Orwell's essay helped me understand the crutches that many writers use. To my dismay I found that many of the bad traits that he outlined were traits of my own. Many times I have used words that have no purpose other that to take up space. These space fillers can also be metaphors that are very cliche and don't illustrate the point more effectively. These flaws are more common in early student writing because they feel that they cannot write their essays long enough. Instead of thinking of new things to say, that will take up more space and not be redundant, they add filler and stay on the safe side.
This is why everone should write their rough drafts as Lamott does. She gets all the information down first and then shapes it into a cohesive whole. It is much better to trim the excess than fill in the spaces with garbage.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
"shitty impression"
Reading Anne Lamont's "Shitty First drafts" was like sitting through another high school English class with a teacher who wants to be "Hip". However this Reading is very informative and uplifting to any aspiring author and novel writer. At the same time getting someone to read a lecture on how every great book starts of with a rough draft is just like "pulling teeth"
George Orwell talks about the English language and how America has gotten into bad habits with there writing. Basically in writing today many author's get so caught up into making them selves sound credible that they forget to make sense. I really like the direction this article was going because it expressed the dilemma i have had with many books in the past, "i don't know what the hell there saying".
However i do find it ironic that George is highlighting all these exerts from various forms of literature when this very article borderline strays from its topic aswell.
-Armani Cooper
shitty writing
I found Orwell's writing to be amusing. Even though i agree that writing more directly and to the point keeps a readers interest longer, I think that there is a time for short and sweet writing. I often find myself getting out a thesaurus trying to change simple words into more interesting and more intellegent words. I find my writing sounds very middle school if i leave it too simple.
And as for Lamott's i cannot say anything because my computer would not let me download it and i could not find it on the internet. My computer is saying i have to buy adobe 9 to download Lamott, so if anyone has an adobe cd i could borrow that would be great!!
And as for Lamott's i cannot say anything because my computer would not let me download it and i could not find it on the internet. My computer is saying i have to buy adobe 9 to download Lamott, so if anyone has an adobe cd i could borrow that would be great!!
General Impressions
Reading Anne Lamott’s “Shitty First Drafts” was the opposite of having a tooth pulled. I appreciate any author who is willing to portray their ideas through humor. If the idea of writing a first draft had been reiterated as often in a different style, then I probably would have stopped reading. How did she know?
After reading Orwell’s article and re-visiting Lamont’s I realized how effectively she uses metaphors. Her work seems the opposite of the “modern English” that Orwell criticizes. I think emulating her style of writing could help build my own.
I believe reading Orwell’s “Politics and the English Language” has brought me one lotus petal closer to enlightenment. I’ve always known I’m a terrible writer, but now I realize why. My purpose has never been to put across a concrete opinion and message. The concern has always been to finish an assignment.
His partly blaming politics for the “decline of the English language” has led me to wonder what would happen if political speeches and pamphlets were written to inform of a candidates ideas? What would happen to society if we wrote with the purpose to state our thoughts coherently and simply? Lastly, what would it do to my writing?
After reading Orwell’s article and re-visiting Lamont’s I realized how effectively she uses metaphors. Her work seems the opposite of the “modern English” that Orwell criticizes. I think emulating her style of writing could help build my own.
I believe reading Orwell’s “Politics and the English Language” has brought me one lotus petal closer to enlightenment. I’ve always known I’m a terrible writer, but now I realize why. My purpose has never been to put across a concrete opinion and message. The concern has always been to finish an assignment.
His partly blaming politics for the “decline of the English language” has led me to wonder what would happen if political speeches and pamphlets were written to inform of a candidates ideas? What would happen to society if we wrote with the purpose to state our thoughts coherently and simply? Lastly, what would it do to my writing?
Third Time is the Charm
Shitty writing is the subject in George Orwell's article Politics and the English Language and the excerpt from Anne Lamott's Shitty First Drafts. Lamott swears that all people have to write second and third drafts to get anything worth while out of what they write and Orwell expresses his own opinion that in 1946, the time of publication, English writing was beginning to decline as a whole. He feels that rudimentary rules would do all of us some good.
