Writing Teaching Writers

“The American Male at Age Ten” By Susan Orleans was one of the essays that I found both helpful and intriguing.  I really admire how the author portrays Colin Duffy and the details his world contains. Furthermore I love how she altered her writing style to reflect the age of her character in the story. A good example would be “It does not have much of a commercial district, but it is a town of amazing lawns.” This line helped me realize that in writing you can contrast things in a way that is still efficient, but also kind of comical or unexpected. The author does a very excellent job of dragging Colin off the pages and into a reader’s reality.  Another important concept I have taken away is that when truly describing yourself or someone else it is important to write about the things that make the individual unique. It’s Colin’s quirks that really bring him alive and allow readers to imagine both him and his world in a swirl of colors and sounds.

“Nine Beginnings” By Margaret Atwood is another piece that I found mind-boggling. I really admire her writing style, because it so chaotic and yet directionally oriented. It is almost like two entities are fighting over ideas and concepts as she lays down ink to paper. To me this means that not all writing has to adhere to strict form and function and that it is ok for certain writings to be merely expressive. Furthermore there is one part of the essay that really hits close to home. Margaret informs us as readers that failure is very much a part of writing and not only is it there but needed. “You need to know you can sink, and survive it,” she states. She goes on further to make the point that you always have a second chance when it comes to writing. To me this means that failing at writing should be encouraging not the opposite because with each failure you’re almost guaranteed that your next draft will be better.

Ultimately because of both authors I’m encouraged to challenge the form of my writing and make attempts to integrate uniqueness with general social acceptance. In essence that is exactly what I believe creative nonfiction is, socially acceptable uniqueness.