The Myths of Writers

Everyone writes these days, either they are writing a college essay, writing down notes, composing an email, or simply texting someone. Some people are even ambitious enough to draft short stories or poetry, but few would view themselves as writers. Why is that?  What do you think when you hear the word writer? Do you imagine a man in a dress shirt and blazer sitting in his study like Tolkien writing masterpieces after masterpieces or do you imagine someone in a manic state scribbling down poem like a mad man while bottles of alcohol litter the floor like Egar Allen Poe. Why, why do we view writers like this as either brilliant geniuses or damaged alcoholics, and why do we view them as above us in terms of writing? Why do we put writers into these stereotypes and why do we put otherworldly expectations upon ourselves when we try to write.  

“Day one of getting my life into gear” peoplesimage is free to use under the Unsplash license.

Authors, Teri Holbrook, and Melanie Hundley, address these issues as to why people view writers as not real people in the book Bad Ideas About Writing. In their article Writer are mythical, magical, and damaged, Both Holbrook and Hundley explain how there are at least four popular portraits of writers they are shown in modern media. They also explain how rather than telling the truth, the media loves to portray writers as other worldly figures because it gives them a delightful story to write about.  Holbrook and Hundley use their article to combat these misconceptions and stereotypes that constantly surround the regulations of writers. 

The first popular portrait of writers is that they have magical power. The authors, Holbrook and Hundley point out how writers are promoted as people who are above others in them of writing and poetry being able to effortlessly write a piece and be done. However, “these depictions are harmful and perpetuate the idea that writing isn’t just easy but it magical works” (Holbrook 54). Holbrook explains that writing takes dedication and determination and points out that anyone can write, and they do not have to have special abilities to do so.  

Other medias have portrayed writers as reclused, damaged and are abusers of alcohol and drugs. As stated by Holbrook “these media represent writes as damaged or fragile people whose magical gifts allow them to share imaginative worlds with their readers even as they restrict their participation in the real world around them.” (Holbrook 54) These tropes are supported by some real-life examples like Edgar Allan Poe and Ernest Hemingway; however, most would agree substance abuse would not be an occupational hazard or a job requirement. As quoted by Alistar Cooke’s claim that “alcohol is has no more connection with writing than with plumbing” (Holbrook 54). The psychological portrait of writes the is prevalent in pop culture needs more nuance to it. Being a writer is a difficult job and can push people over with how demanding the pressures can be but most writers learn how to handle this stress without feeding into the cliché of a damaged author. 

Jane Piirto, author of the article “Themes in the Lives of Successful Contemporary U.S. Women Creative Writers” explained that even though many writers do show forms of depression and substance abuse, most writes know how to handle the occupational necessity of rejection and other uncertainties, simply put it, writer have the necessary coping mechanism that doesn’t include substance abuse or agoraphobia” (Piirto 45) 

”Fountain pen and a notebook” by Aaron Burden is free to use under the Unsplash license.

Why are Holbrook and Hundley discussing about this topic, why is it important to address the popular stereotypes and cliché that surround writers. Hundley simply puts it that while their stereotypes have a thread of truth to them, they don’t represent the whole of all writers. This view that writing is simple effortless and are done by those of extraordinary abilities simple “dismissed the real effort put in by writers and discouraging young writes who might dismiss their owned labored as evidence that the don’t have what it takes.” (Holbrook 55). Some young writers might strive to be this image of perfect that simply doesn’t exist and are discourage from writing as a profession because to them they haven’t reach the level of writer that they believed to be a “true writer”. 

The reality is, while stories of writers who can whip up a New York best seller in hrs. or damaged, drunken hermit who can somehow write master screenplay are entertaining they do not represent the writing community as a whole. These popular myths of writers, if taken too seriously, can influence the general public as to how they view writers or the writing profession. It can also influence and discouraged aspiring writers as to what a “real writer” should be. 

references 

 Holbrook, Teri and Hundley, Melanie “Writers are Mythical, Magical, and Damaged,” in bad ideas about writing. Edit by Cheryl E.Ball and Drew M.Loewe, 53-63 web

Piirto, Jane ” Themes in the lives of successful contemporary U.S. women creative writers” (1994).

