(a reminder, you do not have to reply to your classmates in this section. This response to the reading should be about a paragraph.)
What do you think of these writing rules? Does one stand out to you? Why? What are your most important rules of writing?
In all honesty I found a lot of these rules to be exceptionally entertaining. I had to share Twain’s rule #7 with a friend because it made me laugh too hard and I ended up in a coughing fit. All of these rules do make sense, but sadly I’m not sure I’ve ever even thought of anything close to them when I’m writing an essay or a story. Some of them are relatable yes, “Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?” that is definitely something worth thinking about when trying to write a tale that will convince your audience that they might actually be there witnessing the event or ambiance. I couldn’t really say if I have any important rules of writing; if it’s an essay that I’m writing for a class then my main goal is to make sure I have a creditable thesis that is thoroughly explained and re-iterated in the paper. If it is a story, however, then I have no way of describing it except that I start at the beginning and attempt to reach the end. Story writing is almost like a euphoric event, now hear me out I’m not trying to be disgusting; in my own experience I can accredit it to something like being out of body. I am no longer “Samantha” but instead I am one to up to ten different people whose lives are all very different. I could even be a surviving tree left over from a wildfire’s rampage, charred and creaking from the wind and my exhaustion due to the heats warping effect on my bark.
ReplyDeleteThese rules made me scratch my head and wonder if I follow these rules. My answer was yes and no. While reading the rules from Orwell's essay, I realized that I subconsciously ask myself most of these questions when I am writing. The rule that stood out to me was "never use a long word where a short one will do". I used to think that I had to sound smart in all my papers, and one way to accomplish that was to dig deep in my brain for a vocabulary word that I learned in AP English that I probably only used once before. Another rule was to never use jargon. In my science papers, I was always directed to compose a report that anyone can pick up and mimic the experiment. Since then, I've always learned to not use any jargon, and just be simple with my writing. I feel like there's a time to use jargon and big vocabulary words, but sometimes it's very unnecessary. One rule that I always remind myself is to keep it simple. I don't think keeping it simple means to not challenge a reader's thoughts; I think it just means to wright something that everyone can comprehend. People read at different levels, and I think you can go a long way by appealing to everyone than one specific audience. With all that said, I still think keeping something simple is very difficult for me to do. Womp.
ReplyDeleteThese writing rules are very interesting to me. Twain’s rules are more precise than those of the other authors, but they all have great influences on how to write correctly. I feel like I follow Orwell’s writing rules the closest. I like getting right to the point in my writings (or try to), but I do like to add a good simile or metaphor when appropriate, which Orwell suggests not to do. I really liked rule number six, “break any of these rules sooner than saying anything outright outrageous”. To me this means that writers are to not use our language and way of speaking to mislead the reader of the piece. I think that is very important because many times I have read articles and books in which the language and wording is just too confusing to even finish reading the passage. My most important rule of writing is that when I am writing a research paper to write facts and leave my feelings and opinions for another paper (which can be difficult for me at times). However, when I am able to have an opinion in writing a report, my personal rule is to just write what I am feeling whether it is similar or different than every one else’s thoughts.
ReplyDeleteThese readings made me think if I am writing my papers the right way. I do try to follow everything I learned in my English courses because since I am not a native English speaker sometimes I find things a little bit challenging. Although I do try to make sure that I am saying things the right way. Keeping it simple and understandable for other readers can be the best option for them to comprehend. As a writer, rules should be respected and should be present when you are writing a paper. To me it is important to give a good impression to my readers about my papers. Being able to tell in writing what you feel or how you feel can be fascinating if you know how to do it the right way. Words should express what you trying to say very clearly and the meaning should be straightforward and simple too. The image should be visible at first sight and it should have a positive effect.
ReplyDeleteThese three readings really make you think. I could not help but to ask myself if I followed all of those rules. I always believed that I was a good writer, but now I question my abilities. The rule that stood out the most to me was the one that said to use an everyday word instead of trying to use a scientific or a jargon word. I sometimes find myself trying to think of a good word to come up with to use while writing, but I now know to use an everyday word. The other rule that stood out was to use the same language all the way through. It stood out to me because I think I am pretty good with that rule. Each and every rule enlightened me and gave me an insight to my own writing style. I will take them into consideration when I write my next paper. In my papers, believe in maintaining uniform language throughout the entire piece and ultimately making a point. I feel that good writers make a point so if I write a paper and no point was made, then there saws no reason to write anything at all.
