#enl3adaptations

Writing Genre Adaptations (Revised)

"Don't Marry the Fly"

When it comes to analytical writing it is essential for us to stay in line with our thoughts and not become so distracted by little details that do not necessarily further our analysis. Granted this is easier said than done. It is very easy as a writer to become lost in our thoughts due to our overwhelming excitement for our writing, for our amazing ideas in analysis, and maybe even just for the work you are analyzing. This excitement is not bad at all, in fact it is great if this excitement is reflected into your writing, however this excitement can cause us to become side tracked in our analysis which ultimately veers the reader into a realm of confusion—which is not good.

Now the question we must ask is what can we do to avoid our readers from becoming confused or befuddled as they attempt to track our thoughts in our writing? Well the truth is there is no right or wrong way this issue can be addressed, however the simplest step we can take is creating an outline for our writing. Use an outline to essentially outline your thoughts and ideas this way you can structure your essay in a manner that will clearly present your central argument for your analysis. Also be sure to label pieces of evidence that can potentially be used in each one of your sub-arguments that will ultimately create a much more sound and concrete central argument overall. Unfortunately, some students do not necessarily enjoy the idea of prewriting an outline and that is perfectly fine because students can possess different methods of writing. So to those students who do not like outlines, my advice to you is to still write down your arguments on paper along with several potential pieces of evidence. This is similar to an outline yet it is not as rigorous as an outline. This practice is essentially to get your ideas onto paper so if you do happen to get lost in your thoughts as you write, there is still some guidance that can bring your writing back on track to your intended argument.

Another critical tip that must be presented is to avoid being strayed away through the tiny details. What do I mean by this? Say you are writing an analytical paper on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and you try to demonstrate, through your writing, the binaries of good and evil in the novel. As you begin to write, you discuss the monster and Frankenstein and then all of a sudden you begin to focus, in minute detail, the beauty of the weather in the novel. As you can probably tell, that whole weather bit is quite irrelevant and it can ultimately make the reader lose focus and lose track of your writing—which is unfortunate. It is fine to like the weather in the novel, but you do not have to mention it unless the topic of weather will push forward your central argument.

Hopefully this short guide helps with future analytical writing. Just remember to plan ahead, whether it be creating a small outline or even putting down your thoughts on paper, this way you can keep track of your thoughts. Also, try not to focus on the tiny details that do not necessarily advance your analysis, they are nice to mention but not too significant to spend so much time on. Hopefully you were able to follow my crazy train of thought—sometimes my excitement gets the best of me. Happy writing.

Works Cited:

“The Samurai” Adaptation- “Cut it out!”(160)

We all get attached to parts of our writing that at first seem great but later on hinder the rest of our work.  It is important, that while you can come up with what you think is an exceptional analysis at the time that you are able to go over your original thoughts and bring yourself to cut out and be open to changing things that may not fit on a second glance. For an analysis of a piece of literature it is better to go straight to the point instead of fluffing your writing with unnecessary fillers that will guide you away from the idea you are trying to analyze. The point of analysis is to take a position and defend it to create understanding. You cannot create clear understanding when you have a clutter of separate ideas. Once you have your topic at hand and are able to write about it then you can see what details are important and which you can leave out. For example, say you are analyzing Victor's character in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and his inability to take responsibility for his actions and somehow stray upon his obsession with old style natural philosophy. Somehow you have started analyzing his obsession with mystic science and totally abandoned your original thesis. You have so many great ideas buzzing in your mind and can see yourself writing papers for all of them, but at the moment you only need one. LET IT GO. I know while I am writing an analysis paper I tend to want to add conflicting themes that diverge from my point and get emotionally attached to my ideas. If you interject a line or two that was not supporting your argument or analysis then you should probably bring yourself to eliminate them and continue on with evidence that will make your analysis stronger instead of straying the reader’s attention to other details you did not intend them to stray to. If your second thesis is growing to great lengths and you find yourself more engaged and ready to provide more evidence for this new thesis then you should probably throw away the original thesis and build with this new idea. The process of editing can lead you to realize what you are more passionate about. If you are more passionate about a topic you tend to be able to write more enthusiastically about it. Sometimes it is necessary when developing your argument to be able tell yourself it is okay to start over and change ideas. The strategy is to be honest with what works and what can be taken out (161). Another example would be if you find a piece of evidence that supports your analysis. It could be a beautiful line in the novel and you decided to write your analysis surrounding that one line. Later, you find that perhaps that line was not as strong of evidence as you originally thought but you find something much simpler that works. You have to bring yourself to be able to make that swap that will contribute the most to your writing, because I know personally I have fallen for beautiful lines that I thought would work but realize that I only wanted them in there because they were beautiful and not because they would support my analysis. It all boils down to edits. Be able to revise and tear apart your paper to get down to the significant aspects that will deliver the message strongly and clearly.  If you find yourself getting lost and meandering from your analysis just think of a samurai and “cut it out!”