Mrs. Lamott would probably disagree with Orwell. She doesn't state that anything is wrong with writing as long as it gets the proper attention and goes through the proper steps of production. She states that one MUST go through first and second drafts, starting to write anything at all is the hardest part of writing itself. She doesn't, at least in this excerpt, talk about how to improve ones writing on a grammatical level like Orwell does.
I think that with the growth of published writing that George Orwell was seeing in 1946 he was bound to notice a lot more errors and Mrs Lamott brings up a valid point. This post for instances has been edited three times before I'm ready to show it to the world.
Mrs. Lamott would probably disagree with Orwell. She doesn't state that anything is wrong with writing as long as it gets the proper attention and goes through the proper steps of production. She states that one MUST go through first and second drafts, starting to write anything at all is the hardest part of writing itself. She doesn't, at least in this excerpt, talk about how to improve ones writing on a grammatical level like Orwell does.
I think that with the growth of published writing that George Orwell was seeing in 1946 he was bound to notice a lot more errors and Mrs Lamott brings up a valid point. This post for instances has been edited three times before I'm ready to show it to the world.
Just some pretty "shitty" writing
After reading George Orwell’s article “Politics and the English Language” and Anne Lamont’s excerpt “shitty first drafts” I came to the conclusion that these two pieces of writing were trying to send the same message of writing becoming more “sloppy” so to speak.
Orwell mentions how the English language has become vague and incompetent. He condemns those who use tricky synonyms for words that can be easily understood, because it makes understanding ones writing much more difficult. Overall it seems like George Orwell criticizes writers who make the above mentioned mistakes because he feels like they are not putting in the work and effort needed to make great writing.
Anne Lamont conveys the same message as Orwell but, in a different way. Lamont attacks the idea of writing just one draft and having it be perfect. She mentions how when she writes her first drafts they come of as “childish” and are just words scribbled down on a page. She also comments on how difficult it’s to start writing and come up with a first draft.
Personally, I feel Lamont’s message does a better job of getting the point across that all writing needs time and hard work to become well written. The reason I say this is because Orwell is attacking the style of peoples writing. I don’t think all his accusations are correct because while strange words may cause confusion, it all so causes intrigue with the reader and hence achieving the goal of having ones writing be read thoughtfully. While Lamont doesn’t focus her accusations on ones styles but rather on writers not putting in enough time and re-reading and revising their work.
Orwell mentions how the English language has become vague and incompetent. He condemns those who use tricky synonyms for words that can be easily understood, because it makes understanding ones writing much more difficult. Overall it seems like George Orwell criticizes writers who make the above mentioned mistakes because he feels like they are not putting in the work and effort needed to make great writing.
Anne Lamont conveys the same message as Orwell but, in a different way. Lamont attacks the idea of writing just one draft and having it be perfect. She mentions how when she writes her first drafts they come of as “childish” and are just words scribbled down on a page. She also comments on how difficult it’s to start writing and come up with a first draft.
Personally, I feel Lamont’s message does a better job of getting the point across that all writing needs time and hard work to become well written. The reason I say this is because Orwell is attacking the style of peoples writing. I don’t think all his accusations are correct because while strange words may cause confusion, it all so causes intrigue with the reader and hence achieving the goal of having ones writing be read thoughtfully. While Lamont doesn’t focus her accusations on ones styles but rather on writers not putting in enough time and re-reading and revising their work.
Vague Vague Politics
Orwell’s essay is one that I found more interesting of the two. It made little mention of politics but I decided that was the interesting part. I personally disagree that is a bad thing to be vague in politics. After all, in the world of politics, no politician wants to be too specific. After all, he or she is attempting to get elected and if they were to voice their own opinions, it would revile their true intentions and potentially deter many votes.
