How can a WRITER know that UNKNOWN READER. In other words when Shakespeare was writing the MERCHANT of VENICE was he really considering a 21st century 15 year old? When GOLDING penned Lord of the Flies, was he thinking of students sitting in room 143B on the Virginia Beach / Chesapeake border? Therefore, we have to rethink what we thought was an obvious step in the writing process. We have to rethink the WHO portion of writing. Writing ultimately is the process of IMAGINARY COMMUNICATION. Reading is the process of making that communication real. Let’s look at what authors have to say about this.
Writers on Readers There is no such thing as an ideal reader, free of narrow-mindedness and unencumbered by social prohibitions or national myths, just as there is no such thing as an ideal novelist. But a novelist's search for the ideal reader be he national or international - begins with the novelist's imagining him into being, and then by writing books with him in mind.� --Orhan Pamuk The New York Times Syndicate, Who do you write for? That is the question. Published: July 28, 2006
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Pamuk admits a creative invention of the reader. Some, like world renown author Stephen King gains his inspiration from a very real souce. Say this with Next Slide In his nonfiction classic ON WRITING, Stephen King tells the story about how his first novel went to press. After uncountable hours of work on CARRIE, King became disillusioned with his own writing, and actually threw out his near complete first draft, giving up on the novel, and perhaps on pursuing a writing career altogether. Tabitha, his wife, happened into his study and found the stack of papers in the trash bin, sat down and retrieved the manuscript, and read it page after page. It was his wife who said, “Stephen” or “Stevie” or “Mr. King” or whatever she calls him, “I think you have something here.” That encouragement got him to finish the novel, and go on to be one of the most published authors in modern times. King, when writing his novels, always considers Tabitha to be his reader.
Writers on Readers Stephen King writes for his wife Tabitha.
The Writer-Reader Relationship “He wrote secret notes to people he hadn't met yet. Some of them aren't even born, he said, but we live in a strange neighborhood & they will need help figuring things out & I won't always be around to explain it to them.” - Brian Andreas “I can’t write without a reader. It’s precisely like a kiss—you can’t do it alone.” - John Cheever “I am so happy that I made someone cry today - don't worry I'm a writer.” - Tina Smith
The Writer-Reader Relationship
Secrets, kisses, and tears are exchanged… …So in short, it’s a relationship.
The “Rule� of Singularity
I wrote for my professor Dr. Patricia Shaw who never viewed my work until it was in a finished copy. She was always present in the back of my mind when I wrote because I knew that if I made an error, she could tear me apart.
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In short, this is the rule of Singularity. Everyone is not a Singularity. People is not a Singularity. That group is not a Singularity. The imagined reader Pamuk talks about is a Singularity. Tabitha King is a Singularity. Dr. Patricia Shaw, is a Singularity. Singularities allow for Specificity. Specificity allows for Voice. Voice allows you to be you.
So, is it possible that the reader, therefore, actually creates the writer?
Now your turn
Let’s get started. Let’s commit.
Select (or create) your readership. The following slides give you some optional places to go to find that perfect reader for you.
Pick Your Reader A face in a lonely crowd…
Pick Your Reader A Glamour Girl…
Pick Your Reader
A High Profile Celebrity
Pick Your Reader
A Superhero with unnaturally strong powers‌
Pick Your Reader A Genius Mind…
Now Close Your Eyes and “Imagine your Reader into Being� Pick someone who would be a critic for you, real or imagined, who will tell you straight up what is good and what is bad about your writing and always always, always, always write for that person.
SECTION TWO: The Writer
6 + 1 Traits Ideas Organization Word Choice Voice Sentence Fluency Conventions (Presentations)
Ideas
“Read different to think differently. - Aman Jassal, Rainbow- the shades of love
Symbolic Thinking • Take three Random Words (Nouns work best) and one Random concept Elephant Cloud Yellow
Death
Symbolic Thinking
What are the character traits, physical or otherwise of these chosen items: Elephant-big, maternal, heavy, good memories Cloud- Overcast, rainy, sky-ridden, dreary Yellow- hot, dry, happy, sunny, bright Death - ???
Symbolic Thinking Now apply the descriptors to the concept WORDS: Elephant-Cloud- YellowDeath - ??? big, maternal, heavy, good memories Overcast, rainy, sky-ridden, dreary hot, dry, happy, sunny, bright
Now surround the concept with these descriptors
Tom looked to the heavens, its big, almost maternal embrace hugging him with the clouds, and streaks of bright blue bleeding out of the cracks. He fingered his tie, blotted with childlike elephants, an item he picked up once at the local thrift store. Every time he touched the silken fabric, he thought of her, her tough leather like skin burned by the sun, her heavy set eyes drearily drilling into him, her dry lips pursed into a reprimanding comment, and mostly, the comfort this all gave him. His eyes now took to the heavens; she was sky ridden, he was overcast, and the emptiness in his heart was only matched by the empty space in that thrift store, where items no one ever noticed again were sold to those looking for slightly cheaper, run down,perhaps, goods left to the side as a discarded, unwanted, and lonely remnant of some past purchase..
The etc. • The remaining part of the writing would have additional elephant, cloud, and yellow images throughout…and through juxtaposition, the symbol would be born to signify what the other wishes it to signify.
