Tell me something about writing an essay or writing a story

[fallenstar]

My friend told me I am too sentimental, therefore I write more like emotionally than thinking. In another words, I write with my heart not my brain, and she said of course it's better with poetry, but difinitely not essay. So now I am very confused and really need help...what does it take to be a good writer?

 

[littlemissattitude]

What does it take to be a writer? The short answer is that in a lot of ways, it depends on what you're trying to write.

But there is a longer answer, that can be slightly different for different writers, but probably appiles to all writers anyway. For one thing, I don't think your friend isn't completely wrong that sentimentality and emotionalism have more of a place in poetry than in other forms of writing. However, no matter what you write, you need to be able to step back from it and be able to edit it - yes, almost all writing needs editing, and in fact I believe that at least eighty percent of writing is editing. That isn't to say that you can't feel strongly about what you write - but that kind of belongs in the first draft. After that, it definitely helps to be able to look at what you've written in a bit more of an objective way. Far from taking away from the feeling of what you've written, that objective eye lets you work with your first and later drafts to hone your text to the point where you express what you were feeling in a way that can make other people feel as well.

Aside from the issue of emotionality and sentimentality in writing, a writer needs to be patient and persistent. Despite claims by some pros that they can write a clean first draft, ready for the publisher, the truth is that most writers write about ten pages for every useable page they produce. In other words, you aren't going to turn out a novel in a week. If you are very motivated and very lucky, you might turn out a first draft in that time or in a month, but I can guarantee that in 99 and a half cases out of 100, it will need a great deal more work than that before it is ready to be seen by anyone else.

And, as much as many beginning writers don't like to hear this, you have to have some grasp of proper grammar and punctuation. Content is the most important thing - this is true. However, a writer can have the most academically correct non-fiction manuscript or the most exciting novel manuscript ever written, but if it comes in to the publisher or agent with spelling and grammatical errors, it isn't going to be take seriously. The only alternative to this if a writer just can't do this is to become really good friends with someone who is a good editor, and work closely with them. It is generally good to have readers anyway, no matter what you're writing. And don't - I repeat, don't - rely on spell and grammar checks on your word-processing program. They lie like a dog! There is no substitute for human proofreaders and editors.

The most important thing, though, in my opinion, is to be serious about your work. It doesn't matter what you're writing, if a writer wants to produce something publishable, he or she has to approach it as a serious piece of work, worthy of the time and effort that will be necessary to produce it.

I don't mean any of this to sound like writing shouldn't be fun. It absolutely should be. I love to write more than almost anything I do. I have fun with the writing, with any research that needs to be done before the writing, and with the editing and proofreading that come after. But I never forget that I am writing to be read, and that I have an obligation to my audience - be it one professor or the entire circulation of a newspaper or whoever may read my work - to put forward my best effort. Honestly, even when I'm writing posts for forums like this, I always try to keep in mind that someone will (I hope) be reading it.

So I hope, fallenstar and whoever else happens to read this, that this has been of some help. Just remember writing is a lot of work, but it can be a lot of fun, as well.

 

[Elysium]

I don't think being emotional is a problem at all. In fact it is probably a plus. You need to grab your audience and the best way to do that is with emotional hooks. Write first drafts with all the emotion that you have. Then when you revise, tame down all the places where the emotion got out of control. The important thing is to keep a clear head during revision.
In essays that are scholarly it might be better to have a detached tone. This is of course only when you want to be objective. If you can't, then just make it clear that you are being subjective because of your emotions.

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

I think littlemiss and Elysium have pretty much covered the answer. I'd just like to add that all worthwhile writing has to come from passion. However, the passion must be tempered by reason because you need to respect your readers' intelligence and their time.


A great example, for me, are Geoge Orwell's political essays. Written at the heat of the moment and by a man who had great strength of conviction, they manage to be reasonable and restrained and ultimately far more effective than any bombastic polemic would be.

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

I do seem to keep mentioning George Orwell, don't I?

 

[fallenstar]

Those are excellent suggestions!!!But I must ask something fast, before I write my Social Studies final next week : How exactly do you write an essay for example about Revoluitons? In short, what kind of tips would you, my friends, suggest for writing an expository essays?

 

[littlemissattitude]

Those are excellent suggestions!!!But I must ask something fast, before I write my Social Studies final next week : How exactly do you write an essay for example about Revoluitons? In short, what kind of tips would you, my friends, suggest for writing an expository essays?