The idea of being vague in the political/public sphere is to create ironically, less stress. Sure people want to know what candidates really believe and it would be nice not to hear the same old stuff but the ideas of change, and moving forward and the usual phrases we hear during elections and in the news in general are appealing and ideas that many people have their own images for. Thus, politicians don’t have to work hard explaining their ideals.
In essence, being vague is an extremely useful tool for a politician and while yes, it does dumb down the English language a bit, but how many people, how many voters, want to know the details of a candidate’s platform. That would require them to make decisions, pay attention and have some idea of what the hell they were doing and why they believe in one candidate over the other. Judging by the lack of political participation we have today, why should politicians waste their time? Why not judge a candidate for their looks instead? It’s easier.
It’s too much work to be specific. Sure, writing ‘bad’ is easy and obviously writing ‘well’ is hard but in our current society who has time to be specific. There are so many things to do that people don’t have time to be specific, or they unintentionally aren’t specific because they don’t have the time to as Orwell put it “create an image” for everything and then pick words to go along.
Obviously I thought Orwell’s essay was more interesting because I haven’t said anything about shitty first drafts. While Shitty first drafts were interesting and I think it was true (this is my third draft) it was less thought provoking than Orwell’s essay.
The idea of being vague in the political/public sphere is to create ironically, less stress. Sure people want to know what candidates really believe and it would be nice not to hear the same old stuff but the ideas of change, and moving forward and the usual phrases we hear during elections and in the news in general are appealing and ideas that many people have their own images for. Thus, politicians don’t have to work hard explaining their ideals.
In essence, being vague is an extremely useful tool for a politician and while yes, it does dumb down the English language a bit, but how many people, how many voters, want to know the details of a candidate’s platform. That would require them to make decisions, pay attention and have some idea of what the hell they were doing and why they believe in one candidate over the other. Judging by the lack of political participation we have today, why should politicians waste their time? Why not judge a candidate for their looks instead? It’s easier.
It’s too much work to be specific. Sure, writing ‘bad’ is easy and obviously writing ‘well’ is hard but in our current society who has time to be specific. There are so many things to do that people don’t have time to be specific, or they unintentionally aren’t specific because they don’t have the time to as Orwell put it “create an image” for everything and then pick words to go along.
Obviously I thought Orwell’s essay was more interesting because I haven’t said anything about shitty first drafts. While Shitty first drafts were interesting and I think it was true (this is my third draft) it was less thought provoking than Orwell’s essay.
Shitty first drafts and Politics and the English Language
I liked the Politics and the English language, because it shows how modern day English is being used. It has and is being transformed in a completely different way than how it was before. I think that people who write today write most of their books trying to express their thoughts and the meaning of what they are writing. But now the word chooses its meaning but like George Orwell says “What is above all needed is to let the meaning choose the word, and not the other way around''. But writers have let the word choose its meaning. Another thing that I found interesting was that was that verbs that are meant to be just one word now have become sentences. George Orwell does not remove himself in this because all the modern day writers do the same thing consciously or not .What is concerning about this is that they see the English language turning into something else but no one wants to do anything about it. I think that we who use the English language should start using some of the rules that he wrote down.
Shitty first drafts was amazing. It said it all, Lamont got right to the point about what she was talking about. She shows us how this imagination that we all have about writers is so wrong. Every one somewhere to start, you need to start from the bottom to get to the top. I think that by reading this we all learn something very important that we can use in our daily lives, especially for students. When writing a paper we spend so much time trying to make it perfect the first time, but if we put down all of the ideas and organize them. The results are more than likely to be good.
Shitty politics, shitty use of the English language, and shitty first drafts
Long title, but the word shitty is just fun to write. After reading the article on first drafts, I had a bit of personal reflection on my own writing style, particularly with short stories and story ideas, and how I often drop them simply because I get frustrated with the poor quality of what I was writing. It's sort of made me want to pick some of them up again. All in all, I liked the personal feel of the article, and how she narrated her own experiences. It reminded me of my own writing sessions, so being able to relate helped a lot.