ReplyDeleteThe readings on rules of writing were very entertaining. I personally do not think I would agree with all of them though. I feel that writing should be about expressivity and the rules hinder this freedom rather than enhance it. After spending most of my summer writing my essays for applying to physical therapy, I definitely saw that I asked myself those questions from the first reading quite frequently. I do see myself using the Orwell`s essay to help with some writing skills. With regards to Twain`s essay, I believe that simplicity is an effective way of getting a point across. As an author you must engage the reader and motivate them to take a journey with you. Leonard`s essay was a strange one, it did not leave room for experimenting because of its all or nothing type of rule. If we avoid details, the readers will miss out on the entire story. Details are what allow readers to delve into the book and imagine themselves in the settings. All together, the essays showed fun and interesting rules that writers can either follow, or just enjoy for their own entertainment.
ReplyDeleteAs I was reading the numerous writing rules of week ones reading, I realized that I suddenly began to question myself if I follow these rules when creating my school papers. Although I have noticed that I tend to over think when writing paper, I’m not quite sure if I ask myself or answer all of these rules. Although I believe I have followed majority of the rules from the reading there are several of them that I haven’t accomplished when writing. One of the rules that stood out to be was rule #2 “never use a long word where a short one will do,” because I tend to do the opposite when writing my essays. Another rule that I have now noticed I haven’t followed is Elmore Leonard’s rule of not going into so much detail describing something. As a reader and visual learner, I prefer reading books that describe the sense of the story so that I can imagine the setting myself. As a criminal justice major I believed that every detail was important to the reader but unfortunately, according to these skillful writers I have been stood corrected. Now that I have read these rules from different writers, I now have an idea of what I have been doing wrong and can now correct them to become a better writer. I can also see how these rules can be used in our daily life’s and are also important when communicating with others, because as a new generation we tend to be misguided by the use of words of others. Therefore, I can see and understand how extremely important and useful these rules can be.
ReplyDeleteAll of the writing guidelines describe what a concise and seasoned writer should be, but differ in writing values. The rules are all mostly valid, and would help fine tune an essay. The “Politics and the English Language” guidelines seemed to be more appealing and correct and necessary for all styles of writing. There are many ways to express a message, but the way you sculpt writing, according to Orwell’s rules, determines how the message is interpreted. A single passage, if not properly written, can be understood in several different ways. The rules in Orwell’s essay seem to be the foundation to all forms of writing. His rules are more of a foundation for writing rules, where Twain’s seem to focus on character and story writing that build upon Orwell’s rules. Twain’s rules focus on the essential components of character and tale building versus being concise. Twain’s rules also show how to keep readers interested in the story. The reader should love and hate characters if the proper components of the tale and character are used correctly. Elmore’s rules seem to be nonstandard guidelines that adjust to variations in cultural writing values. They also go against Twain’s character building rules when Elmore states “[a]void detailed descriptions of characters.” It would be hard to love or hate a character if you followed Elmore’s rules of writing.
ReplyDeleteAll of the rules mentioned are important for improving any form of writing that convey the writer’s message depending on the purpose. Although Elmore’s rules seem nonstandard, the rules may be necessary to get the message across to people of certain regions. I believe that the fundamental rules that Orwell suggests are the most important.
I found many of the writing rules to be relevant. Each writer has proven that they know what to do to grasp the attention of readers. Although I may not follow the majority of the rules that were presented, I recommend any and everyone who desires to become a great writer take note of these rules. Personally, I believe that everyone can use some help with their writing. One part of the writing rules that stood out to me was when Elmore Leonard stated “Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.” I found this rule helpful because I always find myself short of words and I try to make up for it by adding tons of boring detail. Even in Orwell’s essay, “If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out”, proved that less is more. These two rules stood out to me the most because many armature writers feel like they have to grab a thesaurus in order to write a decent essay or even a simple blog. My most important rule of writing is to always poof read your work and be sure to have a second person help you, regardless of writing level. Every paper has potential to be better.
