Revision Assignment - Openers

Princesleah Aguilera WRIT 3330 19 February 2018 Dr. Amy Clements Revision Assignment #1 – Openers Summary of Chapter Trimble’s “Openers” chapter tells his readers to open creatively, simply, yet with articulation. Throughout this chapter, I learned better ways to open my papers and my arguments so that they’re more functional and call attention to the reader more quickly.

Trimble introduces two approaches to formatting your opener, a front-door and a backdoor. The back-door is less useful, however it’s more used with less experienced writers, he describes it as “It’s The Art of Saying Nothing Profoundly” (25). On the other hand, the frontdoor approach is a more direct approach and introduces the subject confidently.

His next lesson is that a writer’s paper is only as good as their thesis and those first 4 or 5 lines. He advises using directness, concrete detail, salesmanship, and a know which direction they’re heading in.

Trimble’s last section in the chapter is a list of eight tips that can help writers articulate better openers. These eight tips are (1) having a strong thesis; (2) confronting the reader immediately about the topic; (3) if you can’t immediately write the opener, come back to it later when you have all your ideas on the paper already; (4) front-door approach, front-door approach, front-door approach; (5) be natural, simple, and clear when speaking to your reader; (6) make the opener more significant, put enough information but also don’t put the whole book; (7) begin boldly; (8) lastly, end with your strong statement, this helps your climax, transitions, and avoiding repetition.

Trimble’s “Openers” chapter helps writers understand what a reader wants from a beginning, because sometimes writers can be really bad at those. I feel like I learned plenty from it as well.

Paragraph: I found this paragraph in a “Bass Guitar for Dummies” book and the author is Patrick Pfeiffer. It is the introduction to the book, first few paragraphs of the actual introduction section.

Shake the earth with deep, sonorous vibration. Be the force that relentlessly drives the music. Rumble like the ominous thunder of an approaching storm. For you, it’s not enough just to be heard; you need to be felt, too. You need to play bass.

Imagine your favorite music without bass. It doesn’t work, does it? The bass is the heartbeat of the music, the foundation for the groove, and the glue holding together all the different instruments. You can hear the music sing as it’s carrying along by the bass groove. You can hear the music come to life. You can feel the vibrations of those low notes — sometimes subtle and caressing, sometimes literally earthshaking — as they propel the song. The bass is the heart of it all.

Leave center stage to the other musicians — you have more important work to do. The limelight may be cool, but bassists rule!

Revision: You need to play bass. You need to shake the earth with deep, sonorous vibrations; Relentlessly drive the music; Rumble like the ominous thunder of an approaching storm. It’s not enough just to be heard; you need to be felt, too.

Imagine your favorite music without bass. It doesn’t work, does it? The bass is the glue holding together all the different instruments. You can hear the music come to life. You can feel the vibrations of those low notes as they propel the song. The bass is the heartbeat of it all.

Leave the limelight to the other musicians. You have more important work to do.