What is Writing?

I think writing is someone’s thoughts on paper. However, not all of those thoughts are thoroughly looked at. Some are just jumbled thoughts written down that only the writer would understand. Some aren’t even words, all you have to do write is put letters down on paper. Although that certainly isn’t what makes good writing.

To me, successful writing is about how much time you put into it. Authors that only spend a few months writing a book don’t usually write something that people like. Unless that person is an experienced writer and has written pages and pages. Authors such as Stephen King who writes about 2,000 words each day. He can finish writing a novel fairly quickly and it will still sell well. So, the time put into writing is really only one factor in successful writing. Another factor -the one that helps a writer write fast without the writing look bad- I believe is how organized the writer’s mind is.

Most good writer’s will have outlines or a plan of some kind. They will make drafts and have others look at those drafts so they can be revised. So really, a good writer puts time and effort into writing. Which is something I’m still learning to balance.

I see myself as a better writer today than I was yesterday or years and years before now. I have found that I’m the kind of writer who wants the information I write down to be accurate. I hate timed writing, it doesn’t give me enough time to find out if I’m presenting information I want people to know as accurately and as thoroughly as possible. I’m the type of writer that wants to improve. I think sometimes I get too overconfident about what I write and I have to remind myself that I’m not that good in order to do better. So, I hope this list of terms that define good writing for me will help others and myself become better writers.

Here’s a list of the five terms that define good writing for me:

1) Thought

To start writing a good poem, story, novel etc. You have to put thought into first before you can figure out what that story will be and you have to think hard. The first thing that pops into a writer’s mind isn’t always the best idea. Sometimes a writer has to come up with serval ideas before they find one that’s best.

2) Effort

I put effort after thought because thought and effort are interconnected. Putting thought into a piece of writing is the first step into making an effort. Then the write has to write down their thoughts before they loose the idea. Then they have to read and reread their writing to make sure it makes sense.

3) Flow

A good piece of writing has to all come to together in some way. Whether it be through the rules of a hakui or the events of a story. The reader has to be able to see the forest for the trees and the trees for the forest in order for the writing to stick.

4) Perspective

A good writer has to understand the perspective of their writing as well as the perspective of other people. A writer shouldn’t write a book about politics and advertise it to people who’ve never voted before. They have to figure out what their perspective is before they can find the right audience.

5) Purpose

In order for people to want to read a writer’s writing there has to be some kind of reason behind it. People don’t want to read a bunch a gibberish, they might want to read something that writer has designed for a certain reason. Which is entirely up for the writer to decide.

After reading Billy Collin’s Commencement Address I have learned that we now live in a world where people look things up instead of memorizing most things. However, he did mention that we do memorize things that are important to us -which I believe is more than just memorizing.

Although I didn’t really see his perspective, I still think he’s writing was successful. He got his point across. His point was in a world filled with information we tend to forget most of it and rely of technology to help us. However, we rarely forget the things that are important to us. Things like a favorite song or a family event.

Collin’s text doesn’t make me want to revise the terms that define writing for me. If anything, his writing reinforces it. His thoughts seemed collected to me, the way he put the speech together made sense and the ideas he came up with looked like they all connected to each other. He knew his audience who be mostly college students so he tired not to be cliché and give them advice. He didn’t want his audience to “rush bravely into the fray of life,” either. Which is also typical of most speeches given on a campus. Instead he wanted them to, “slow down.”