Something that I found really interesting was when Philip Deloria talked about his writing process. This was covered heavily at the beginning of his talk, but it was referenced throughout the entire thing. It is interesting for me to learn about successful writers' writing processes because I like to compare mine to theirs. I can see how my writing process, as an 18-year-old amateur writer, is similar or different to such a successful writers'. While Deloria did make a distinction between his writing process while on leave and while not on leave, his schedule is drastically different to mine. He mentioned how, last year, he was on leave, and he would wake up every day at eight to write for the next few hours. After, he took a short break, followed by more writing, and then an even longer break. This longer break was followed by, of course, more writing, editing, and responding to emails. I obviously do not have this much time, nor does he, now that he has returned from leave, but I still see similarities in our writing processes. He mentioned how it is a tendency of his to "line-edit" instead of creating new content. This is also a tendency of mine, and also something that I try to prevent. He also reads what he has previously written as a "runway" into what he is going to write. Deloria also mentions his inspirations for things that he writes; while he recalls that, once, an idea for a book exploded into his head after seeing something in only sixty seconds, he also keeps "idea files" in his head. I can relate to this because I have had both experiences; it is interesting for me to see his process because the writing process can be so similar and so different for everyone at the same time.
Deloria's analysis of his own poetry was also interesting. He stated that he had started to write poems when nothing else seems fit as a condolence after someone's death. This idea resonates with me because I agree; how can one comfort another after death? Conversational sentences are often inadequate or forced, but poetry can often say that which the spoken word often cannot. Deloria also mentions how he exclusively wrote poems for condolences, but he eventually stopped because he doubted the quality of these poems. He then went on to say that maybe his poems were good, but he just didn't know it. I think that one is not inherently created with an ability to do something but the potential to hone it. While I am no one to critique such a successful writer, writing should not be solely for quality. People have many different reasons to write, whether someone else deems it "good" or "bad." Also, different types of writing appeals to different people; it is possible that his poems could change my entire life. It was humbling, however, for a writer to admit his weaknesses. Writing is often examined as one entity, but, in reality, poetry is very different from essay writing. Hearing a writer admit that he is not good at one type of writing is inspiring for aspiring writers listening and his students; one does not need to be good at every type of writing, or even good at writing at all in order to write.
When asked what he could persuade aspiring writers to do, Deloria answers that he would persuade them to take the drafting process seriously. Until this year, I was never given a drafting period. In high school, we had one chance; we submitted the essay, and then we would get our grade. The essay would often never be revisited again, but occasionally, we were allotted a period of revision. However, this revision only counted for a small portion of our grade, so no one ever took this part of the process seriously. Until college, when we were given opportunities to complete peer reviews, I never took the drafting process seriously. Deloria states that no one ever "nails it" the first time, and, from experience, I can agree with him. On my second essay, the essay in which we wrote about graffiti, after the peer review, I rewrote the essay entirely. Of course, the essay had similar themes and ideas that I got from the peer review, but it was completely transformed. Since I never had the opportunity to revise in high school, this was the first time when I really agreed: no one ever "nails it" the first time. A few months later, I am still proud of that essay, and I know I would not be if I kept my first draft.
Deloria also mentioned his own responses to essays. He said that he is trying to move away from comments in the margins, and, at first, this puzzled me. His new method of response is to send video responses to essays with only light comments in the margins. To be completely honest, at first, I thought this was somewhat creepy. While Deloria is being very personal, he is almost being too personal. Would I want to hear my professor's voice critiquing my writing for an extended period of time? I like to read over the comments in the margins at my own pace. But Deloria explained why he has started using this system, and I am actually much more open to it now. Sometimes, comments in margins seem too distant or even harsh. Comments often lack tone, which can lead to a lapse of understanding for the person who receives the comments. Looking back on my past english classes, teachers often wrote many comments that I did not understand or seemed trite. Using videos instead of written comments could mitigate this lack of understanding by adding tone to the voice of the person commenting. Overall, it was extremely interesting to hear such a successful writer talking about his writing process and other analysis of his own behaviors!
No comments:
Post a Comment