Self Review

Personal Style and Growth

            Writing styles can often come to define a writer, and student writing lays out the habits and brickwork that help dictate that style. As a student, bad habits can be broken, and new goals can be set. For me, I have been able to identify some of my writing styles, as well as begin to fix some of the issues that I have. Common themes, tones, techniques, and processes that I use when writing come to light when looking back on written projects.

            The reoccurring theme that I find in much of what I write, no matter what genre, is freedom. Sometimes I write about freedom from a struggle, like in my memoir, Memoir of a 9^th Grader, or my short story, Shade of the Sorcerer. In my poem Lonely Soul, the girl breaks free from the world’s view of perfection. The reason for this, I've discovered, is because I wish that I could be free of the rules of this world, such as gravity or wealth.

            The next most noticeable aspect in my writing is the tone. I often write using exaggerated anger, happiness, or comedy.  This tone can be heard in my poem Lost. In this haiku, I use metaphors to compare the current society’s view of beauty and lifestyle to wandering, ink, and twisted mirrors. In my Memoir of a 9^th Grader, I exaggerate my story of going to a hard school. Back then, I felt like the world was ending. By exaggerating the reality, I was able to convey how the experience felt to me.

            To create the theme and tone, I use specific writing techniques. My most used technique is descriptive imagery words. I love words that paint a picture, and at times I can go a bit overboard with it. Another tool that I use is metaphors. Since metaphors can turn a moon from being just the moon in the night sky to “drop of silver in black velvet,” (Untitled Poem 3) I love using them, especially in my poems.  They help turn a description into a painting, and bring a story or scene to life.

            To write my stories, I use my own writing process. Once I come up with a topic, I will think up a loose idea of how I will organize everything. I don’t use outlines or graphs to lay out how I will write, as it can confuse my ideas. While I write, I also edit myself. I make sure that all my sentences and paragraphs make sense to me, and I make sure everything is spelled correctly. After finishing my draft, I have others read the essay to let them catch any mistakes I made and make sure it makes sense to them.

Though it usually works, I do have weaknesses when it comes to writing. In my head, I speak differently than I talk. However, I write the way that I think, and it can cause my sentences to be awkward. I also need to work on using dialogue. In Memoir of a 9^th Grader, I wrote “’Bye mom,’ I gasped.” I couldn't rely on the dialogue itself to speak, and instead had to use the word “gasped” to capture the words. I often use dialogue sparsely, and it can come across as a bit out of place at times.

My biggest success throughout this course is learning how to use descriptions. I learned to condense my big sentences and specify to create the most effective image. I will continue to perfect my sentence structure and dialogue. I hope to be able to use dialogue with less difficulty, and able to see awkward sentences for myself. Eventually, I look forward to writing without losing the struggle to come up with details. I hope that I can write all of the stories I have piled up inside of me with more joy and less stress.

Though I have my own techniques and styles of writing, once I perfect my system, I can write uniquely, yet successfully. Through my personal themes, I can connect with the audience. The tones I use help me to convey the mood I want to get across. My favorite writing techniques help me give the words color. Using my personal take on a writing process allows me to let my creative juices flow. By using the techniques that work best for my writing, I can write smoothly and happily, and can turn out work that I am proud of.