• Oddly, death isn’t even mentioned in the passage I wrote, but, there is a sense of it, or if not of death in particular, at least of loss.
Organization
Sherlock: What’s wrong with this organization?
Sherlock is a show that is produced by BBC television. It stars Benedict Cumberbatch as the famous detective and Martin Freeman as John Watson, his partner in crime. The shows are interesting. There isn’t any obvious reason why a solution for the case goes the way it goes. I like how the big villain, Moriarty, is presented. He gives Sherlock and Watson a run for their money and keeps the audience guessing. There were a couple of female leads that kinda shook things up. Mary Watson brings a charm to the show, but she’s no weakling. In fact she was a super agent for the British government. She always turns things around and at the end of episodes she’s in, there seems to be a surprise waiting for you. Mostly though, the relationships are the most interesting. Sherlock and Watson kinda tease each other with intelligent quibs and banter that makes you laugh. What they say to each other is funny. How they say it is also funny..
Sherlock: What’s wrong with this organization?
Cumberbatch has a way of speedily delivering his lines. I think he may be the fastest actor alive today. I heard once that one reviewer counted the number of words he spoke per minute and it was alot. The writers took painstaking measures to stay true to the original writings of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the guy who thunk up the Holmes plots. They did so cleverly, because the show is set, not in Victorian England, but in modern times. Yet, they managed to still keep the plots similar enough to give Doyle the rightful honors. All in all, I think most people would really like this show. It’s produced like movies. Unlike other episodes, that last 25 minutes, or maybe 55 minutes, each Sherlock episode runs a full hour and a half. Thank you for reading my writing. Moriarty is by far my favourite (British spelling) character. He’s soooooooo good at being bad.
Sherlock: What’s Wrong with this Organization?
• In the written example, how could this be organized differently? • What pre-write activities could assist in accomplishing better organization? • What works in the example given? • What information seems to be “chunked” together? • What information can be seen as Broad Sentiment, Claim (Thesis), or Support?
Basic Format Write the body – Write the main points. – Write the subpoints. – Elaborate on the subpoints.
Write the Conclusion Add the finishing touches. Write the Introduction Write your thesis statement
Word Choice
• “A word (...) is never the destination, merely a signpost in its general direction; and whatever (...) body that destination finally acquires owes quite as much to the reader as to the writer.” ― John Fowles
Denotation / Connotation • Look up the word Black • Look up the word White Denotative Meaning is the “Dictionary Definition” • Look up words that have Black as a starter word (e.g. Black sheep of the family) • Look up words that have White as a starter word (e.g. White Lie) Connotative Meaning is the “Feel” of the word How’s these examples play out?
Voice
“Write only if you wish to read it again and again...” ― Ramana Pemmaraju
The “Thing” endings: How to Ruin Your Voice
“It’s not that they’re stupid, it’s just that they don’t know anything.” On Students, Mike Griffith, Sociology Teacher
“Nothing says you don’t know anything like the ‘thing’ ending.” E. DeMott
The “Thing” endings: How to Ruin Your Voice
“Something”, “Anything”, “Everything”, “Nothing”, As well as “Everyone”, “Anyone”, “Someone”, “No one” And “Everybody”, “Anybody”, “Somebody”, “Nobody”
All have Overly-Generalized sense to them and weaken the argument because its like admitting you don’t have any solid examples to provide, so you provide a non-commital word to gloss over your ignorance.
The “Thing” endings: How to Ruin Your Voice
Examples -The economy will falter if no one does anything about it. -Something should be done about terrorism. -Everybody knows that the world is getting warmer. -No one seems to care about women’s rights.
Sentence Fluency Sentence Fluency is the flow of the piece. Transitions are the key to not being choppy. You will be a better writer if you use transitions. Not using transitions makes things choppy.
Sentence Fluency The use of transitions makes writers words flow from one thought to the next, and without them, sentences can come off as choppy.
Conventions
Grammar / Usage / Mechanics = Conventions
The No-No List
“It’s not rocket science, you know. But it very well might be brain surgery.”
On Essay Writing, E. DeMott
Common Grammatical Errors “There”, “They’re” and “Their” “Alot” “It’s” and “Its” “Your” and You’re” “Got” can be replaced with other words
Overly Generalized Statements “There are many reasons why…” “sort of”… “kind of”… On one hand, A is true, on the other B is true…
The No-Nos: The Be Verbs Here they are in all There Glory: Here they are in all They’re Glory: Here’s the list: Banned words • Be • Is • Are • Was • Were • Being • Been • Will be
The No-Nos: The Be Verbs Rationale: Be verbs are in passive voice, and thus do not: -commit the writer to an answer -allow students to take a strong stance on an issue -keep it short and simple but fogs over the writing with ambiguity -show who or what is responsible for an action -provide interesting information to read
The No-Nos: The Be Verbs Example: The window was broken (by Tom). The window broke. Tom broke the window. Tom is the “agent� of the sentence and is responsible for the action. In a shorter amount of words, the reader knows what is happening and can go on.
The No-Nos: The Be Verbs Examples. -America is dependent upon foreign oil. -The economy is in massive decline. -Human Rights violations are rampant in Africa. -Osama bin Ladin was responsible for the September 11th attacks on the USA. -The quest for fresh water will be the reason for going to war in the future.