Writting tips that I like and dislike

I love to write, and for this reason I take into consideration almost all information and tips to improve my writing. I think my personal favorite rule off of the A completely Idiosyncratic, Slightly Off-Beat and Potentially Helpful Collection of Writing Advice by Christine Stephenson is number one. ‘The better you understand the rules, the more liberated you are from them’. I normally write words that fit closest to how I would talk. I think that it gives a little life to whatever it is you are writing. This rule though makes me not feel so bad about breaking some general writing rules. A lot of times I writing a certain way on purpose because I want it to roll off the tongue or sound a certain way when somebody is reading it. It may not be grammatically correct, but it is how I want the composition or whatever it may be to be read.

I also like rule number six. ‘Grammar is a part of language… and it can be fun (like a puzzle)’. Depending on what I am writing I like to play with commas and semicolons to make a thought sound a certain way on paper. I think it is kind of fun because it’s almost like my thought process is being written down on paper, exactly how I am thinking it, so people can read exactly what and how I am thinking. Sometimes I probably get carried away with this but sometimes commas and such are just cool to have to change the flow of a paper.

My favorite quote off the sheet is “The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shock proof shit detector” by Earnest Hemingway. I always think about something similar to this when I am turning in papers. I had a teacher once that told me that if you think a paper is bad, then it is. I am almost paranoid about turning in papers that I think are bad now because of that teacher but it is true. Personally, if I don’t like a paper that I have written it’s because I just couldn’t get the idea that I wanted on to the paper. So if I’m unhappy with it, the reader must be unhappy with it. Now, if I honestly hate what I have written I just throw it away and start again on a clean slate. It would be nice though to have some detector that could just tell me the negative qualities of my paper. It’s funny though that there is a similar quote to what a writing teacher had told me a few years ago.

There are some tips that I don’t like though. I especially don’t like when I get a paper back with red marks everywhere with things scratched out and some grammar changed. Yes, big grammar mistakes are ok to mark, but sometimes teachers just don’t read papers and grade them based on the style in which they are written. Like I talked about with rule #1, sometimes I mean to make certain grammar mistakes, but when I teacher red markers all the mistakes it gets a little irritating because it means they aren’t reading your paper with complete attention. I think that sometimes teachers just do not spend enough time grading papers. They can quickly mark an entire paper in red, but they don’t have the time to just sit and try to understand why we wrote how we did. Either that or they just don’t care to spend the time at all because the paper should be a typical, boring, straight edged college essay.

In general though, tips on writing are always interesting. One new tip can completely change or add to a writing style. It’s interesting though because if I like the tip, I remember it and use it in future papers. Either way though, tips and suggestions are always good, because they can help you understand the writer that you are and how to improve your writing; and there’s always room for improvement.