Theory of Writing

Going into English class, I had what I now consider a warped view of what writing should be. Having been a bookworm during high school, I had developed a five paragraph essay that could achieve good marks in almost any setting; I thought I had it all figured out. The only problem with my essays was that they were unbearable to write. The process took hours because I had to think about each word and analyze the effectiveness of it before putting it on paper. I got into class and the teacher told us that the structure that had been hammered into us since sixth grade could be the downfall of our writing and that satisfying a purpose did not have to come down to five paragraphs with two examples and analyses each. From that moment on, my definition and process  of writing have been evolving, and writing has become much easier for me, as a result. To me, writing is thinking and feeling actively and putting those thoughts and emotions into words. Each piece of writing is a soul search for answers or an exploration of one’s feelings. Good writing serves its purpose and is from the heart and brain of the writer. As long as a piece of writing can do these two things, then it can be considered good. Even if the purpose of a work is to serve as therapy for the writer, satisfying that purpose sincerely would demonstrate good writing. When I write, I consider only the purpose of the writing. In order to be sincere, I just write. I do not try to be sincere, because trying to be sincere undermines the goal of sincerity. I use this idea of good writing in everything I write, only changing my approach to fit structure guidelines in school assignments. Over the course of the year, I have become a more creative and personal writer, which were my goals for the semester. I feel as though I am having a conversation when I am writing now. My definition of genre has also changed. Before, the writing for every genre had certain attributes and I felt that those elements had to be present in order to write sufficiently. Now, I see a genre as a word to describe the audience, purpose, and medium of a piece of writing. Since the beginning of the semester, my goal was to get out of my own way—to leave the tone and vocabulary of my writing be—because I wanted the assignments to be done by Kenneth Sisk, not by the android, KS1217. If I do not have a stake in what I’m writing, I try to create a hypothetical person who does have a stake in the matter, and then I empathize with that person. I have come to think that writing that is not your own is worthless, and strive to let each piece come from my heart and brain.