ReplyDeleteI find myself in thirds. I am split between a decision that holds in agreement with all three; however I am not a seasoned writer. I cannot say that these rules are not helpful to me, but I do hold them favorable to my thought process in the near future. They do hold the writer accountable for the actual written passage to be composed, which I find really cool. Orwell's stated, "What am I trying to say?" That, to me, stands out like a soar thumb. Why? Honestly, there comes a point where the auther will sit and discover that there should be something to be said that will consist of some meaning. Whether it be meaningful to the auther or to a particular audience. For example, this passage is to convey a purpose for what we have read, then we are to share what we want to say. With that said, my rules are simple and they are as follows: 1.) Rules of Engagement 2.) Marriage 3.) Honeymoon 4.) Structures of the Home 5.) plan development 6.) Wonder or Plunder 7.) plan a vacation 8.) make a peanut butter sandwich 9.) shelf it & 10.) my very secret rule - SHHHH, but before all these come into play I suggest becoming active within a community to experience people and their life stories. This is very rewarding and insperational to be able to share some truth to any written word and have it be meaningful. Lastly, a good paper is only as good as the many times you've rewritten it and proof read it.
ReplyDeleteTwain's Rule #9, the talk about not having miracles happen and have more of a possibility, is understandable now that I have read this rule. I have read many books where power is involved or fighting scenes happen and there is a very big build up and you want the character to break lose and win in a big way, but this it turns out to be a smaller victory or a possible outcome than what I was originally thinking it to be. I get that scenes are done a certain way, but at times the big unleash that turns out to be a miracle is just as good and your character is just a bad-ass and will always win when there have been so many downfalls. So for me, I believe there are some characters or tales that just need that miracle and make the novel that much more interesting. I have just read the Throne of Glass Series by Sarah J. Maas. The main character is an assassin and she has had a very hard life so when she actually wins and really shows her power and lethal moves, she just become more awesome as a character. I can also understand Twain's Rule #15 that talks about not omitting necessary details. I have read books that I feel didn't share certain details and I had gotten lost or didn't understand why there was focus on something when there was no detail about it before. I would consider this one of the most important rules.
ReplyDeleteI would say that Twain's rule number 10 would be the best rule i believe that is important in writing anything. The reader must see and feel the writer's thoughts and passion of their story or tale. Most readers look for a book that grabs their interest and with the writer's passion being felt within the book will make readers be able to read the story with ease and have the curiosity of reading more. I think that when it comes to writing a story, the writer them self need to have to the passion to write the story, if the write doesn't like his or her own story, then the reader is definitely not going to like their writing. It takes a lot to write a story, the ability to keep a good constant flow and keep the reader eager to read more makes the story great. Without those, the reader won't read the writers book or tale. I believe that writers passion definitely needs to be felt in his or her writing and that has to be the number one rule when it comes to writing something. Curiousity and passion will always grab the reader's attention as long as they can read and feel it within the writing.
ReplyDeleteReading Orwell’s essay “Politics and the English Language” reassured my personal writing rules. For example, number 1: “what am I trying to say?” is basic, but this really helps me when I am looking at at a blank piece of paper or if I am looking at a disorganized paper. Before I write a paragraph I try to write the general idea down above and then my writing flows easier. Another rule that struck me was “Could I put it more shortly?” When writing a business document or email, I always try to make it short and direct. Typically, I have noticed that when I type something out, my last sentence gets rearranged to be the first sentence in a short document. However, when writing school essays, I have learned how to expand on ideas and thoughts. Shorter in school usually means a lower grade. Both expanding and shortening on ideas are useful skills. I think Orwell had the right ideas on writing.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading these rules I notice an obvious, reoccurring theme: write clearly, purposefully, and nothing more than what is necessary. Personally I know that I have broken almost all of these rules at some point, especially in earlier academic years where I was not as confident in my writing capabilities. I've noticed others doing the same, embellishing phrases or scenarios, dragging them out as long as possible while including detail after unnecessary detail. I recall that I used to write essays and would replace my words with much larger words using the synonym tab, just to make my work sound that much better. For example, as Orwell said, “Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.” When we do things like that we tend to cheat ourselves, and not to mention make ourselves look silly. I’m sure any decent English teacher can spot when writers are using other words than their own.
ReplyDeleteReading Orwell's essay, "Politics and the English Language" I will have to say that I had to read other people's responses just to make sure I was on the right track on what to write. As for his rules, once I actually went over them I realized that I followed some and didn't even think about the others. When I write a essay I do think how am going to write the essay and finish the topic with clarity. Once I am done writing the essay I go over it and make sure I didn't make any obvious mistakes. I guess If I had any rules it would be the fact that I always re-read a paragraph and make sure It sounds right to me and that there isn't any misspelled words or sentence structure. I try to keep everything simple because when you try to sound sophisticated that's when you start making mistakes.