As for Orwell's essay, I'm amused by his arguments, mainly because he follows them himself. He's not a hypocrite, or by any means an idiot. I know that I'm guilty of a lot of the proverbial sins he mentions, not only in writing, but in everyday writing. This was a serious problem for me back in high school, particularly for English and History essays. Frustrated my teachers to no end, and I kept getting low grades. I've learned to scale back, but every in a while, I slip up and tend to sound arrogant or pretentious.
Another interesting bit was that he looks beyond mere grammatical errors and examines even the abuse of Latin and Greek word origins. He analyzes words that are used incorrectly not just because of definitions, but because they have prefixes or suffixes attached that do nothing for the prose. One thing he did leave out entirely in his analysis was laziness, which is the main problem in Internet conversation. People don't want to bother typing out an entire word, so they use Netspeak. Texting on cellphones, where there is often a character limit, or using online chat in order to convey a necessary message in as small amount of time as possible might be necessary. However, using it when you have time to read your message out and edit such as forum posts or Facebook messages is simply laziness and, in my opinion, one of the main causes of the degradation in the English written language today, 50 years later. Also, the way some kids speak these days is just plain annoying, but that's just my inner old man telling them to get off my lawn.
P.S. Edit: I need to learn to write less...
As for Orwell's essay, I'm amused by his arguments, mainly because he follows them himself. He's not a hypocrite, or by any means an idiot. I know that I'm guilty of a lot of the proverbial sins he mentions, not only in writing, but in everyday writing. This was a serious problem for me back in high school, particularly for English and History essays. Frustrated my teachers to no end, and I kept getting low grades. I've learned to scale back, but every in a while, I slip up and tend to sound arrogant or pretentious.
Another interesting bit was that he looks beyond mere grammatical errors and examines even the abuse of Latin and Greek word origins. He analyzes words that are used incorrectly not just because of definitions, but because they have prefixes or suffixes attached that do nothing for the prose. One thing he did leave out entirely in his analysis was laziness, which is the main problem in Internet conversation. People don't want to bother typing out an entire word, so they use Netspeak. Texting on cellphones, where there is often a character limit, or using online chat in order to convey a necessary message in as small amount of time as possible might be necessary. However, using it when you have time to read your message out and edit such as forum posts or Facebook messages is simply laziness and, in my opinion, one of the main causes of the degradation in the English written language today, 50 years later. Also, the way some kids speak these days is just plain annoying, but that's just my inner old man telling them to get off my lawn.
P.S. Edit: I need to learn to write less...
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Relearning How to Write
"Politics and the English Language" was very thought provoking. Its very interesting how Orwell wants us to write shorter, simpler and to avoid metaphors. This contradicts what i have learned in high school. Most of the teachers wanted me to write in a higher vocabulary and to use imagery to make the text more interesting. But Orwell makes a good point in by explaining how the meaning of phrases can change depending on the reader. Also active voice is something high school taught me, but i still have difficulty with it and, have to constantly look for it in my second and third drafts.
Speaking of shitty drafts, "Shitty First Drafts" was humorous and educational. I did not know that writers who were professionals had brain farts. I always thought that since they were writers as a profession, that they had ways to avoid writers block. It taught me to just write words down and then revise it later in the second draft. Hopefully this process works the next time I am stumped on an essay.
Speaking of shitty drafts, "Shitty First Drafts" was humorous and educational. I did not know that writers who were professionals had brain farts. I always thought that since they were writers as a profession, that they had ways to avoid writers block. It taught me to just write words down and then revise it later in the second draft. Hopefully this process works the next time I am stumped on an essay.
