I have never considered writing to be my strong suit. In fact writing was something that I just did for a class and a grade. In high school, we were assigned papers, but they almost seemed like busy work. This class has pushed me in ways I never thought I could be pushed and shown me that writing is much more than an assignment. I am so thankful for this. Writing is a skill everyone needs to have and I think I am becoming a very efficient writer.
I never knew an audience played such an important role in writing. I have always just written to the teacher and never was challenged to write to a different type of audience. This was definitely one of my hardest moments in this class. I was taken back when I had to think about and write to a public audience. It was very hard to make something like writing of interest to an every day newspaper reader. I have never been an outstanding writer, so it was hard to make it so people wanted to read my article. I had to think of it as a real project then a formal paper. Now when I write I think of the audience first and start writing for them, rather than a teacher. I definitely feel like this focus and real purpose has improved my writing, and I will never go back to anything different. Knowing the audience for writing is crucial, and I will always pay attention to who is going to read it from now on.
Before this class, I considered genres to relate to movies and books. It never occurred to me that there was a genre for every type of writing as well. There is a connection between the audience and genre. Take movies for example, girls love romances and boys love suspense. In writing girls love fashion magazines and boys love car magazines. It is important to be consistent within a genre as you write to a certain audience. This makes the writing more relatable and makes it more enjoyable to read. A genre is very important to keep in the back of your mind when you write because it makes you stay on topic and helps you relate to your audience without even trying. It’s taking a more broad approach to people, so it can relate to more people.
In addition to understanding the importance of audience and the genre, my learning about writing has increased with my new understanding of rhetoric. I had heard of rhetoric, but I had not heard of the rhetorical situation. Rhetoric is simply the words that are usually used for persuasion. I have no idea how I went through high school without knowing that rhetoric was pretty much the foundation of writing. It makes your piece of writing personal and gives it purpose. It is a situation that you can grow off of and explore. A situation adds a lot to a paper, and it makes it have more of a backbone. Writers build off of one situation and make connections to others and to expand the influence of writing. This has made me realize that there is actually a lot to say about one situation. I never tried to make outside connections but now that I have, I feel like my writing is improving and my mind is expanding.
These three things are crucial to writing and have had an influence on my thinking. I have no idea how I passed high school writing without knowing these three things. My learning is making me question why writing is taught the way that it is in high school. I see progress in my writing and I cannot wait to see more. I am starting to write with skill and a real purpose rather than just complete an assignment for a grade. I wish I would have learned this earlier, but I’m glad it is happening now.
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