Tim Gunn on Style – Make it work!!

My original blog post on style. Gosh, it feels like it was written years ago instead of just a few months. It’s been an odd semester altogether for me this fall, so going back and reading my old posts has reminded me of everything that has gone on.

Anywhoodle …

During this particular class this semester, I have learned quite a bit about style and what I agree with when it comes to style guides like Strunk & White and Williams. I agree that writing, in general, should follow certain guidelines when it comes to syntax, sentence structure, concision, and grammAr. What I think gets lost in the message is that as a writer you can – and should – manipulate those guideline to create your own voice and style. You can use casual language and even vulgarity and still have stylistically “correct” writing.

Now, I use the scare quotes because language is a living, breathing, always-evolving thing. There are always going to be people fighting over what is correct. As recently as a semester or two ago I got dinged for ending a sentence with a preposition, even though it’s an arbitrary rule that, from my research on it, seems to come from some prescriptive grammar rules that the upper classes used as an upper crust, hoity-toity secret handshake. As the Winston Churchill anecdote says, “That is the type of English up with which I will not put.”

However, like most things, there are times and places for each type of writing. In technical writing, you don’t want to use casual language and you NEED to be clear and concise. In work or school related writing you (for the most part) don’t want to drop f-bombs or call someone vulgar names.

My point being that style, in terms of writing but not unlike sartorial sensibilities, is a matter of the type of thing being written, the author’s own voice, and the reader’s personal taste. ee cummings got a lot of crap (and English students get a lot of mileage out of using him as an example, don’t they?) for not using punctuation and capitalization. Not being a huge fan of poetry, but a big fan of writing what you want, how you want, I don’t get the big deal. Writing for entertainment purposes shouldn’t have rules on it – it’s entertainment. So long as it doesn’t break the law (libel) or meets the requirements for your teachers, instructors, and professors, who the hell cares how you write? You’ll find your audience and you’ll find your style.

So I say: Rock your style and to hell with what the fashionistas, or rather, the writer-istas say.

Peer Review – The Final Font-ier

Ha ha ha!! Get it? FONT-ier?

Sorry about that. I’m sugared up from my daughter’s birthday party. Red velvet cake, oh how I adore thee.

Anyway, there are some questions what need answering. So here we go:

• What was the most useful aspect(s) of peer review? What parts of the process  did you find least useful?

      At first, I didn’t think that peer review was going to do anything for me except piss me off that people were reading and CRITICIZING MY WORK. Reading and enjoying, I can get behind, but peers actually reviewing? I’ve never really liked it. I attribute it to a horrible 8^th grade classmate who went out of his way to trash my writing at every turn. But, as we moved on and I started to really understand that my classmates were just as apprehensive about it as I was, gave me the confidence to start suggesting things that I wanted to see. I had to put on my teacher hat and ask myself what I would say if this was a final draft, beyond typos and misspellings which I figured would be caught later on. So, after four rounds of this what I found to be the most useful aspect was knowing what the paper was missing, being able to express that, and getting feedback on content. I think getting feedback on that sort of thing from people who are also writing the same paper as you was awesome. We could give advice based on what we found helped our paper and get advice from others on the same. Also, I loved reading other’s papers to see how they utilized the readings and discussions differently from the way I did.
      If I had to choose something that was least useful, I’d have to say it was (what I thought to be) my favorite way of reviewing – the star system. At first, I loved it, but then it occurred to me that those stars are very subjective and didn’t really help contribute to getting constructive criticism. I know I hid behind, “They’ll know what is wrong if I give them 3 stars. I don’t need to elaborate. 

• What do you think you have learned this term about responding to others’ writing?

I think that I have learned that when responding, it’s best to compliment, then offer a piece of criticism. The negative part always seems to go over better if you give an honest compliment first. Just jumping in with fix this and fix that puts the writer on the defensive from the get go, even those that get a lot out of and enjoy peer review.

• What do you think you have learned this term about making use of your   classmates’ advice?

I learned that it wasn’t personal – it was required. As peer reviewers, we knew that our comments were going to be read not just by the writer of the piece we are reviewing, but by the instructor as well, we can’t just call it in. We have to at least make some effort to actually review. By figuring out that my classmates were not out to get me and that they seem to feel the same way about it as I do helped me to really read the reviews closely and listen to the advice. It’s not like JK Rowling wrote a book and never had any reviews and edits done for her. And Lord knows, I’m no Rowling. If I were, I had a bigger house and a maid to clean it.

• Anything else about peer review?

I really liked the process toward the end, after I knew some of my classmates. I had a read on what approach would work with those that I knew (i.e., humor or seriousness) and if I could tell a blue joke without offending 

YouTube Videos

First of all, there is no doubt in my mind that multimedia/film making is pretty much exactly the same as writing. There are a ton of similarities between the writing process and the filming process. It’s hard to film without a written script. And even if there is no dialogue int he film, there is still a story to tell or an opionion to express through pictures and if you don’t have something in place (like a storyboard), you are going to forget something and your film is either not going to make sense or it will be missing something. Then there is the revision and editing. The editing process in film is very much the same as revising in writing. A shot may seem great on the storyboard, however when ou get face to film, it doesn’t translate and it needs to be changed or deleted altogether.

My groups process has been great. Everyone has participated and we have allowed each other the freedoms to do what we are strong with or have the ability to commit to and still make a great film. For instance, I missed the first in person meeting so I didn’t get to be a large part of the writing process, but I was able to contribute equally by offering up my home as the location and even cooked for everyone so that our little family dinner scene would feel authentic.

For the most part, writing is such a solitary act that going into something that is inherently group oriented like a multimedia or film project can really put you out of your comfort zone, but I have really liked this process so far. I’ve felt kind of lonely over here on my laptop in cyber classroom land. It was nice to be with other people.