About: Why I Write

 

The prompt for this essay was inspired by George Orwell and Joan Didion's "Why I Write" pieces. As a class, we read each of these essays, observing the differences in perspective and tone between the two writers. Orwell's writing was full of extravagant language and interesting lists and spacing while Didion's was a plain article written in a simple, understandable tone. After observing what we found most and least effective in each of these essays, we were encouraged to answer the same question in a style of our own.

 

My "Why I Write" essay is formatted simply as an essay, but in writing it I experimented linguistically. One of the main points that I iterate in "Why I Write" is that I admire the beauty and versatility of language. In the essay, I worked to embody this by using words that flow from one to the next and choosing language carefully so as to best convey the exact point of every sentence.

 

I enjoyed the process of toying with language that I found alluring and engaging, and adopting a tone I was not familiar with. This helped me to develop greater writing goals for the semester. The "Why I Write" essay inspired me to continue experimentation with different styles and voices, which is demonstrated in my blog posts, re-purposing, and re-mediation projects. All of these pieces include multi-dimensional, multi-modal writing and each embodies a different voice.

 

Additionally, in "Why I Write," I pose questions directly to the reader, which relates to the third point of the essay: I write to build relationships through the page. This also became a theme in my writing this semester, as both the Re-Purposing and Re-Mediation projects contain language that infer a direct connection with the reader.

 

In this writing process I was able to reflect more deeply about my motivations behind writing, but also practice the embodiment of a new voice. Nuances in tone can communicate just as much as the words that create it, and I will remember this as I explore new spaces of writing in the future.

 

Click here to read the final cut of my "Why I Write."