A Better Idea for Writing: Reading and Writing ARE Connected

The idea that Reading and Writing Are Not by Ellen C.Carillo shows that reading and writing
can be thought to be two independent practices because they aren’t typically taught together like they should be. However, it’s a bad idea to think that reading and writing that are significantly correlative have no connection when studies show the two do. The better idea is to think about how we can develop when reading and writing can be thought of as one connected study and not two discrete studies. Allowing the two to share a connection can advance students reading and
literary performance just instilling the importance of reading and writing together.

The pivot, reading and writing is what can be valuable in order for students to be coherent and stronger thinkers when it comes to other subjects as well. The importance of the connection between reading and writing starts with school. Reading is
something that as students we should want to progress in, “if students are not given the
opportunity to continue working on their reading throughout their college careers, they may
struggle analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating all that surrounds them since comprehension is a crucial step toward these more advanced interpretive practices.” (Carillo,39).

Practices such as writing that goes to show the connection is fundamental with how you become proficient in reading. With that also comes the use of technology or social media for example, that students utilize and the crucial effects it has on students’ development with reading and writing could be the dilemma. The ability to analyze, interpret, and evaluate can only be progressed if students take the time to read books, “English teacher Jacquelyn Rhoads believes social media have an impact on skills, but students don’t seem to think so.” Her students spend less time reading, especially the books she assigns. Reading, say educators, helps with vocabulary, grammar and writing.” The skills needed to read and write effectively establish that reading and writing share a connection.

The “creative” aspect of reading and writing is ideally thought to be referenced
towards writing, but being able to read text, put words together and make observations is the
same between reading and writing, “When one writes, one is creating meaning by putting words and ideas together, when one reads, the same thing is happening.” (Carillo,40) which shows how interchangeable the two are.

In conclusion, these ideas put together give a valuable approach to how this bad idea canultimately become a central principle. Ellen C. Carillo presents her ideas in which are subject to the idea of reading and writing having a connection and what the two studies are pivotal to in education. Also, predominant issues of student’s use of social media being a critical factor to
possibly link with existing bad ideas about reading and writing come better ideas. Dissenting
these ideas can come modification and if these ideas will be of enterprising to students and
educators.

Works Cited
https://textbooks.lib.wvu.edu/badideas/badideasaboutwriting-book.pdf
https://www.inquirer.com/philly/firsttake/20130406_Students_worry_that_social_media_erodes_
basic_skills.html

One of the most common myths about writing is that there is just one correct way to write and speak. According to Anjali Pattanayak, who states in the book Bad Ideas about Writing’s article “There is One Correct Way of Writing and Speaking” there is no such thing as a correct way of writing and speaking. Because thinking that there is only one correct way to write enforces inequality by leading you to believe that King English is the only correct way to write. Anjali Pattanayak stated a better way of thinking writing in “There is one correct way of writing and speaking”, and Lynn Z. Bloom stated a better way of thinking writing in the book “Freshman Composition is a Middle-Class Enterprise.” They provided better ideas such as writing for a specific purpose and audience, teaching writing as a cultural and social activity, and using various linguistic choices for minority groups to appeal to various audiences.

Decorative people image ,Unsplash

In Lynn Bloom’s article “Freshman Composition is a Middle-Class Enterprise” she claims that most American autobiographies reflect middle-class white virtue. These autobiographies are full of success stories in which students might believe that in order to be successful, the instruction and the advice of middle-class teachers must lead to the improvement of oneself, he considered it as a wrong reason (Bloom 668). American autobiographies tell us that if we follow the middle-class virtues or culture, we will end up being successful. This misinformation leads students with smaller dialects to think that how themselves or their families, and members in their community speak and act is bad ideas wrong by comparison. It sends the message that who they are and where they come from is somehow undermined. Pattnayak argues that, even though students from nonstandard dialects are gaining education, they are still facing barriers in terms of culture, language, and literacy. This barrier is because of how the middle-class teacher set the values of their culture (pattnayak 83). Teachers also punish lower-class students for not being more like the middle class.