ReplyDeleteThis weeks reading made me realize that I follow almost none of the writing rules made by these famous authors. Twain mentioned that we should write as if we were talking and I feel like that is how I write. In fact, I usually read my writing out loud to make sure it makes sense. I noticed that Orwell's rules were great for politics. It states that we should make things relative to the people and to the point. I can see how this style could be affective when making a speech to a general public. Leonard's writing style made me really curious. I looked him up on google and saw that he was a screen writer. I now understood why he is big on dialogue rather than being descriptive. I feel like we could learn from each writers rules depending on the context we are writing for.
ReplyDeleteThe writing rules make me think twice about if I was using these rules. After reading all the rules, I began to wonder if I follow all the rules. I did not follow the where one goes into great detail about places. Personally, I always thought it was good to go in great detail about someone or something. The one rule that stands out most to me is, “avoid detail descriptions of characters.” The reason why is because I do go in a lot of detail in my writing. I always thought the more detail the better. Another rule that I found interesting was exclamation points under control. This is interesting because I hardly use them in my writing, but I didn’t know it was for 100,000 every word. The most important rules of mine are that I have to watch my grammar. I do have some grammar issues in my writing. I need to watch out for writing style because it is very simple. I do make so simple mistakes in my writing so I have to go back and read and have someone read it and catch my errors. Also, sometimes I don’t explain well enough which I need to work on. In need to watch out where I put my comas because I tend to put them where they don’t belong.
ReplyDeleteThis weeks readings helped me to realize how much I have to work on to become a better writer. I think I am guilty of almost every rule that I read about from these three authors. The three authors did have some very interesting rules that I never considered when I'm writing. All of the rules made sense and gives me another understanding about how thing should be written. When Orwell said "could I put it more shortly", it made me think of all the papers that I have wrote that could have been a bit more condensed. I tend to repeat myself in different ways throughout papers. I'm not sure if it is cause I want to make the paper longer to fill up space or maybe because my thoughts are not as clear as they should be. After reading these three authors rules for writing, it also struck me that my grammar needs a facelift. I suppose that the more that I write the more fine tuned my writing will become. I think the most important thing that will help me become a better writing is to get into the habit of reviewing my drafts as much as possible and give myself the time to review them with fresh eyes so that I see new places where I can improve.
ReplyDeleteI thought that these writing rules were interesting. I did not really care for the rule by Elmore Leonard that said that the characters should not have detailed descriptions. I feel like the books that I tend to really like have a lot of description in them. I try to think of what was the author seeing in their mind when they were writing the book. But I do like the rule by Mark Twain that your story should have a beginning and an end that all connect that it should truly be a story and go somewhere. One writing rules that are important to be is to use good description. You want your reader to be able to imagine everything that you are trying to describe. Another writing rule that is important to me is good grammar. If you do not have good grammar then your story is not going to make sense and people are not going to want to read it. An important writing rule you should have is that your story should connect, at the end of the story your reader should understand exactly how you came to that conclusion. Finally you should not say something that is irrelevant to the story you are trying to tell, because then you are just going to lose your readers.
ReplyDeleteI must say all these rules are somewhat interesting. A couple of the rules I think are obvious to mostly everyone. However, I would say that most of the rules described in the reading I personally would never think of when writing an assignment. The one rule that stood out the most to me has to be the one that explains that you need to avoid giving many detail about character that you talk about in your writings. The rule confused me because my understanding has always been that it’s better to give lots of details when writing. I was shown in High school that giving details is better than giving just a few details or none at all. My most important rules of writing have always been checking my grammar because I sometimes have grammatical errors, using commas correctly I’ve always struggled with commas, and proof reading my writing because it helps catch most of the errors I made.
ReplyDeleteThese readings made me reevaluate the way I write. The reading that I related to the most was Orwell’s essay, “Politics and the English Language”. I related the most to this reading because I tend to ask myself most of these questions every time I write. The rule that caught my attention was to never use a long word when a short one will do. I always felt that I needed to utilize bigger words to make myself sound smarter. I also noticed a theme to his writing and that was to make your writings short, sweet, and to the point. I understand this concept and it makes sense to me, but all of the writing assignments I have ever had have had a minimum word requirement, making it impossible to just say something plain and simple. My favorite rule in Mark Twain’s essay is for the writer to say what he is trying to say and to not just come near to saying it. I like this rule because sometimes I feel like when I am writing that I have a hard time actually saying what I want to say and making my point across in a clear manner. I had a hard time relating to Elmore Leonard’s rules for writing because it went against what I have learned in all of my english classes. Leonard states that we should not use lots of detail to describe characters, places, and things; but I have always been told to use great detail when describing people and places in my essays. However, I did like the rule about leaving out the part that a reader would skip over. It made me think of how Stephen King has his wife read his books and every time she puts the book down he goes to the part of the book she was at and changes it, so that someone would not be inclined to put the book down at all because they would be too entranced in the story.