Goldberg, Natalie. “The Samurai.” Writing Down the Bones. 1986. Boston: Shambhala. Print. (pages 159-161)

Adapatation of "Be An Animal" by Goldberg Take a walk. But don't just walk. Use your senses to fully engage in your surroudings. Notice the small things around you:street signs, the color of the car that just passed by, the type of flowers in your neighbor's yard. Look up at the sky and take note of the different shapes the clouds make. Life is truly beautiful and has so much to offer, but we have to take initiative and actually notice it. Who knows? Maybe you'll find something worth writing about. Or maybe the walk you take will clear your mind and give you a chance to focus on other things besides the things you have to do. Sometimes we are so busy worrying and stressing about stuff that we forget to just be. Relaxation seems like a thing of the past, especially as a student. We constantly worry about what assignments we have to complete and what things we have to buy that we forget to notice our surroundings. So, take a walk. Pay close attention to the things around you. You might miss something beautiful.

In Goldberg's "Be An Animal", the author wants to emphasize the importance of noticing our surroundings. She says that we should be like cats:watching, listening, smelling. We should forget about money and materialistic things and reflect on more important things. She iincluded an anecdote about her friend from New York and her fear of venturing out and getting lost.

The main point, similar to Goldberg's, is to venture off. Walk around. Somwhere new or old and use your senses to take in your surroudings. I think this is a useful thing to do for anyone, especially in an English class. It can be really useful for free writing exercises. Even anaylizing literature and paying close attention to the words on the paper and looking at the individual words to uncover meaning.

Rewriting this adaptation gave a new light to Goldberg's piece and helped me further understand the author's intentions. All of these things are applicable to analyzing pieces of writing in order to fully comprehend them.

Works Cited

In the chapter “Don’t Use Writing to Get Love,” from Writing Down the Bones, author Natalie Goldberg advises writers against using writing as a means to an end. Writers, according to Goldberg, tend to confuse the acts of “living and writing” (Goldberg, 57). This cannot be a good thing because “being alive is unconditional” whereas writing is not (Goldberg, 57). Writers should recognize that they are alive and do not need to use writing to prove their existence, but rather as a form of expression. Despite all the things we are going through, writing does not need to be an “excuse” or way of gathering “attention” just so we feel noticed or loved (Goldberg, 57). Instead, writing can be a way of focusing on something creative or important, a way of knowledge.

In a course like ENL 3 and for our purposes, this advice can prove to be beneficial. When we realize that we have what Goldberg refers to as the “support” or the “care” of our peers, we can begin to write what we actually think instead of what we would like to say for a specific agenda. Without “low self-esteem” or the need for someone to openly praise us, we can begin to live and write separately (Goldberg, 57). That is, taking out any attempts to gain personal support and writing expressively overall. If everyone taking this class feels comfortable enough sharing their opinions and thoughts, the expression of those ideas through writing will eventually become easier. We will feel less self-conscious about our writing and be more aware of the importance of our own writing and voices.

From personal experience, writing can be difficult and especially when trying to avoid making it sound like a call for attention to something specific. For example, there seems to be a great tendency in writing to make arguments that only speak for one side of the story. It is, after all, easier to write about things that make more sense or that we are more comfortable with. It can be intentional, pushing one idea forward as a result of evidence that seems to line up with that one particular claim. In some cases, however, it may not be intentional to draw attention to that one argument. Maybe that dominant argument just has more evidence overall and seems to be the most convincing, pushing specific ideas forward. However, it ultimately indicates that we forget that writing could take on various angles in order to be more effective than it may already appear. And most of the time, it seems, putting the focus on one larger claim could be avoided simply by presenting other arguments that work as well. “Writers get confused,” like Goldberg suggests, which begs the question: does the writing present one argument or multiple arguments that contribute to a larger idea overall? As writing can be hard, we can mix the two up, much like mixing up living and writing. Writing, in terms of living, is writing for a purpose and trying to prove a point. Whereas writing, in terms of writing itself, is writing about things that are important, that can be different, and pulling those ideas together for some sort of knowledge.

