Marc Estridge 11/18/2013 English 1101

Writing Theory: Self-Assessment and Growth as a Writer

From elementary school, till the day I graduated high school, I proceeded through a continuous lesson of Dos and Donts of writing. The idea of this paper is to express my opinions of my own writing, as well as the concepts I have learned from teachers, writers, and myself, and how they have assisted in my understanding of good writing. This concept is a difficult one to reflect on however, because when attempting to analyze my own works and theories of good writing, there is a very apparent bias. This is due to the fact that it is hard to judge something that I have created since it is my own. It is very challenging to differentiate what I believe is good writing, and what is bad writing, because it is all things I have created. From the early years of school, I have always dreaded writing assignments that were forced. By this, I mean when a teacher would assign a specific topic that I was not interested in, I would typically complete the writing without putting any self-applied effort into it. Writings such as research papers, non-fiction stories, inquiries, etc. never allowed any room for personal opinion. For a majority of papers I have written, I simply wrote in a way that I knew my teacher would prefer. I would do the research necessary, and apply this information to the paper, using words and ideas that would appeal to my teacher. With this method, I believe I was not technically creating my own writing. Instead, I was creating a work through the beliefs and opinions of my teacher, or whomever the paper might have concerned. This is a typical method that I think most would agree is common in anyone who is simply writing to please a teacher or professor who controls the fate of a students grade.

Marc Estridge 11/18/2013 English 1101 For many of my classes, our final papers tend to be research papers based on topic that we have covered sometime throughout the year. My sophomore year of high school, I was asked to write a paper on the history of psychology. This topic was very broad, and I had no interest in any aspect of the concept. So I simply searched the internet and flipped through my notes in order to pull out any and all information that may have been relevant to the topic. I tended to only include information that was already widely accepted, and failed to apply any trace of my own opinion. I received a 72% on the paper, which baffled me. I figured since I covered all information on the topic, that I would get a quality grade. I met with my psychology teacher to discuss my grade. After stating my very stern opinion on the grade I received, my teacher proceeded to teach me a lesson that I would come to realize is a key component in creating good writing of any type. He told me regardless of the topic, a paper is not complete unless you are able to show the process in which you went through, in order to express an understanding of the topic. It took me a while to understand what exactly he meant by this, but I began to apply this idea to my future writings. The next paper I was assigned was for Biology, and I had to write on the anatomy of the human body. This time, I wrote on my own opinions, and explained in my own words my understanding on the information that I learned. I received a 68%. Again, I arranged a meeting with my teacher, and she explained how this was a research paper, and that I only expressed my own ideas and beliefs. Now even more dumbfounded, I was torn on what it took to create a paper that was acceptable. Stay with me, I will return to this idea later in the paper after I explain a second concept that taught me what exactly good writing is. All throughout my education, I hated reading, and always tried to avoid actually reading whatever piece was assigned, whether it was a book, poem, or article, I simple refused. My teachers always seemed to stress the idea that reading was a very important factor in learning

Marc Estridge 11/18/2013 English 1101 how to become a better writer. It wasnt until my senior year that I came to understand the importance of reading, and its relation to writing. The first week of school, we were asked to write a personal essay. Each week, we would exchange papers with a fellow classmate, read their essay, then go and revise our own essays. By the end of the year, my paper seemed to be better structured, well-worded, and interesting. The idea of the assignment was to allow us to read others writings, and this would allow us to pick up on techniques they used and apply it to our own writing. If I was able to create a stronger paper simply from learning from my peers, I wondered how much I could learn from writers who were professionals, who were paid because they were able to create strong writings. I began to read more novels, especially ones by Stephen King. One novel I read was Carrie, which is about a shy high school girl who uses her newly discovered telekinetic powers to causes revenge on those who tease her. King tends to create characters, such as Carrie White, that the reader can compare themself to, and uses phrases that most people can relate to such as High school isn't a very important place. When you're going you think it's a big deal, but when it's over nobody really thinks it was great unless they're beered up (King 7). I began to use this concept in my own writing, using ideas that people would read and understand fully. My newfound respect for Kings works came in handy when reading his book On Writing this year in class. The book showed Kings opinion on writing, and his methods of creating successful works. Description begins in the writers imagination, but should finish in the readers (King 32). This quote directly explains the method I learned from Stephen Kings style of writing that I applied to my own writing. Between the lessons I learned from my teachers, and the methods I picked up on from reading works by my peers, and established authors, I began to create a newer, stronger writing style of my own. In my final paper written form my senior English class, I reflected on a quote

Marc Estridge 11/18/2013 English 1101 by Jim Rohn Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune. In the essay, I applied all of my newly obtained information. An excerpt from my essay reads: The education gained in school is able to make you a living, but self-education is the skills learned through life, such as social skills, learning from mistakes and wisdom gained from other individuals. I was raised to learn through experience rather than from what is taught. School education can only teach so much. But in order to be successful in life, social skills must be developed. These can only be learned by failure and perseverance. Some of the richest people in the world, such as Steve Jobs, made their money by being inventive, but what about those who are not educational geniuses? We can only become successful by being personable and being able to relate to others in order to create relationships that most would be unable to create. Examples of all the lessons I have discussed earlier in the paper, are all evident in this excerpt. I was able to give factual examples, express personal opinion, and give the reader the opportunity to relate to what I was writing. This was without question; a paper that I believed was my strongest work that I had created to that day. I received a 100% on this paper, and it was entered into, and won, a contest at my school for creative and inspirational writing. When asked the question, What is good writing, and what is bad writing? Many people would find themselves without an answer. However, I had finally stumbled upon an answer to this, that I had only been able to learn from a combination of experiences. Good writing is not something that has no grammatical errors, answers a question, or provides factual information, but it is a piece of work that successfully completes the task that it is intended to. Whether it is a research paper, creative fictional story, or biography, in order to be considered good, it must be

Marc Estridge 11/18/2013 English 1101 a combination of multiple concepts, such as facts, opinions, specificity, and relativity. All writing will not appeal to all readers. What may be interesting to one person may be displeasing to another. As long as the writing is able to impress the readers that it is intended to, I believe it is considered good writing. Whereas bad writing does the opposite, and unsuccessfully completes the challenge that is posed. Writing is a technique that is important to everyone, and is used in many different ways. From the day we learn to read and write, to the day we are no longer able to do so, we go through a process of learning. Educational teachings, reading, and personal experiences are all involved in this process. It is a never ending process that continually grows as we grow. There is no right or wrong way of learning all the concepts applied to writing. There is no perfect method of writing. If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There's no way around these two things that I'm aware of, no shortcut. Stephen King.

Marc Estridge 11/18/2013 English 1101

Citations King, Stephen. Carrie. New York, NY: Doubleday, 1974. King, Stephen. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. New York, NY: Scribner, 2000.

Marc Estridge 11/18/2013 English 1101