Ten Ways To Think About Writing: Metaphoric Musing for College Writing Students by E. Shelly Reid
Writing can be difficult, especially when there are various rules involved in writing. A few being not to use “I” or “me” or not being allowed to start a sentence with “and” or “because”. When trying to keep the rules in mind, our writing brains may blank out. I can relate to this, especially when having to write college papers. I could have a scrap of an idea and be unsure how to start and/or continue because I’m also focusing on following the writing rules. To tackle this, Reid talks about 3 principles.
The first is to “write about what you know about”. Writing can sound basic, blank, and even boring if the writer is not interested. The words might match how the writer themselves are viewing the subject. As a student, I can understand this. Writing college, or any academic paper, is not always fun. Though, Reid suggests writing something that a person is curious and passionate about. Take the subject matter and try to connect it to what the writer enjoys.
The second principle is to show and not just tell. A good example of this would be asking someone to picture something, an example provided in the article is a tiny green ball. Anyone can envision this. However, everyone has a different vision or “tiny” and “green”. There are many sizes that fall under the category of “tiny”, the same applies with the multiple shades of green. So each person’s imagination of a “tiny green ball” would be different. To challenge this, a writer can be more specific. What texture is the ball? How “tiny” is it? What shade of green is it? These questions can also be applied to different subjects.
The third principle is to “adapt to the audience and purpose you’re writing for”. Many would claim they know “who” the audience is. In simple terms, it is who would be reading your writing. Though, it is not as easy as it seems. When thinking about it deeply, an audience is a broad subject. Which brings the terms Primary and Secondary audience. Also known as Target and Rea; audience, respectively. The primary audience is who you’re writing is for specifically, while the secondary audience is anyone outside of the primary audience. Keeping the secondary audience in mind is important. While the writing may be addressed for a specific audience, it is a good reminder that an outer audience would read it.
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