When we make the mistake of using writing to fulfill our need for support or an agenda, we take away the ability of writing to convey our actual thoughts and maybe even new knowledge. The fact that before we “needed support” and “needed care,” but are actually capable of freeing our writing from fear of judgment and letting it teach others, shows that writing can be more effective as an end within itself (Goldberg, 57).

Bibliography

"We lose our center and are lopsided because we are looking for something we think we don't have. We act like hungry ghosts."  " Something good will come out. Have patience."

 The above quotes basically summarize Goldberg's main points. One should not lose their individuality. It is better to recognize other people for what they are and to recognize self for what you are. One should not forget where they come from and should not adapt completely to other people's lives. In writing two things are really important. The first is to not be afraid of expressing your true self and the other is to have patience. Writing requires lots of patience. You can't just rush through writing. Writing requires thinking and analyzing. The sticking to individuality part reminds me of myself. Sometimes, I view other people's lives as being more interesting. I have not traveled much and lived all my life in Sacramento. I have a friend who is from Malaysia. I am fascinated with her life, because she travels to other places with her friends. Recently, she told me that she went to Chicago and met with her Malaysian friends. She is very social and outgoing. While, I don't really hangout anywhere on campus, she tells me that she likes exploring the campus and meeting new people. When I was listening to her talk, I kind of wished that I was more like her. I did not want to tell anything about my life, because it seemed boring. I just wanted to listen to her talk. I have now realized, that I need to have more confidence in myself and not be afraid of expressing myself. I am boring when I build a wall around myself and don't express myself. Same goes for writing. 

      Writing is only interesting when one puts their soul to it rather than staying on the surface. By staying on surface I mean, not being deep. You are writing without much details when you stay on surface. Going home or learning from where you come from is important. My Malaysian friend told me that she knows 4 languages. They are English, Tamil, Malay, and German. I felt bad, because I did not know how to read and write my home language. I only know how to speak it. On the other hand, my friend knows how to read and write 4 languages. This made me want to learn how to read and write my language. I had tried learning it before, but got lazy. I was embarrassed that I did not know how to read and write my language. You are an interesting person when you have knowledge of your heritage, culture, and religion. People want to know more about you, because you are unique and different from them. My friend was interested in the fact that  I can understand my home language which is Punjabi and can understand Hindi. I have learned to understand Hindi  by watching movies and Hindi songs. I sometimes start speaking Hindi without realizing it. She told me that she can't understand Hindi and that she has to use subtitles when watching movies. The point is that everyone is unique and everyone has something to offer. In writing one must not shy away from expressing self. I have found books that include one's beliefs, language, and culture interesting. The book " House on Mango Street" and "Bless Me Ultima"  both have Spanish words. "Bless Me Ultima" is also full of  cultural motifs. Reading about the unknown is what draws readers into the writing. I don't know much about Spanish culture, but I was surprised by the similarities in the beliefs when I read "Bless Me ultima". I felt connected because of the similar beliefs and interested in the beliefs that were not so similar.The point is that one should stay who they are and express self through writing. One should stay patient and not drift off. Writing requires patience and hard work. Other people's lives and writings may look more interesting. Other people are most likely thinking same thing when they look at you and your writing. That's why you should remain you. You are unique and different and that's why you have so much to offer. Your different ideas will be more interesting. If you follow other people like sheep, you will have no originality so your writing will be boring.         

citation:

