Credit// Len M. Allen
As I survey my coursework, I’ve noticed my progression as a writer. One thing I pride myself on, is the ability to comprehend constructive criticism and apply the appropriate suggestions to my work. I think I’ve improved my diction and purpose, in writing for different themes. I am now able to write purposefully keeping the story’s particular mood in mind, which is integral when thinking about how one’s work appeals to a reader. Before this course, I wasn't able to clearly understand and touch on the depth of the setting and characterization, and how it could influence readers in terms of how they connected with the story. Now, I’ve accumulated vast knowledge on different writing styles, especially when it comes to revealing character and the ways of how we can achieve that through description, as well as using the five senses to really create a vivid image of the setting. I feel throughout this course I’ve continuously learned and improved my diction and developed a good utilization of tone. I feel, as a result, I’m now able to express my ideas with a higher degree of effectiveness.
Out of all the writing strategies, I think I used the technique of showing and telling the best. As exemplified in my short story, electric eyes, I left the relationship between the narrator and the other characters hidden until necessary, and let the audience draw conclusions. Furthermore, my descriptions were fitting, such as utilizing showing to express the expressiveness of a character’s eyes, “The dim lighting, which washed all of the other patrons out, only served to enhance his most striking feature, his deep green eyes. A churning, passionate type of green that the ocean turned during a storm.” I was able to also use telling effectively throughout the story, including telling through conversation, to maintain the story's length. I thought overall this evoked emotion, and beauty in the story.
The most frustrating experience I had as a writer, came with the flow of my ideas. Tying this in with writer’s block, sometimes ideas would burst out of my mind, but sometimes my mind would draw a blank. Additionally, It was hard to adhere to the tight deadlines, and I sometimes found myself rushing through my stories, restricting myself from expressing my creativity. How I overcame this problem, was really taking the time to pause from my writing and return to it again a few hours later. I found this allowed me to approach my writing with a fresher, new perspective, and strongly enhanced the flow and structure of my ideas.
Out of all the pieces in my writing portfolio, my poetry assignment brings me the most satisfaction. This is simply because, throughout my poetry journey, I’d only essentially, been exposed to poetry with strong rhyming schemes, which influenced me when it came to writing my own poems. Throughout this unit, I was able to hone my skills by writing poetry through different forms, learning and successfully producing an end-product of all my hard work. I felt I illustrated the concept of death in my haiku well, especially through the line “death, waits for no one” which is dark, yet lush. My free-verse poem continues to be the main source of my pride as it represents how far I’ve moved from simple rhymes, to really using the beauty of words to evoke emotion in the audience. Writing is an art, and throughout all of the lessons I’ve learned, I do feel I’m slowly and surely mastering it.
Out of all the pieces in my writing portfolio, my poetry assignment brings me the most satisfaction. This is simply because, throughout my poetry journey, I’d only essentially, been exposed to poetry with strong rhyming schemes, which influenced me when it came to writing my own poems. Throughout this unit, I was able to hone my skills by writing poetry through different forms, learning and successfully producing an end-product of all my hard work. I felt I illustrated the concept of death in my haiku well, especially through the line “death, waits for no one” which is dark, yet lush. My free-verse poem continues to be the main source of my pride as it represents how far I’ve moved from simple rhymes, to really using the beauty of words to evoke emotion in the audience. Writing is an art, and throughout all of the lessons I’ve learned, I do feel I’m slowly and surely mastering it.
