What I Have learned From Writing

in Comp. 2, our class choose four people that they want to have present their writing lessons to the class and I was one of four. here is what I presented to them.

Hi my name is Keely Alyssa Taylor. My writing experience is mostly based on what I have written for English classes, even though my friends try to get me to write more. Most of the knowledge I have in writing has come from not me writing essays, but from reading other people's writing. I love it when my friends come and ask me to read their writing and tell them what I think is really good and what could be changed. The fact that they put my opinion in something so important to them because they know that I will tell them exactly how I feel, not what I think they want to hear, blows my mind.

The detail I find most important about writing is connecting with your readers. As I am mainly a reader and not a writer, I find that if I can't connect with the writer, story, or essay it not only takes me twice as long to read, but I also don't find the story or essay as interesting and enjoyable. If you don't connect to your audience, then they probably will not learn anything. if they don't learn anything from your writing, then why are you writing in the first place? Even if you are only writing for a class you should still try to connect to you audience, if only to try to get a better grade.

Now that you know how important it is to connect with you audience, some of you are probably wondering how to connect. The easiest way to connect is to add some personal experience. That usually means recounting a memory that includes and/or describes the topic, but is not limited to only that. On page 91 of our textbook Writing Arguments, the authors explain that "personal experience examples help readers identify with writer; they show writer's personal connection to the issue" and "vivid stories capture the imagination". By adding personal experience to a story or essay readers feel that not only do you have knowledge of the subject, but you can explain or show it to them in a way that they imagine they are the ones in the event living it out instead of just reading about it. In order for this to happen you have to make sure to add what you were seeing, hearing, smelling, thinking, and feeling during the memory and what you learned from it. You especially want to do this in the form of dialogue when writing a narrative essay.

When my friends come to ask me to read what they have written, after reading and looking at the punctuation, grammar, and how everything flows, I look to see if they have included some personal experience in any form. This is something that I believe writers should not only think about while writing their first draft, but especially look for while they are revising. If you need help with this, ask a friend, relative, or teacher what they believe would help them connect more to your writing.