 Saying one correct form of writing is also troubling because it assumes linguistic differences are the result of an error (pattnayak 85). We can look at Ebonics, Ebonics typically diverge from standard American English when spoken to people with a lower level of education. It is not an unacceptable form of standard language, so it devalues their identities

Decorative Aaron Burden,unsplash

According to Anjali Pattanayak “There is One Correct Way of Writing and Speaking,” she claimed that idea there is one correct way writing is a bad idea and should be replaced by better ideas. A better idea would be adopting different linguistic choices to appeal to different audiences. The advantage of these better ideas will allow writers to carefully plan and adopt what you say to the level of understanding and background of the listeners. In Lynn Z. Bloom’s article “Freshman Composition is a Middle-Class Enterprise” points out that education doesn’t have to be a banking concept in which, the middle-class teacher reflects their white culture into students, she called it oppression on literacy (Bloom 669). The better idea she proposed is to transform that structure so that they can become more of themselves. So, if we create a teaching system that will treat writing more cultural and social activity it will be a better idea. Writing should be evaluated by the context they are talking or writing about because there are people who come from different backgrounds who don’t speak the king’s English. Writing main concerns should be conscious of critical thinking.

Stratade,Unsplash

In conclusion, several authors presented a better idea that could replace the misconception that there is only one correct way of writing and speaking. Bloom and Pattnayak stated that changing the structure of education in which minority groups can be themselves and adopting different linguistic choices could replace the bad belief which is there is only one way of writing. They stated that implementing these ideas will give students from different backgrounds a fair chance in the academic world.

                                        Work cited

Pattanayak, Anjali “There is One Correct Way of Writing and Speaking” Bad Ideas about Writing’s Edited by Cheryl E. Ball and Drew M. Loewe, pp.82-87 https://textbooks.lib.wvu.edu/badideas/badideasaboutwriting-book.pdf

Bloom, Lynn Z. “Freshman Composition is a Middle-Class Enterprise” National Council of Teachers of English pp.654-680

http://richardcolby.net/writ1733/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/bloom_-_freshman_composition_as_a_middle-class.pdf

              In their essay, “FACE-TO-FACE COURSES ARE SUPERIOR TO ONLINE COURSES” the authors Tiffany Bourelle and Andy Bourelle, and in her essay “Chasing The Elusive ‘Quality’ In Online Education “, Anya Kamenetez, focus on the idea that face to face courses are better than online courses. They also address the idea that online courses aren’t as challenging compared to face-to-face courses. They mention that this is a bad idea because online courses are actually adaptive, and their way of teaching is innovative. Instead of falling for this misconception, the Bourelle’s and Kamenetez say it’s better to think of online courses to be a modern and adaptive, because technology is continuing to evolve, and the pedagogy promotes collaboration and helps students take control of their learning.

In her essay, Kamenetez states,” A meta-analysis by the U.S. Department of Education in 2010 showed that students performed modestly better in courses with some online component.” (Kamenetez 11), this demonstrates how when face to face courses implement some type of online learning, students did better, which shows that online courses and online courses should be both implemented for better learning. Adaptive learning software such as Pearson’s Mylab, Scholastic’s Math 180, Dreambox Learning, Cerego, and Khan Academy are examples of online learning that instructors have implemented. They have innovated their way of teaching to help students retain information instead of throwing all the facts at once. In her article, Kamenetez states that “Students on average memorized the basic facts in just 11 hours, using Cerego. And of the more than 20,000 who signed up initially, 2,370 actually passed. That’s a 12 percent pass rate — compared to the 5 percent that’s typical for most MOOCs.” (Kamenetez 37) Which shows that using adaptive learning software can help students learn content faster.

            Furthermore, Kamenetez states that, “The Columbia researchers, as well as other critics, argue that the reason students so often fail in these classes is because of the way the instruction is designed.” (Kamenetez 13) which shows that online instruction has to be designed in a way that makes students more interactive and collaborative. The Bourelle’s state,” While online education continues to grow at a rapid rate, the pedagogy within remains cutting-edge, comparable to f2f classes.”(T.Bourelle and A.Bourelle 5) and Kamenetez gives an example of this when she mentions that,” Cerego uses an artificial intelligence algorithm, based in part on the science of memory, to decide which item to show you next, and when to show you the same item again. The goal is that you memorize them in an optimal amount of time.” (Kamenetez 26), this proves how technology is getting more advanced and learning new material is becoming easier and takes less time.

            In their essay, A. Bourelle and T. Bourelle point out that,” Instead of using f2f classes as the barometer to measure online writing instruction, the time has come for instructors, administrators, students, and others interested in the quality of education offered in our universities to start recognizing that both f2f and online writing classes can provide challenging, intellectually stimulating educational experiences for students.”(T.Bourelle and A.Bourelle 9), online courses can be just as difficult and demanding as face to face courses. Technology will continue to advance and so will online courses, but that doesn’t mean face to face courses will be gone. Online and face to face courses are both ways students can succeed.

