When it comes right down to it, the question should be asked, who would you rather spend time with, the know-it-all or the comedian?
Israel
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Not so pretentious
Randall Silvis masterfully engages the reader through humor and simple prose to drive valuable writing techniques. It's reminded me very much of the first piece we first blogged on, George Orwell's Politics and the English Language. Both often such wonderful advice for budding and even experienced writers. Both present equally important advices, however, what is noticeably different is the tone in which they engage the reader. While Orwell's overall tone can come off as a bit pretentious, Silvis' voice is very humorous.
"10 Easy Steps..." by Randall Silvis
This article was a great read, especially for aspiring writers. It gave valid and logical suggestions, while presenting them in a light and easy to read way. I love writing, I'll never stop whether I ever get published or not. There is something to it that soothes and heals me, much like Silvis said. Of course, if I never get published, I'll never get paid either, which is why I would like to pursue a teaching career. Silvis advised against it, but I've always seen myself as a teacher, I like the idea of it. Hopefully I will like the reality of it some day as well. I also love reading. It may be cliche but I love the fact that I can loose myself and all of my problems for just a little while, when reading a good book. If reading will make me a better writer like Silvis says, then there is all the more reason for me to enjoy it. Overall, I liked Silvis' article, it was humorous and honest.
I want be writer - Sheldon Benjamin
I really like this article. It actually reminded me a lot of the book I read The Sense of An Ending because a lot of the book dealt with having an ordinary life. The boys in the story were jealous of the one boy who came from a broken home because his life had narrative pull. Their lives were boring and not worth of story telling because if literature had taught them anything, it's that things worth writing down were extraordinary. Many times we complain about our abnormalities or our disconnect from society and the "norm" but according to this, that which makes us different, makes us worth talking about and gives us a story to tell. He brings us an interesting point about always writing things down and being a "human tape recorder." His honesty in step 5 is appreciated but most writers or aspiring writers go into the field recognizing the lack of stability in the profession. BUT he provides a solution. The practical escape is through another profession. Overall, I really enjoyed this article and the writer gives some wonderful advice that really applies to many different aspects of life, not just writing.
Blog 10 by Ruthie Heavrin
There is a sense of regret and pain in Randall Silvis' article, "10 Easy Steps to Becoming a Writer." The first paragraph tells about a student who complained of his teaching methods and claimed that Silvis was withholding the secrets of being published. This article feels like more of a rebuttal than a reaction paper as it makes the writer into a genre of their own - an elite per-say. Also, the author shows pain in step 3. This step suggests that a person must experience the world before they can write and even hints that no one under 25 could be at that level. Perhaps he felt that student has yet to experience a little more outside of himself and the university.
The voice's sense of regret comes through the suggestions he makes and even says that he learned the hard way for many of the steps. Step five, which is to Embrace Poverty, says that academia is the worst place for a writer to thrive, yet Silvis is a professor himself.
With the emotions and back story to the side, the steps are surprisingly true. A reader can tell if the writer knows what their talking about or if they have passion for their characters and/or topic. As most readers know, an author's life and experiences affects almost everything about their writing. That's why a person who lives life, falls in love, works with interesting people all day,and notices the absurdities of life will write more intriguing books despite the topic of genre. There are plenty of scientific and mathematical books that have been written in charming, creative, and entertaining ways.
According to Silvis, writing boils down to one thing: life. So just write it.
More Advice for Writers
Out of all the advice articles I've read in the various writing classes I've taken, Silvis' list was the most entertaining and brought several I had never heard before.
Step one made me laugh because I realized it has to be true. Everyone has some degree of strangeness to them or abnormality, writers just need to be more aware of it in themselves and in others. Those quirks are what make good stories, whether in a fictional or non-fictional setting.
Though he titles step 3, 'Live Life,' I thought his final sentence in it was the real takeaway: Keep your senses ray and your third eye open. It's what writers have to do and is very much related to step 4. We have to put ourselves out there and experience as much as we can as writers and then write it all down or store it in our conscious mind permanently.
It was a little harsh when Silvis' says that "nobody reads anymore." It's sad to think about, but it is true in a general sense. I did appreciate, though, his advice on what other jobs there are for someone who wants to write but needs to pay the bills (and eat). The irony, though, was that he said teaching was the least helpful profession a writer could pursue while Silvis' is, himself, a teacher.
What I liked about the remaining steps was that Silvis wasn't afraid to admit his own mistakes. It made him a reliable source, so when he tells us that teaching is a bad idea and putting writing before love is a worse idea, you want to listen because you know he's learned it the hard way.