Writing Down the Bones - One plus one equals Mercedes Benz

When telling a story or describing an object, facts can provide a solid backbone to the subject. However, that’s about the limit of their use, providing no room for imagination, creativity, or thought. This becomes just a superficial description of a situation, a step-by-step summary of events. To really add to the backbone, to give the story life by adding the arms and legs, we need to show more than what’s obvious. We need to step away from just “1 + 1 = 2”, or “that sweater is red”. Instead, we need to go beyond what can be determined from an initial cursory reading. Each word choice, each phrase used is written in a certain way to give the reader clues about the mood and tone of the situation, the perspectives and motives of the characters, and ideas and themes behind the story. Keep your mind open to any possibility. “One plus one equals a Mercedes Benz.” “I am the frost on the window, the cry of a young wolf, the thin blade of grass.” (Goldberg, p. 82) These sentences go beyond the obvious, into a realm of creativity and possibilities. This kind of writing allows the reader to think of every piece of evidence in new perspectives that provoke thought. What does it mean to be the “frost on the window”? Specifically, what implications come with the word “frost”? One reader might suggest that the frost is referring to the fact that the narrator is cold-hearted and lacking emotion or affection. However, another reader might interpret this as the word referring to the narrator is lonely, comparing himself to the frost on the outside of a window, looking in but not actually being part of the room. These are just two perspectives of the situation when there could be an infinite amount of interpretations. When writing with just facts, we tend to cut off room for imagination and force the reader into a specific direction of thinking rather than branching out.

 In the beginning of the quarter, our English 3 class was asked to describe an apple, with no other guidelines or directions presented. Some people offered descriptions about physical appearances such as its shine, sticker or color. However, others described how the apple “looked like it had been to a lot of places” or that “it was fighting to not fall off the table”. These descriptions of the apple gives a “behind-the-scenes” context to the apple, providing more information that what anyone can see of the apple. These new perspectives give the apple life, sparking ideas of where the apple might have came from, what its doing here, and what the future holds for the apple. By opening up the object to descriptions with no restrictions, ideas are not confined and new perspectives can be found.

Once we start thinking about new perspectives and allow our creativity to flow, that’s when our story begins. In addition to the skeletal backbone, we have the limbs and organs to make our story come to life. This is when we can truly immerse ourselves into our writing and run with our ideas, even if they seem bold. Don’t be afraid to write in a style of writing that you may not be used to, as this could prevent a great idea from forming. However, be careful not to stray away too far from the backbone and let your own bias take over. When ideas don’t come to you as quickly as before, reading great books for inspiration if your best tool. See how other writers use their own techniques to give their stories life, and incorporate them with your own methods. Use your own imagination and creativity to spark others’ and you will have a great piece of writing.

Citation:

Adaptation of “Fighting the Tofu”

Writing is hard. It definitely does not always come naturally to me. It takes time to really figure out a thing that you yourself want to write about that also doesn't make you feel overwhelmed and scared of the project you are deciding to tackle. I constantly find myself thinking the same things in my mind every time I try to get started with writing a piece: 

"I have way, way, way too many ideas in my head! How can I go about them and address them without overwhelming myself and my readers?"

"How do I want to get started?"

"Okay, I'm going to start writing right now... Okay, I'm going to start writing in five minutes... [ten minutes later]... Okay, I'm going to start writing in a half an hour." 

"What the heck should I even write about?"

Meanwhile I have yet to make any progress on how to go about writing down any of my ideas on the page. I learned this term; it's called "fighting the tofu." (Goldberg, "Fighting The Tofu"). Natalie Goldberg describes tofu as "dense, bland, and white. It is fruitless to wrestle with; you get nowhere" (Goldberg, "Fighting the Tofu," paragraph 1). And this is not necessarily the way we want to go about the writing process or how we want our writing to be described.

We have to fight to not take the easy road - to just write what seems comfortable and easy, but neither thought provoking nor original. So we all need to find ways to keep us fighting - whatever it takes. Some need to go to a quiet peaceful place like a park or their own room alone; and others need to be in a place like a coffee shop or other places with constant blank noise in order to tune everything out to keep focus. Some people need to get into a groove in order to start writing something they feel is worthy of what they want to actually produce and maybe allow the outside world to see. Others need to do little bits of writing here and there to make a final product. Whatever way helps you write best, stick to it, and let yourself go there anytime you feel like you want to write. In order to write something that's maybe out of our comfort zone, we need to allow ourselves a little comfort blanket; and that blanket is us giving ourselves our favorite space or state of mind we like to be in when we write. By giving ourselves a safe space to write, we can now venture out into the strange world of our mind and really explore what new thoughts and ideas are living inside.