Works Cited:

Bourelle, Tiffany and Bourelle, Andy. “Face-to-Face Courses are Superior to Online Courses,” in Bad Ideas About Writing. Edited by Cheryl E. Ball and Drew M. Loewe, 351-355. Web. https://textbooks.lib.wvu.edu/badideas/badideasaboutwriting-book.pdf

Anya Kamenetz, “Chasing The Elusive ‘Quality’ In Online Education.” 27 June 2014

https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2014/06/27/323329818/chasing-the-elusive-quality-in-online-education

            The human consciousness is like a busy city with thoughts and emotions constantly racing about. It is a chaotic slew of obligations, memories, distractions and more, but that is the very beauty of it. A healthy brain never sleeps; it is constantly thinking. The act of writing is remarkable because it allows the writer to display just a fraction of that chaotic mind on paper in a way that sounds intriguing. The writer turns on the faucet for ideas to flow onto the page. So, what really happens when that flow begins to feel clogged? In Geoffrey Carter’s “Writer’s Block Just Happens to People”, he debunks the entire idea of writer’s block. Describing where the term originated, Carter explains that the source is not exactly liable. He then uses the term slacker to define the ideal person who could effortlessly overcome this anomaly. A better idea would be that writer’s block doesn’t exist at all because the mind is never actually empty. Instead of focusing on what isn’t there, rather say what is there.

            Now let’s begin with the origin of writer’s block. It was a term coined by Edmund Bergler. Bergler was an assistant of the famous neurologist, Sigmund Freud. During his career he made a whole bunch of bizarre psychological claims that only he alleged to know how to cure; writer’s block being one of them. After digging through research, Carter finally found an anecdote describing one of Bergler’s patients stating that “the patient said he “unlocked his [own] literary resources” by playing with his psychiatrist’s name: Bergler” (Carter 101). In doing this the patient was able to create something out of what he was already thinking about. The point here is that Bergler didn’t do anything catastrophic to help his patients. He just invented a false phrase and then asserted himself to fix something that was never broken.

“White Printer Paper” by Toa Heftiba. Unsplash. “a little space to be creative”. 

           Why did this term stick though? It was clearly created by a borderline delusional psychoanalyst. It must have gained popularity by the comfort it creates. It allows one to think that because they cannot write, something must be wrong with them thus creating an excuse to not write. Carter brings an article to our attention called “The Unsuccessful Self-Treatment of a Case of Writer’s Block” by Dennis Upper where he tells that “the article (no joke) is a blank page with a footnote that was “published without revision” (Carter 100). This article was rather humorous in that it reads nothing but says everything it needs to. Upper’s work was a published and highly regarded piece of literature. This is so simply because it was unexpected, unique, and relatable.

           The art of writing takes a certain amount of creativity in which all minds have the natural capacity to do. In Mike Rose’s When a Writer Can’t Write (The Guilford Press), he introduces three key concepts “(1) creativity is self-expression (2) creativity is doing something new or unique and (3) creativity is using old things in new ways” (Rose 149). All three of those ideas are methods to spark inspiration for writing. This becomes most complicated for students who don’t consider themselves to be creative thinkers. They need to feel confident that their ideas are good ones. 

           At the end, Carter saves the best for last in his allusion to Richard Linklater’s movie Slacker to which he calls a “masterpiece of the mundane” (Carter 102). The 1991 film is a compilation of random moments that are oddly entertaining. It didn’t require any amount difficult thought or effort. It just embodies the quirky, awkward moments that make up everyday life. Perhaps that is the secret; to be a slacker. In other words, to embrace one’s mind for what it is saying even when it sounds completely insignificant. A better idea is that writer’s block is a myth and instead of daunting the blank page, view it as an amazing place where just about anything can happen.

Open book and magical glowing letters.

Work Cited 

Carter, Geoffrey V. “Writer’s Block Just Happens to People” Bad Ideas About Writing, edited              

            by Cheryl E. Ball (pp. 99-103). essay.

Rose, Mike. When a Writer Can’t Write: Studies in Writer’s Block and Other Composing-Process Problems. The Guilford Press, 1985.

Upper, Dennis “The Unsuccessful Self-Treatment of a Case of Writer’s Block” Journal of

            Applied Behavior, Fall 1974, (pp. 497)