And unlike the other articles about writing we've read this quarter, Silvis' tells you to keep dreaming, but stay disciplined and work for it. He isn't nice about the realities of the publishing world, though he reminds us that it's still worth it as long as there's a chance, no matter how small.
Justyne Marin
Step one made me laugh because I realized it has to be true. Everyone has some degree of strangeness to them or abnormality, writers just need to be more aware of it in themselves and in others. Those quirks are what make good stories, whether in a fictional or non-fictional setting.
Though he titles step 3, 'Live Life,' I thought his final sentence in it was the real takeaway: Keep your senses ray and your third eye open. It's what writers have to do and is very much related to step 4. We have to put ourselves out there and experience as much as we can as writers and then write it all down or store it in our conscious mind permanently.
It was a little harsh when Silvis' says that "nobody reads anymore." It's sad to think about, but it is true in a general sense. I did appreciate, though, his advice on what other jobs there are for someone who wants to write but needs to pay the bills (and eat). The irony, though, was that he said teaching was the least helpful profession a writer could pursue while Silvis' is, himself, a teacher.
What I liked about the remaining steps was that Silvis wasn't afraid to admit his own mistakes. It made him a reliable source, so when he tells us that teaching is a bad idea and putting writing before love is a worse idea, you want to listen because you know he's learned it the hard way.
And unlike the other articles about writing we've read this quarter, Silvis' tells you to keep dreaming, but stay disciplined and work for it. He isn't nice about the realities of the publishing world, though he reminds us that it's still worth it as long as there's a chance, no matter how small.
Justyne Marin
10 Easy Steps to Becoming a Writer
I think out of all the readings that we had this quarter, this one (apart from Sedaris because he is a comedic writer) was the funniest one. Each of the 10 steps were funnier than the last, and at the same time something to really live by if you have plans of becoming a writer.
The first step dealt with being born strange. To my family, having a thirst for knowledge and school is something abnormal, especially since none of them ever went to college. Plus, there is also the fact that I have no ideas of marriage and such, which they consider very weird that I am still single without any children. To society, I may be a normal human being, a girl with middle child syndrome. But to my parents and family, I am a freak.
Step two: Read everything. I keep hearing too much of this, which is making me glad that I made me a summer reading list. That way, I can keep up with authors that are successfully published.
Step three: Live Life. If I could, I would. I would explore every aspect of the world, travel everywhere taste everything! Unfortunately, I have monetary limitations, and my parents disapprove of my departures when I do not return that same night. Not to mention I have no real love life.
Step four: Become a human tape recorder. I may not be much for paying attention to people, but I have every disney movie recorded internally in my memory. If anyone needed a line from a disney movie, I'm the girl they should call up.
Step five: Embrace Poverty. It's one of those things that makes me say, "why yes I am an author," to my parents in which they just look at me as though I wasted four years in school majoring in something that will not help me in the long run. I know I need another job other than being a writer. And looking into it through grad schools and such.
Step six: Learn as much as you can, which is good because I want to go into graduate schools with teaching internships. Fingers crossed.
Step seven: Cultivate discipline. I thought the intimacy of how he sacrificed love for another love was interesting, and made me wonder whether or not that predicament of choosing someone or something. But it was good advice to take discipline. Whether or not he regrets taking one choice over the other is unclear.
Step eight: Remain aware of your imperfection. I am a woman with red cheeks, overweight, and knee problems. Imperfection has plagued me since day one!
Step nine: Wake up and dream. I remain hopeful that I can publish both a novel for adults as well as young adults. I will try as many times as J.K. Rowling herself if I have to!
Step ten: stay hungry. At first, I thought that this was meant in a literal sense, you know the whole starving artist cliche. But to hunger for writing, a metaphorical sense. Truly, it is great advice, because without that desire, where will we be?
Kathy Zinzun
The first step dealt with being born strange. To my family, having a thirst for knowledge and school is something abnormal, especially since none of them ever went to college. Plus, there is also the fact that I have no ideas of marriage and such, which they consider very weird that I am still single without any children. To society, I may be a normal human being, a girl with middle child syndrome. But to my parents and family, I am a freak.
Step two: Read everything. I keep hearing too much of this, which is making me glad that I made me a summer reading list. That way, I can keep up with authors that are successfully published.
Step three: Live Life. If I could, I would. I would explore every aspect of the world, travel everywhere taste everything! Unfortunately, I have monetary limitations, and my parents disapprove of my departures when I do not return that same night. Not to mention I have no real love life.
