The Dive into One’s Own Art
Writing is a skill that allows us, as the human race, to express, convey and/or prove our thoughts and opinions. The purpose of writing differs from situation to situation. This promptly creates the need for the author to adapt to create an appropriate tone. Through the use of different tools and techniques, one can further develop a piece, refining it to be presentable. By stressing and diluting ideas with thoughtful connotations as well as providing sources that the readers can relate to, I can develop different tones with my style.
Thought-out word choices are key when trying to create a tone within a piece of writing and these were a crucial part of my letters. If we refer back to my love letter, most words tend to have positive connotations. I address this early within my letter saying, “I’d like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude and appreciation for the things that you’ve done for me.” This clear statement leaves no room for doubt when it comes to my intent or purpose. With little room for doubt, it allows me to express my thoughts and feelings to my mother. As a result, it helps streamline my writing by creating a focal point, which is my thankfulness. My word choice also comes into play when creating my distasteful letter and its sarcastic tone. The way I went about writing this letter was almost like my second nature. I was passionate with my descriptions by including phrases such as “bi-polar”, “belittling”, and “wishful thinking.” These words have negative connotations to them which helps further support my negative opinion about Jane Doe. The reader is given a better understanding of my experience, gaining more insight into Jane Doe’s overall character. As a result, they can apply my thought process and reasoning to someone in their own lives. Word choice in my condolence letter played a significant role in preventing contradictions while at the same time voicing an apologetic tone. I express opinions such as, “She could transition between 2 different personalities as if she was flicking a switch.” and “When handing out worksheets she would give us instructions that we’re so easy to understand, a Kindergarten class would’ve been able to follow along.” The specific phrasing allows me to talk about the same points while remaining appropriate for the audience and occasion. The audience, Jane Doe’s mother, as well as the goal of the letter, has to be taken into consideration to plan an appropriate response to her daughter’s death. Being unable to blatantly state all Jane Doe’s faults in a condolence letter posed a problem that needed to be addressed. This problem resulted in an approach where less forceful wording was necessary to describe Jane Doe, to dilute the bold nature of past statements. When contributing to the tone of a writing piece, thoughtful connotations play a key role in the emphasis of key thoughts and ideas.
The personal examples that I bring into my letters play a big role in creating grounds that readers can relate to. This allows for a better reading experience and more connectivity to the text. In my love letter, I can focus on where I introduced my habit of being a picky eater stating, “I know that I’m a picky eater, but I’m thankful for the leaps and bounds that you take to accommodate me.” Being a picky eater is something that people can relate to and it helps me reach a deeper part of the reader’s personal life. This helps develop my credibility because I share some values and experiences with the reader. As the readers, they can expect some common understanding and be more open to receiving what I have to say. Similarly, in my distasteful letter, I mention how the teacher is the type to give busy work saying, “Giving a pile of worksheets for us to do is just as effective as just busywork.” Most people have experience with this type of teacher and their style of teaching. Some people don't learn when being taught like this and this leads to frustration. The frustration that I feel, which many can also empathize with allows me to say less while still conveying a strong message. The examples I brought in allowed me to elaborate my opinions on their useless nature. This approach allows me to develop it into one of the main points that I focus on. This allows me to make my case while at the same time being a little more light-hearted. The irony and sarcasm at play keep the reader engaged, making the letters more interesting to read. Adding different experiences allows the reader the opportunity to put themselves in similar situations that are familiar with. This cuts down on the number of lines that I need to write because the audience can add their own experience to their interpretations.
In this writing experience, I found that it was much easier to write about someone that I was passionate about rather than someone who I felt a degree of uncertainty about. This was evident in my distasteful letter where I had to rewrite my entire letter because I ran out of ideas to commentate on. I wrote about how they irked me and the things that did to put me in a bad mood, but as I wrote I realized that they weren’t as bad as they seemed to be. When I fully committed to someone that I felt strongly about I had a much easier time putting down my thoughts. The experience was eye-opening, in which I gained a new opinion on people that I thought I disliked. Writing these letters challenged my ability as well as taught me the difference that passion brings when composing writing pieces. This is beneficial when trying to grow as a writer as well as reflecting on one’s personal life.
My use of effective connotations and personal example choice plays a big role within my style of writing. My word choice helps me emphasize things that I want to point out while in other situations it helps me reword to better fit my audience. Having an outlet to build a connection with, helps me create interest within my writing, to captivate the reader. Both of these combine to contribute to the overall tone and style of my writing, progressing it to a deeper level of complexity. Evidently, this has shown me that I have room to improve, as I work towards refining my own style.