About me
Hi , my name is Beline Unogeye I'm from Kigali, Rwanda. I just graduated from high school in Utah. I went to school there for three years of high school. I have not decided on my major as yet but hopefully I will decide soon. My hobbies are playing basketball,talking(yea i know) its not much of a hobby but i love talking! I'm excited for this English class because its not like any class i have ever taken so I'm sure i will learn a lot of new and exiting things.
Greetings fellow students, My name is William Pike and I'm from Dallas, Texas. My hobbies include gaming and hanging out with friends. I'm double majoring in Digital Arts and Game Design, I want to start my own game company when I leave college and create games for bigger companies, IE Flagship helped to create The Legend of Zelda Four Swords for the Nintendo Game Boy Advanced which is considered a Nintendo franchise. I'm living in Henley 415 if anyone wants to stop by, and I hope to get to know you guys more throughout the year.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
About Me
Hi my name is Stephen Sales. Im a freshman at Chapman this year majoring in business. I graduated from Santa Margarita High School last year and played football and basketball all four years. Im continuing to play football at chapman and am very enthusiastic about this season. I was born in texas but raised in california for the majority of my life.
I have heard great things about Chapman and am excited to experiance all it has to offer. Im not sure what field of business I want to emphasize but I might as well do somthing involving sales, I do have the name for it. Blogging is very new to me so this should be a very useful class for me to take.
I have heard great things about Chapman and am excited to experiance all it has to offer. Im not sure what field of business I want to emphasize but I might as well do somthing involving sales, I do have the name for it. Blogging is very new to me so this should be a very useful class for me to take.
Hey I'm Lisa Horn and I grew up in the Philadelphia area, both in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. I'm a freshman and a graphic design major but I'm looking into double majoring with PR and advertising also. I love the beach and lifeguard at it during the summer. I love california so far and I don't think that's going to change. I'm going to swim for chapman this winter and play water polo this spring in the brand new pool!
About Me
Hey everyone, my name is Sam Chehayeb and im a frshman here at Chapman. Im majoring in Chemistry so i can hopefully become a chemical engineer. I am from lake Forest, Ca, about 20 mins south of Chapman. I went to Trabuco Hills high school in Mission Viejo. At Trabuco i played baseball and was part of the choir program my senior year. I love playing sports in my free time, baseball is definatly my favorite but i like them all. Im a huge Chicago Cubs fan. Ive liked them since i was ten. Other then that im pretty laid back, easy to talk and get along with.
Hello, I'm Shelby Porter. I am from Newport Beach, California and will be majoring in political science with a minor in psychology. I love California, especially orange county so that is why I decided to stay in the area and attend Chapman. I'm only 20 minutes away from home but I live on campus and am so happy to finally be on my own.
I am deathly afraid of the freshman 15, although I do think it may be a myth. I love running, hiking, eating and sleeping. I'm a huge Heros and Lost fan and I guess you could say I'm a Deadliest Catch fanatic. I've been four places at once, have a twin sister, and enjoy being short. I plan on joining a sorority this year and hopefully getting involved in some clubs.
I am deathly afraid of the freshman 15, although I do think it may be a myth. I love running, hiking, eating and sleeping. I'm a huge Heros and Lost fan and I guess you could say I'm a Deadliest Catch fanatic. I've been four places at once, have a twin sister, and enjoy being short. I plan on joining a sorority this year and hopefully getting involved in some clubs.
about me
Hello my name is Jesslyn Gorrie. I am a freshman, majoring in international business. I hope to go abroad next year or for sure in my junior year. I am new to this whole blogging thing, so hopefully it all goes well.
I am Proudly Canadian i lived in Calgary Alberta for 18 years of my life. I moved to palm desert two years ago with my family, we all just wanted a change from the cold weather in Canada. And now i needed a change from the hot weather in the desert so i decided to move here and come to Chapman. And so far i think it was a good decision.
I am Proudly Canadian i lived in Calgary Alberta for 18 years of my life. I moved to palm desert two years ago with my family, we all just wanted a change from the cold weather in Canada. And now i needed a change from the hot weather in the desert so i decided to move here and come to Chapman. And so far i think it was a good decision.
