I hate math; there is no way around this fact. From the onset of my re-entry into the world of academia and learning, it has weighed heavily upon my mind and I had buried this trepidation deep in my subconscious. I began my college career just before I turned 40 with grand aspirations of becoming an architect. At age 45 plus, the projected age I would earn my bachelor’s degree in architecture, time would be my enemy; it is generally a field populated by much younger, spry individuals. Upon further exploration though, it turns out that with my current educational plans, I would be closer to 50 by the time I earned that degree. On top of that, there is entirely too much pesky math! I would have to contend with Algebra, Calculus, and Physics; algebraic algorithms, matrix multiplication, and fundamental frequency be damned! Simply put, my mind does not live in that world. Do not get me wrong, I love to create; the idea of building something, formulated within my mind and realized into a tangible object really affords me a great deal of satisfaction. But I also know myself and remember vividly how much I struggled in the arena of math, so my college career path arrived at fork in the road; thankfully, I have not remained stranded on this diverging path long, as earlier this semester I was privileged enough to partake in a writing experience that solidified my decision to abandon my quest for an architecture degree and instead, pursue one in fictional writing.
This is my third full semester in school and over that short span of time, I have come to recall and recognize that I have other areas of interest which also play off my creative characteristics; I take pleasure in writing and I emphatically enjoy an enthralling fictional...
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...nd out which literary styles speak to me most and engage me as a reader; the vocabulary writers use, the tone within the language they incorporate in their stories, and the point of view they tell a story are three memorable styles that I find makes for great storytelling. Though architects and writers create two completely different objects, their worlds are not all that different. Both operate under their own defining set of rules and both have their own set of creative elements to draw from. The final output of their ingenuity relies greatly upon how well each adheres to their own set of rules and how deftly each makes use of their existing creative elements. In the end, I believe the writer is an architect of storytelling.
Works Cited
Charters, Ann. The Story and Its Writer – An Introduction to Short Fiction. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011. Print.
An Anthology For Readers and Writers. 5th ed. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2012. 1283-296. Print.
_______. Critical Review of Short Fiction. Vol. III 4 vols.. Pasadena, California: Salem Press, 1991.
The Story and Its Writer by, Ann Charters. Bedford Press. 1999.
I am in the process of writing my first novel in hopes to get it published after I graduate high school. Many students, and teachers unfortunately, have shot down my dreams of doing so but I have persevered with this aspiration of mine. I’ve found the people who think I can accomplish this are those who know for a fact I will continue with this dream.
Fiction 100: An Anthology of Short Fiction. Ed. James H. Pickering, a.k.a. 11th ed. of the year.
My relationship with writing has been much like roller coaster.Some experiences I had no control over. Other experiences were more influential. Ultimately it wasn’t until I started reading not because I had to read but because I wanted to, that's when my relationship reached change. I would have probably never cared about writing as I do today if it weren't for the critics in my family. When I was a child, my aunts and uncles always been in competition with who's child is better in school. I have always hated reading and writing because of the pressure to prove my family wrong was overwhelming for me. I had to prove them wrong and show them that I was capable of being "smart" which according to them was getting straight A's in all your classes.
The Jersey Shore, The Bachelor, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, and The Girls Next Door are just a few of the hundreds of Reality Television shows that are on today and have pushed the classic Brady Bunch family style sitcom aside. According to a study performed by the University of Michigan Health System, an average of children ages 2-5 spend 32 hours a week in front of a TV—watching television and children ages 6-11 spend about 28 hours a week in front of the TV. A majority of shows that dominate the airwaves today are Reality Television shows that can easily influence the young children and teens of society. In “Reality Television - Educational or a Waste of Time?” Marvin Pirila discusses the false realism Reality Television conveys their audience, the stereotypes that are portrayed in shows, and the poor ethics and values that give their viewers the wrong idea. The writer exercises a great use of effectiveness when portraying his position on the topic by having a great use of Logos, Ethos, and Pathos to appeal to his readers.
My analysis over the development of my writing throughout this semester. I will assess many aspects of my experiences with English 1301 up to this point in the semester. I will explain the ways by which I have blossomed as a writer during this time. I will provide brief examples of my work to show what I am basing the evaluation of my writing on. What my conceptions of writing were, at the start of, the semester and compare it to what they are now. I will clarify how my work this semester reflects the concepts of writing and reading we have been working on and studying in class. I will tell about what and how particular reading assignments have been influential in my growth of creative ideas. Lastly, my interpretation of what it means to be a writer, and how my experiences this semester has influenced my opinion on writing.
In fact, I began this semester with plans to accomplish skills that would eventually bring me to an understanding of what a great writer is. During the summer I attended an English mini course which proved to be just a quick version of some high school rules on writing, that did not require much thinking or writing tasks, but it did provide an understanding of what was going to be expected in colle...
An author’s style of words, sentence structure, and use of figurative language gives an author their own unique style of writing. Although, how an author writes can cause confusion due to connotative use of words and sentence. The author’s style-words, sentence structure, and figurative language can give a reader a description that forms imagery. Also it affects the tone, mood, and theme of the story.
As the semester finally approaches the finish line, I revisit my past work to compare and contrast how this class has developed me into a successful writer at the college level. Throughout the year my writing style has developed and become broader as I have learned how to incorporate more of my personal views as well as reliable, unbiased information. This portfolio is a representation of how many things I have learned along the way while being an English 102 student.
Charters, Ann. “David Herbert Lawrence”. The Story and It’s Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2003.
I will preface this literacy narrative by a warning: this is not, in any way, an essay about my positive academic experiences with reading and writing. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE reading, but this fondness was not rooted in me because of school. Writing, on the other hand, has been the bane of my scholastic journey since the start of my high school years. This could explain why I waited until my very last quarter at university to take my required writing class.
Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1998. Reidhead, Julia, ed., pp. 113-117. Norton Anthology of English Literature, vol. 7, 2nd ed.
As I look back on my schooling I can’t believe how many papers I’ve written throughout my life. Naturally as I’ve grown up, my writing has developed from learning how to write sentences all the way up to the pages of essays that consist of deeper criteria. I know for a fact that I’m a better writer now than I was before. College writing is more challenging and I’ve had to learn how to adjust to it.