ReplyDeleteI think that these writing rules are helpful and great guidelines to pay attention to and follow when you are writing. These rules also made me reevaluate my own writing style and I will keep them in mind for future writing assignments. Each author from this week’s reading gave useful tips and a few stood out to me. The ones that stood out are things that I do more frequently and I will use this class to help fix those habits. The two from Orwell’s essay are “Never use a long word where a short one will do” and “If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.” Number one in Mark Twain’s essay also stood out to me. His first rule is “A tale shall accomplish something and arrive somewhere.” This is always a valuable rule to keep in mind when you begin writing so that you can get an idea of where you want your story to go. A rule from Elmore Leonard’s Rule for Writing that I never knew is that you are never supposed to use “suddenly” or “all hell broke loose” while I wouldn’t use the latter I’m sure I’ve used the word “suddenly” a few times. My most important rules of writing are keeping it simple and proofreading. I also have to give myself time to write because I don’t do well when I am in a hurry.
ReplyDeleteTo me some of these rules seem very weird like some of the rules mark twain say seem odd like in rule 7. I also dont think i follow most of these rules at all.Elmore say to aviod prologus and to never use said to carry a dialogue, i do not listen because i never really thought of this rules. I have used words like all hell broke loose in some papers. I think he is right about his rule about not going into to much detail about places and things. I think writing about a place can be its own big chapter. There is to much you will see and hear and have to share. Politices and the english language i think has a point when writing a paper or essay you should think about what you are really trying to say to a person. What is the point you are trying to come by. Things like that help you right a essay a lot better. To come to think about it i never do most of thoes things myself. I write a lot with out thinking about what i want to tell people or my own point. A rule that stands out to me is the part were elmore says that 'try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip'. I think this rule is important because people dont want to read things that are useless they want to know the good parts only. With out adding anything that will be pointless. I think my most important rule about writing is to enjoy myself. If i dont like something im writing it could be pretty shitty and when i get into it i can do a very good piece.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Orwell's essay. I feel like I can relate to Orwell's rules the most out of all three essays because I always seem to ask myself those four questions every time I write. I always try to make sure that I am expressing myself and using the correct words to make sure I get my point across. When it comes to Mark Twains essay I feel like some of those rules are common for writers to have but at the same time some of them come across as different. Out of all of Mark Twains rules there are only a few that I have followed when I write. As of Elmore Leonard's rules for writing I felt a little bit surprised. I say this because while reading his rules I realized that I always write the way he says not to. For example I always use the word "suddenly" and that is one of his rules not to do. Out of all the rules I read the rule that stuck out to me was the rule by Orwell that says to never use a long word. This rule surprised me the most because growing up I was always taught to replace short words with longer words so that my essay could sound more intelligent and sophisticated. Professors always told me to change the shorter words to longer words so because by doing that my writing would become better. This is why that rule stuck out to me the most. My most importing writing rules is to make sure that all my words are spelled correctly and to make sure that I have corrected all my mistakes.
ReplyDeleteI have never asked myself so many questions before beginning to write. In Orwell’s essay, he had a very long list of questions to ask. Although it seemed like too many, they all have relevance. One question that really stood out to me was “Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?” This question made me reflect on my past writing and all the nonsense I would use to meet length requirements. I could only imagine how annoyed professors and past teachers must have been while reading it. In the second essay, I agreed with the rules. I was a bit thrown off by how some of it was worded but, the concept of the rules were very reasonable. The rules of keeping details strait forward and making characters relatable are always important for the reader. If I can’t imagine or gain interest in a character of a story, I probably won’t finish reading it. Lastly, in Elmore Leonard’s essay he was short and sweet. He said “try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip” which is so true and goes back to my writing of nonsense to meet a length requirement. I am no awesome writer, but with these rules, I can definitely be a little harder on myself.
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