Ever since I could write, I've been writing stories.
I used to make a book series of my own when I was
in 2nd grade about guinea pigs, superpowered dogs,
and all sorts of weirdly-morphed animals. Now that I look
back on those books I would make, I really miss it! Not only
do I miss being a kid, but the imagination that came with it.
My writing was more carefree and not self conscious at all!
To this day, I still try and use my imagination that is sill in
there somewhere and try not to care, but it doesn't always
work. It's so much harder to write as you are older, since
everything has to have a structure and follow guidelines.
No cussing, no shortening words, use bigger words to elaborate
of your subject, it just feels forced sometimes. There have been
times where I look back and know I could have done better on
papers, just being forced to write about something that isn't
passionate to me, will never get me to really care how the
paper turns out. There will be words, topics, and everything
needed in the paper, just no heart to it. Sometimes I just wonder
whatever happened to letting writing be from what we are
really thinking.
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I understand you! Those cute, innocent, and creative childhood writing stories were always the best and I think that was because when we were young, we didn't have to analyze every little thing! We just let the creative juices flow and then great things became of them! We didn't worry about the grammar or following guidelines. I think this is why I write a lot of poetry because I don't have to follow any guidelines or worry about my grammar-I can write exactly what I am thinking :)
ReplyDeleteHey! I don't know if you saw this on my blog, but here's your autoethnography notes!
ReplyDeleteAutoethnography Response Sheet
ENGL 110
Peer Editing
Read the draft and conduct a peer conference according to the guidelines.
Next, answer these specific questions on a separate piece of paper:
1. What type of lead did the writer use? Action!
2. Is it successful? Why or why not? Absolutely!- It grabs you and makes you want to find out what happens to superman.
3. Does the title grab your attention? If no, do you have any suggestions for another title? Cosplayer: Unleashed. lol
4. Highlight in one color the writer’s description of his/her subculture.
5. Is this information adequate? Where could the writer have provided more information? Yep, it was really descriptive. It totally covered it.
6. How many narrative examples does the writer use? (Note: I don’t have the piece on me anymore..) Um, there were two different narratives: the main one was about the actual convention and was broken up into lots of little clips, the other was about growing up at a catholic school, which lead to the will to become a cosplayer and go to the convention. I know your paper’s already massive, but it probably wouldn’t hurt to add some more stories like your private school experience to add to the buildup to the convention as well as some stories of you being more of yourself since the convention.
7. Does each narrative example show how the writer’s membership in the subculture has helped shaped his/her identity?
Yeah, the catholic school bit totally explains it all. You could go into more how it affects you now, or has affected you since you became a cosplayer, though. I think it would help smooth out the paper a bit, so that you’ve got the before and after picture.=]
8. ***Using a different color highlighter, identify any analysis the writer performs in this piece. Where, specifically, does he/she analyze how the narrative examples have shaped identity? I think this would have to be the private school experience. When you explained being at the school, you mentioned how it lead you to be involved in comic books and whatnot, and made you care very little about “fitting in”.=]
9. Using a third color, highlight any examples of rich, sensory details or strong action verbs. AHHHH I WISH I HAD YOUR PAPER! Lol Believe me, your paper would almost entirely be covered in this highlighter given I could mark it up.=] “ I just about sh*t a brick.” Yep, that was my favorite. Off the top of my head, the intro and your flashback of Halloween was packed full of description, as well as the night leading up to and that morning. “Leaves crunching beneath my nikes” The actual convention was pretty good, you could switch out some of the more generic verbs for some more active ones, like rather than doug jones hugging you, he embraced you (or whatever other word you like to kind of change things up a bit=] ).
10. Does the writer have a strong conclusion? Or did you feel “dropped” at the end of the piece? Make some suggestions for improvement, if appropriate. Like I said, I no longer have your work on me, but you did a good job of bringing the day to an end. It made me want to go too, but that’s just me. Lol =]
11. Identify the audience for this piece. What, specifically, has the writer done to make this piece both appealing and appropriate for the stated audience? The audience would be any person who is not a cosplayer, or is unfamiliar with the concept. Description is everything, and you nailed it. From writing about how it feels to dress up at Halloween to the mobs of nerds swarming around superman, you made it a really interesting read. Oh, and your comparisons and (does the word mannerisms work?) totally add to it all. Great job.=]
Ohh. I miss writing as a little kid. Everything was so free then. No rules, no boundaries, just pure fun. Kind of reminds me of freewriting or invisible writing. It's whatever's on your mind on paper. =] Thank goodness that's kind of what college entrance essays are looking for now. Otherwise, I would be bored to tears by now.
ReplyDeletewhen i was a child i used to write about being a millionaire. oviously that was my childish imagination werkin. i think we all miss the writings we had as kids. now all we have to write about are fuel prices, health care, and michael jackson. wheres the creativity in that? no one cares. o to be ten again
ReplyDeleteYou've reminded me of two things. First, I watched the movie "The Indian In the Cupboard" the other night and in the end, the main character, who's a kid in elementary school, reads his journal entry about the two little men. What he reads is simple, but it brought me back.
ReplyDeleteAnd two, you made me think of my old best friend. Before he moved away, we used to write comic books together. We focused on Captain Underpants, and we made up our own. It's funny what you'll recall.
You can cuss in my papers.
ReplyDelete;)
This is a thoughtful blog posting. Does our writing follow our cultural expectations about what it means to grow up? Or are we just writing for different purposes now?
I miss making stories as a child. I wrote a bunch of short stories and it may not make sense when you read it now, but when you are a kid it makes perfect sense. You should definitely keep the creativeness when you write. Even though being told what to write sucks, you should write it in your own way and make what was assigned yours. Make it your bitch and it will make even the most mundane and forced writing projects more fun and enjoyable.
ReplyDelete