But sometimes we don't really know what we want that will help us start writing. Sometimes, we just need to sit down and force ourselves to write. We need to stop whatever we are doing and write. We have to act like robots - no decisions, no questions, no thought - just sit down and write. Once we are there, we can just let our hands do the work. Whether it's at a computer or with a pen and paper, just let your hand go and let it write whatever it wants to write. So here are some things that I have discovered help me get to that point - to where I have sat down, and I've let my hands start doing the work, and to where I can just watch and see what happens:

1. If I feel like I need to be in a particular state of mind when writing something, whether it's an analytical piece for school, creative writing, or even just in my journal, I sometimes put on some 'mood music' to help me enter whatever state of mind I want to be in for that piece. Something not too distracting that still enters my brain to get my neurons firing and feeling the way I want to feel in order to write what I want to write.

2. If I feel like I am stuck with way too many ideas in my head that all want to come out on the page but have no idea how to tie them all together in one writing piece, I like to free-write for a bit. Just start writing whatever (and I mean anything and everything) that pops into my head pertaining to my writing subject of interest. Sometimes I need to give myself a time limit as to how long I can free-write, or else I end up making a two page essay of gibberish. But once I've done a free-write, I can go back, pick out the ideas I like, and can start to make sense of all the madness that I've written down into cohesive ideas.  

3. If I already have an idea of what I want to talk about and what things I want to emphasize, I write a detailed outline for each individual paragraph. This especially helps when I am trying to write more analytical work: I like to make outlines of exactly how I want my essay to proceed. I say what topic I want to talk about for each paragraph, accompanied with evidence I plan on using and a brief description of how it adds to my paragraph and my argument for the whole essay. It almost becomes an abstract for each paragraph so when I start writing, I just have to add in my own writing style and make sure it all works cohesively together as one fluid paper.

The chapter, “A Tourist in Your Own Town,” in Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg, addresses the need for writers to take in their surroundings and become responsive to day-to-day objects and motions. She proposes the importance of “awaken[ing] ourselves” to the multiplicity of objects, emotions, and activity that surround us (99). The purpose of this chapter is to remind us that every seemingly minute thing has the potential to inspire a masterpiece - that it is possible to create something profound out of something ordinary, plain, or even boring. The first step towards this is that we have to first notice something’s existence, and that despite its commonality, realize that it is a beautiful thing. She writes that there is beauty to “simply being” - that the existence of a thing gives it enough merit for it to become meaningful as long as it is recognized (99).

She notes that as a tourist, one may see the beauty in something that most who live there may find mundane. When people stay in the same area for a long period of time, they become bored by every aspect of the area in which they live. Goldberg wants us, as writers, to become tourists whenever and wherever we are, especially in the area we’re from because that’s when we can perceive the smallest, seemingly most insignificant details, and therefore, perceive our world in a different light. So, to be good writers, we need to learn to appreciate things for the way they are and learn to give greater meaning to ordinary circumstances. In other words, pay attention to things that other people usually won’t pay attention to. Don’t be superficial. Don’t observe and then write literally. And! Just like you, your writing should be original. Let your writing be a reflection of who you are, and teach yourself how to turn your writing about the insignificant into an extraordinary piece of art. By doing so, you’ll be able to make others see the beauty in the things you admire because you’re able to translate your observations and emotions into prose or poetry.

Just like how you shouldn’t observe and write literally, it’s also important that you don’t force metaphors by thinking too hard about something and willing yourself into creating a beautiful prose out of nothing. Instead, let an idea flow through you. Don’t fluff up your writing by putting metaphors where it’s not needed. By taking in the little aspects of the world around you, you can begin to process all of the observations and turn them into inspiration for your next piece. By looking at daily objects within your town with a different lens, you can form metaphors because you will begin to see objects as more than what they are physically. She relates this idea in “Man Eats Car,” by describing that “all boundaries disappear” and that “there is no separation” because you will be “see[ing] the world when we are free from prejudice and can see the underlying principles” (34-35). You may begin to notice small things about other people, such as an embracing hug in which both parties are equally invested in it, or a hug in which one person pats the other on the back, and be able to determine the relationship between the two situations. Another, more poetic example, would be to notice the changing colors of leaves as they go through the seasons in the park that you typically visit. To notice little things like that will give you a greater advantage when it comes to writing because you will then be able to apply your own ideas to those observations, and perhaps come to a greater understanding of the town, and even the world that you live in.

Once you have your observations down pat, let these observations naturally work themselves into your writing. Maybe start by writing stream-of-consciously; let every detail of the observations and your thoughts go on the page. Then let yourself form metaphors where it feels right. Slowly and surely, you’ll come up with something you’ll be proud of. And even if nothing seems to work out, that’s fine. Go back out and explore.