Step four: Become a human tape recorder. I may not be much for paying attention to people, but I have every disney movie recorded internally in my memory. If anyone needed a line from a disney movie, I'm the girl they should call up.
Step five: Embrace Poverty. It's one of those things that makes me say, "why yes I am an author," to my parents in which they just look at me as though I wasted four years in school majoring in something that will not help me in the long run. I know I need another job other than being a writer. And looking into it through grad schools and such.
Step six: Learn as much as you can, which is good because I want to go into graduate schools with teaching internships. Fingers crossed.
Step seven: Cultivate discipline. I thought the intimacy of how he sacrificed love for another love was interesting, and made me wonder whether or not that predicament of choosing someone or something. But it was good advice to take discipline. Whether or not he regrets taking one choice over the other is unclear.
Step eight: Remain aware of your imperfection. I am a woman with red cheeks, overweight, and knee problems. Imperfection has plagued me since day one!
Step nine: Wake up and dream. I remain hopeful that I can publish both a novel for adults as well as young adults. I will try as many times as J.K. Rowling herself if I have to!
Step ten: stay hungry. At first, I thought that this was meant in a literal sense, you know the whole starving artist cliche. But to hunger for writing, a metaphorical sense. Truly, it is great advice, because without that desire, where will we be?
Kathy Zinzun
Yet Another List
Randall Silvis brings us yet another list, a "10 Easy Steps to Becoming a Writer." If we compiled all of theses and similar lists, we'd have a few thousand "simple steps" to writing. That doesn't sound so easy to me.
What makes lists like these valuable is that they're not absolute, and that they're not completely right. These lists are anecdotes, mere collections of "here's what worked for me." If writing were a science and had a foolproof checklist one could go through and mark off, it wouldn't be an art.
Because of that very fallibility of lists for writing, I like them. They are more helpful, I'd say, than something I know to be completely empirical and fact-based.
Silvis' first rule of advice: "Be born strange, weird, abnormal, or any combination of those" is both a humorous and very real and impossible piece of advice. It not only points out some of the avenues that lead to great stories, but it goes a step further and okays our oddities, even indirectly praising them as a sort of black gold of writing.
This list, I must admit, is the best one I've seen. At least when it comes to writing. It's humorous, but true. Helpful, too, I'd bet. Of course, I haven't had enough time with these tips to see any changes in my writing, but I want to keep this one on hand. This would even be fun to list and hang behind your desk, where you can see it while you sip tea, listen to jazz/classical music, and pull out your hair while trying to get that perfect paragraph.
My favorite tip, by far, is step 3: "Live life." This is the mantra that passes through your head and makes you get into that stranger's car, or sit next to that homeless man, or order your food by clucking and mooing because the restaurant owners in that other country don't speak English. This tip isn't just good for writing, either. It's good for education, for experience, for roundness, for being whole. This tip, if you follow it, may not make you rich. But when you start sharing the stories that are important to you, the stories that you chose to live instead of read about, you won't care one bit.
-Alexander Hirata
What makes lists like these valuable is that they're not absolute, and that they're not completely right. These lists are anecdotes, mere collections of "here's what worked for me." If writing were a science and had a foolproof checklist one could go through and mark off, it wouldn't be an art.
Because of that very fallibility of lists for writing, I like them. They are more helpful, I'd say, than something I know to be completely empirical and fact-based.
Silvis' first rule of advice: "Be born strange, weird, abnormal, or any combination of those" is both a humorous and very real and impossible piece of advice. It not only points out some of the avenues that lead to great stories, but it goes a step further and okays our oddities, even indirectly praising them as a sort of black gold of writing.
This list, I must admit, is the best one I've seen. At least when it comes to writing. It's humorous, but true. Helpful, too, I'd bet. Of course, I haven't had enough time with these tips to see any changes in my writing, but I want to keep this one on hand. This would even be fun to list and hang behind your desk, where you can see it while you sip tea, listen to jazz/classical music, and pull out your hair while trying to get that perfect paragraph.
My favorite tip, by far, is step 3: "Live life." This is the mantra that passes through your head and makes you get into that stranger's car, or sit next to that homeless man, or order your food by clucking and mooing because the restaurant owners in that other country don't speak English. This tip isn't just good for writing, either. It's good for education, for experience, for roundness, for being whole. This tip, if you follow it, may not make you rich. But when you start sharing the stories that are important to you, the stories that you chose to live instead of read about, you won't care one bit.
-Alexander Hirata
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