Drew+Duggan's+First+Essay

Drew Duggan Intro to College Writing Dr. Vanderslice 20 September, 2011 Portrait as a Writer Over the years, my writing style, along with some of my techniques has changed dramatically. There have been quite a few factors that have influenced these changes. Some of these include how I have viewed myself as a writer and how that has changed over time, my planning methods, the rules that I apply to my writing as well as the rules that I have quit applying. All of these things have attributed to shaping me into the writer that I am today, and still continue to do so.  When I was younger, I was very confident in my writing. I used to always enjoy any writing assignment that I was given and would even write on my own time, just because I wanted to. As time went on, I lost much of that interest. I don’t necessarily enjoy writing anymore. I feel that I have lost interest in writing because of all of the rules and restrictions that have been placed on writing over the years whether it be essays, free writings, articles, or anything. I have kind of given up. In the past I have always gotten good grades when it comes to essays. I could be creative and make my papers come to life, so to speak. However, now I feel like I give my teacher what they want and that’s about it. I don’t go any further. Needless to say, my view of myself as a writer has changed dramatically. I have gone from being a very confident writer, to not really caring about writing. I hope to change that as time goes on.  I have recently become a big planner. The prewriting process, I have learned makes the actual writing a lot less painless. It is so much easier for me to begin writing if I have a roadmap to follow. I usually begin with brainstorming on what exactly it is that I want to write about. Once I have chosen a topic, I like to do the web outline. I find it easy to track my thoughts and it keeps everything from getting jumbled together. After planning, comes my rough draft. This is one of the most difficult parts of writing for me. The topic sentence is always the most problematic, even with the planning, I never feel like it is good enough. I then continue on to write my final draft after much editing. Without planning, my writing would be much more difficult and would not make very much sense and I would spend all of my time trying to just begin my essay.  There have been many rules that I have been “supposed” to follow, rules that I have been taught either make or break a paper. Sometimes I think that these so called “rules,” have made me lose much of my interest in writing. I have found it much easier to follow the guidelines and frameworks for writing a paper. I usually give the basic five paragraph essay with the topic paragraph that includes the thesis, talking points, and concluding sentence, then proceed with my next three paragraphs including my talking points and my elaboration on them. Then comes the conclusion, where I restate all that I said in the beginning. Very basic, easy stuff, not very interesting either. I believe that all of the rules that have been placed on writing have made me uninterested in it. When I was younger and in lower grades, writing was enjoyable because, at that point in time there weren’t really any rules for writing. I got to be as creative as I wished to be and that’s what I liked.  Of all the rules that I have been taught, I really only follow a select few of them. I am a firm believer in sentence variety, for example. Sentence variety makes reading a book, essay, report, anything of that nature, much less monotonous. If all of the sentences are the same length, have the same structure and sound the same when reading them, no one is going to want to read what any writer has to say. Therefore, I try to incorporate sentence variation in all of my writings no matter what particular type it may be. Another rule that I always try to follow is the use of voice within a work. I have read many articles and essays in my previous English classes where the author has incorporated no voice what so ever within his writing. I find it unbearable to read something like that and would never want to put any of my audiences through that. As I write, I always try to make sure that I am interested in what I am writing, or at least sound interested. I have found that even though sometimes when I am writing on a topic that doesn’t interest me in the slightest, it is much easier to write if trick myself into being interested and adding as much voice as possible. In return, I feel like the reader appreciates that as well. These rules are some of the few that I personally find important in writing and make a considerable difference within a paper.  On the other hand, there are those rules that I find unimportant and trivial. One of these rules is, never use fragments. I have always been taught to use nothing but complete sentences that portray a complete thought. I disagree with this. While sometimes, yes, fragments are inappropriate, there are times where they fit perfectly within a paragraph. They add character to your writing as well as voice. If used properly, they can get an entire point across to a reader. Fragments can be vital, and should not be afraid to be used. Another rule that I find completely false, starting sentences with and, therefore, and but. It is definitely appropriate to start sentences with these words if the situation calls for it. These words, just like fragments, can add character to writing and creates a somewhat informal attitude that is often appropriate. One more rule that I have to disagree with is following the strict five paragraph format for an essay. A lot of the time, you cannot get your point across in only five paragraphs. If I need to break up my essay into ten paragraphs, I’m going to break it up into ten paragraphs. In my eyes, it makes the essay more organized. These rules differ from the rigid rules that our grade school teachers have taught us, in that they actually make writing better and more interesting.  My style of writing along with several other aspects of my personal writing has changed radically. My views on writing as a whole have changed, along with my attitude towards it, and unfortunately, not for the better. The way I write has changed as well as the incorporation of rules and the elimination of rules in my writing. The outlook of myself as a writer has changed a lot over the years, and hope that it continues to change, only for the better in the future.