That is an awfully broad topic for an essay question on an exam. But if that's it - just write what you know about revolutions - I would suggest something really simple. If you have the time, an introductory paragraph about revolutions in general would be good. In that introduction, you will probably want some sort of thesis statement about revolutions in general. Then I would do three paragraphs, each on a particular revolution in general time and place, causes and effects. These should be on revolutions you have studied in class, using information gleaned from lecture and readings. Then a concluding paragraph tying the information you've written in the previous three paragraphs together, and saying why they prove your thesis statement about revolutions in general that you included in your introduction. If this essay is your full exam, you will want to write a bit more than the standard five paragraphs if you have time, and go into a bit more detail.

Such general questions are good to see on essay exams, as you can then probably throw in as much as you know about revolutions, depending on how much time you have to write. If you have a more specific essay question - say, "Discuss the causes and effects of the French Revolution" - then you want to narrow your response to just that revolution and not throw in random facts about other revolutions unless part of the question allows for some sort of compare and contrast analysis.

General tips (and you may know most of this already, but since you asked) - if you have more than one essay to write, or have a combination of essay and multiple guess and/or T/F and/or matching questions, make sure you budget your time so that you will have time to work on all sections of the exam. It is a horrible thing to know exactly what you want to write for an essay and then have time called five minutes after you have started to work on it.

Make a quick outline before you start to write. Actually write it down somewhere if you can. I have occasionally had instructors who will give partial credit for an outline that shows you were intending to discuss certain things in your answer, even if you don't have time to finish writing the answer. Don't depend on this, but don't discount it, either. As someone who has graded exams on occasion, I can tell you that essays which do not seem organized often get marked down even though all or most of the pertinent information is there.

Understand that some graders (and understand that teachers do not always grade everything themselves) are just looking for key names, phrases, and dates. So, if your teacher emphasized particular dates or terminology, or talked a lot about particular people involved in the answer to your question, make sure to use those names and dates and terminology in your answer. But even if you know that this is how your essay or essays will be graded, still make sure that you write full sentences and paragraphs.

While you are writing the essay, write as if the person who will be reading it doesn't know anything about the topic you are writing on. Obviously, whoever grades it will know all about the assigned topic, but if you write as if they don't you won't be as liable to leave something obvious out of your essay. Also, make sure your writing is simple and clear. You don't want whoever is grading your essay to have to read it over two or three times to try to figure out what you're trying to say. That will only wear the grader out, and a tired grader is not a generous grader.

If you have a good idea ahead of time what your exam essay question(s) will be before the day of the test, write sample essays and then memorize the key words and phrases. This will make the writing easier once you go in to write the exam. If the teacher has given you the questions in advance, or even has given you possible questions that might be on the exam, this is probably what he or she wants you to do to prepare for the exam.

If you have time, do something to relax for a few minutes before the exam. Don't cram up until the time the exam begins. The general rule is that if you don't know the material by the evening before the exam, you probably aren't going to learn it at the last minute. The better thing to do, if you have the time, is to take twenty minutes or half an hour - or even ten minutes, if that's all you have - directly before the exam to have something to drink and find someone to talk to about something that doesn't have anything to do with the exam you're getting ready to write. By not thinking about the exam, you will be calmer when you go in to take it. It isn't a good thing to go into an exam feeling all stressed out about it. Additionally, if you arrive at the classroom early and go in to find other people cramming and sharing possible answers or even just their stress about the exam, leave the room and don't go back until just before the exam. This is another way to reduce test anxiety.

That's all I can think of right now. Please excuse the length of this post. I spent several years tutoring this kind of thing, and I know way more about it than is strictly good for me. I hope some of this helped. Good luck on the exam.

 

[fallenstar]

Thanks littlemissattitude! *hug* I know...this is a sci-fi fantasy forum, but anyways I gotta ask someone before I do my final. I MUST get a scaled A(I am in Pre-IB so they would scale your mark on the report card), before I lost my confidence in Social. *hug again* thank you for all your help! and since you have been tutoring, maybe next time I might ask your help again. Thanks again!!!

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

Littlemiss, have you ever considered teaching?

 

[littlemissattitude]

fallenstar - you're very welcome. You are certainly welcome to ask any time. I can't promise to always be able to help - I used to always scare the students I tutored when I would say "I don't know" when they asked something, but I always figured better to say that than make something up and be wrong. But whenever I can help, I'll be glad to.

knivesout - I have thought about teaching. I've even done a very little bit of it when I was a teaching assistant my last year at university. I enjoy it a lot, and I've been told I'm halfway decent at it. However, I can't afford to go back for my credential right now. Also the system here in California is changing, so that I would have to go back and take several other classes before I could even get into the credential program, even though I already have my BA.

 

[Esioul]

I'm no expert, but I think it's good to have a combinationn of both. You need to think about what you're doing, otherwise it probably wouldn't make a lot of sense to other people, but it's also vital to write emotionally too- if you didn't how would you anticipate the thoughts and feelings and therefore behaivour and reactions of your characters?