Moi!
Hello I'm Charity Potter. When I was 16 I tested out of high school and started attending Fullerton College. After five semesters there I've finally managed to transfer to a "real" school. Although I'm technically a junior I'll probably be at Chapman for six semesters. I'm the only bassoon performance major on campus and the music department is wringing me dry with all the music I have to prepare. Hopefully after Chapman I'll be able to go abroad to obtain my master's in further pursuit of musical excellence.
For 18 years I was raised in the LDS (Mormon) religion, but once I started college realized it was a facsimilie of a sham. When I'm not playing bassoon I love to go dirt biking, cruise around on fast bikes, rock climb, read, watch anime, or just laze about lazily. Go sloth!
By the way, I love it when people call me Chaz.
For 18 years I was raised in the LDS (Mormon) religion, but once I started college realized it was a facsimilie of a sham. When I'm not playing bassoon I love to go dirt biking, cruise around on fast bikes, rock climb, read, watch anime, or just laze about lazily. Go sloth!
By the way, I love it when people call me Chaz.
Monday, August 25, 2008
About Armani
Hello,
My Name is Armani Alexander Cooper. I am from San Francisco and i am currently attending Chapman University, Go Panthers! I am a theater major trying to move into a screen acting major and plan to further my career in screen writing and broadcast journalism. I have always had a passion for acting and voicing my opinion, which is why I'm "stoked to be starting this blog.
I was born and raised in the bayarea where i was blessed to be surrounded by a very rich and diverse culture. I love all my friends and value everyones point of view.
I love to make music videos, and play improvisational games. In my spare time you may find me on the basketball court claiming victims with my deadly jumshot or hanging out with friends at the movies.
Through this blog i hope to gain a better understanding of how others think and maybe better myself as an accepting and open-minded individual.
-Armani Alexander
About JD
My real name's James Park, but call me JD. I'm a Computer Science major, we're a rare and shy breed. I'm a freshman, and I joined Chapman for the location and decent game development program. I'm not exactly sure where my future will take me after I graduate, I might move immediately into the job market, I might perpetually stay in school working my way up to a PhD in Computer Science, so as to eventually become a college professor. I do want to develop a few games here and there that I have ideas for, but it will take the right people to make it happen.
I just graduated from a high school in Lima, Peru. I'm fluent in Spanish, and I kind of like showing it off whenever I meet a native speaker. I did a lot of acting in high school, including two musicals, a Spanish play and a British pantomime. Other stuff I did would be debate for three years, rugby for another year and backpacking for a year as well. I enjoy most stereotypical things a teenager does, including video games, movies and music. I might take things to a slightly more obsessed level than most people, however, as I have a distinct inability to socialise, so I bury myself in little projects.
I just graduated from a high school in Lima, Peru. I'm fluent in Spanish, and I kind of like showing it off whenever I meet a native speaker. I did a lot of acting in high school, including two musicals, a Spanish play and a British pantomime. Other stuff I did would be debate for three years, rugby for another year and backpacking for a year as well. I enjoy most stereotypical things a teenager does, including video games, movies and music. I might take things to a slightly more obsessed level than most people, however, as I have a distinct inability to socialise, so I bury myself in little projects.
About Me
Hey my name is Mark Lim. I am a freshman, class of 2012. I am majoring in Political science, but I am going to switch to my major next year to business or minor in business. I want to be a Sports Agent, which means I need to go to Law school. I still dont know what classes i should be taking for this profession but I intend to ask my Inside Track coach.
I am from Rancho Santa Margarita, which is 45 minutes south of Chapman. I played soccer for my high school. We won CIF which is just the southern section of california. After that we won the state championship. I decided not to play at Chapman, but I almost regret that decision. I might want to play next year though.Try #2
Let's try this again. Welcome to the class. Please post your own original post about yourself (not just a comment under this post).
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