Writing is complex, and it is more than just “textbook rules”. In E. Shelly Reid’s essay, “Ten Ways to Think About Writing: Metaphoric Musing for College Writing Students,” explains how there is more to writing than the rules commonly taught at school, such as what words we can and cannot use. In order to be a good writer, we must be able to show the reader not just tell. E. Shelly Reid goes on to explain how a simple description is not descriptive enough, because there must be more specific detail so there is no confusion on what we are talking about. E. Shelly Reid gave the example of “a little green ball,” I immediately thought of a tennis ball, however she further explains that there could be many different variations of this ball, because there was no specific type, color shade, or exact size; we all probably imagined different variation of this “little green ball.” I think specific description is personally challenging, I immediately assume the readers understand what I am implying with minimal description.
Something else I usually struggle with is showing evidence that defends my argument or opinion. E. Shelly Reid states that just explaining my opinions and arguments is like serving plain Jell-O with no evidence to back myself up; they should blend together to create a smooth flow. This circles back to what she stated earlier on about showing rather than only telling. We can’t assume the reader just knows what we are talking about, we need to be descriptive and clear.
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