The work I have gathered this semester is representative of the writing development I have undergone. These assignments presented in this portfolio show various different social topics I have zoned in on for the larger papers. These essays helped me develop my voice and establish the kind of writer I want to be. First, I included the minor assignments which introduce readers to the kind of writer I was at the beginning of the semester. This is followed by research and classroom notes I had taken over the past few months. The culmination leads to the final draft of my documentary analysis which I rewrote.
The selection process was pretty simple because I knew what kind of process I wanted viewers to get out of my portfolio. I wanted to show how a process from one point to another can lead to a huge improvement. The first two assignments basically gave a sort of background for the blog. The notes and research following minor assignments captured the work I put in for the class. I wrote thoroughly and focused on my prose. This all leads to the final of one of my documentary analysis which I redid. The prose was initially awkward and stilited. It was not refined. I went back to polish some of the run ons or typos that prevented it from being fluid. I wanted to show a more clean piece as a final. This final demonstrates my best work over the semester, especially since I went back to touch it up.
Minor Assignments
Writing Experience
In my high school experience, I often wrote pieces that were limited to required assignments handed out by teachers. This animosity towards writing was not always the case as I developed a deeper appreciation for it by my junior year. It started as a fluke elective class that encouraged writing in ways that I was never open to.
I needed an elective class to fill out my required seven courses for my high school. As I skimmed the pink sheet with faded blank ink, I narrowed down my options by putting a check next to a creative writing course. That writing course did not seem like a big deal at the time so I forgot about it until months later when I would walk into a computer lab with twenty other bright students ready to dish out work that was never asked of us.
As the first day of junior year rolled around computers laid before me I couldn’t help but feel apprehensive about the class, I chose to sit in for forty minutes a day for the next year. No one had ever asked me to write creatively and suddenly there was a teacher in the front of the class putting words on the board and asking everyone to write whatever they wanted if it fit with the words on the board.
For the first week I just sat there as new assignments poured out and I couldn’t come up with anything. The list of work was becoming longer, and I still hadn’t written a thing. The blinking space bar on the white page flickered at me constantly as I tried to spark any form of words to string together. My teacher at the time had taken notice to my lack of typing, while everyone around me had seemed to have gotten in the flow. I spun in my chair back and forth swinging my legs when Mr. Griffiths and paused next to my computer pulling off his glasses. He glanced at my computer and told me to just write and walked away.
I always assumed I needed an idea before I ever thought of putting words to a page, but with such a direct instruction I glanced at the board and looked at the title of the first assignment. The words read in the quiet night of Japan. I paused. I started typing a terrible poem, but it encouraged me through the rest of the year to start writing the first thing that came to mind. There would always be time to rewrite later but if I never start writing then I would never having anything to prove that I put in the work and tried. All I needed to do was write, and halfway through the year I enjoyed every assignment I did.
Style Rewrite
Rewrite of Text 3 using Text 1
The main character of the disastrous move Dune, Paul, goes through a series of missteps all in the vein of attempting to emphasize the journey of some sort of religious awakening. From what I could gather, David Lynch tragically attempted to put an intense journey of faith on screen. Unfortunately, we ended up with a hot mess of weak dialogue and stilted acting. No one seems to understand exactly what is going on. Any attempt to give meaningful religious undertones were completely shot. Paul is a weak character to watch it’s almost painful to watch the desire for anything smart to come out of this movie. The intent clearly warrants a debate on Paul’s supposed awakening but no one will actually spend enough time invested in the movie to warrant this discussion.
Justification:
I changed the tone of the text to appear more casual to the reader. In my rewrite, I wanted my voice to seem closer to that of a confidant or friend explaining the conflicted journey that Paul goes on. I wanted his argument to appear easier to understand with less academic word choice. The initial text for text 3 was very scientific in its analysis of Paul, by using text 1 the word choice shifted to being less sophisticated. I also used negative words surrounding the movie because text 3 does not address their opinion of the film while text 1 completely reviews it. The decision to address the religious undertones of the movie but insist on it not being debated felt necessary because text 1 is much more informal. The informality of text 1 allows my rewrite for 3 to be looser because it is addressing moviegoers instead of other academics now. Since I can express my dislike of the movie, it’s clear that the author won’t actually go into the religious or scientific journey that text 3 describes. I also wanted the hatred of the movie and characters to be clear. Text 1 does a good job expressing their distaste for the movie, so having text 3 express that too seemed essential. The lack of complex words also makes the text more accessible. A lot of the changes ended up making me talk more about the opinion of what was going on, rather than any factual analysis. This helped create a clearer voice than the removed one from the initial text for 3. It was most important to make the voice more personal.
The class helped develop my rewriting skills. A lot of the times, before I had this class, I would write a single draft in a sitting. I would believe this would be my best work and I would just skim over the sentences checking if there was any obvious mistakes. Now, I spent more time with a paper because this class taught me how key drafts are to developing ideas. Papers should be started much earlier because there needs to be time in between checking and reevaluating work. Time is the best asset for writing because living with a paper longer gives more time to weigh new ideas. Some ideas may not fit. Also, editing is crucial and there needs to be enough time to give it the attention it needs. Writing both the essays helped me learn to write when I felt like I could not. They taught me that I just need to start writing and then the ideas and enjoyment during the process will start to happen during the process.
