For today's blog, please read the following and then share your thoughts on Lanzbaum's position.
On Writing
by Leon Lanzbaum
All writing is a form of prayer.
-- John Keats
Graduate school: "We must write for our audience," says my rhetoric-and-writing professor. "We do not write for ourselves," he says. On this point, he is adamant, a rock. And on this same point, an ineffable tumult stirs within me as I sense most writers in academe submit to this professor's prescription, a prescription I'm not ready to swallow. As a student of the self-satisfied writers--Faulkner, Didion, White etc.--I learned the writer comes first. Not that writers shouldn't visualize their readers, but when purpose yields to audience, words lose their innocence. The writer holds back, does not give his or her all, or even worse, gives too much, and that's dishonest writing.
So what do we do as academic writers? Should we write for ourselves or write for an audience? I'll admit, I played the game. During my rhetoric-and-writing stint, I gave my professor what he wanted. I wrote for him! And my essays were the most antiseptic, fallow pieces I have ever written. But such is the nature of academic writing. It marks scholarly territory, territory devoid of the first person singular, territory that, for the most part, forces the writer to kill, or at least, hide his or her identity.
As someone who cares about writing, I loathe the writing of most rhetoric-and-writing departments. I abhore passive sentences and colorless verbs and narcoleptic nouns. I'm allergic to textbook writing and the convoluted, meandering language of lawyers and literary theorists. Writing is communication, the inside of one person speaking to another person. Writing is not a contest in whose word is bigger! I say that if we satisfy ourselves, an audience will find us. Read the words of Henry David Thoreau or Ernest Hemingway or Sandra Cisneros and you'll find writers who write for themselves yet still speak to the world.
But let’s face it, whether you're in English 101 or you write for a national magazine, you do write for some sort of audience--maybe your editor, maybe your readers, maybe your rhetoric-and-writing professor.
The Key: Respect the man or woman at the upper end of the keyboard, you!
Don't lose who you are. Lose yourself and you lose a unique voice, a voice that will never pass this way again.
So let's see what you can do to keep your unique voice, to write for yourself, yet still write for an audience.
17 comments:
Lanzbaum has a good point. Even though I am not a big fan of writing and I will avoid it if at all possible, I can see that when you are writing you have to be interested in it in order for you to put all your effort into it. If you are writing with all these different types of restrictions than you are not going to have a very good story and it will not be interesting. If you do not write for yourself and if you are not passionate about what you are writing about than it will be a dull story to read and the audience can detect whether or not your whole heart is in it. Writing something that doesn't offend others is going to get a wider audience, but it depends on who is writing and what they are writing about. If I am passionate on something than , most of the time, I do not care who it is I will let people know what I feel and they will be more than capable on figuring out that I am passionate about what I am saying.
I agree with Lanzbaum and stephanie, when writers write the stories of choice then passion shows through, giving the story a more personal, realistic twist.
I have personally witnessed having to "write to the teacher". In my previous college one assignment I was given in a psych class was to right a response to a political cartoon. I searched all day to find the perfect on and wrote my heart out, using passion and opinion and in the end I was impressed w/ myself. On the day I was to recieve my paper back I was pumped, "yes I made an A" was all I could think about. Turns out I was wrong. The teacher dogged me, ripped me in everyway. I was crushed. After class I approached the teacher to clarify his remarks, he simply said, "you really gonna vote for this guy?" "Do you know about his tax policy?" He ripped me because we did not share the same belief!!! I was mortified, but what was I supposed to do? He was the teacher, so the rest of the semester I was forced to write to his liking. I was very sad because I had felt alive and proud writing that paper, I'd poured my heart and soul into it, just to have someone brush it off. So what do you do? I guess you do both. When it comes to textbooks and magazine, stay dry write the facts and let others make their opinion, and when it comes to everything, go for it, make your opinion known!
To write (or type) to one’s means or to a reflective audience, whether they should listen or not. To speak to yourself or to others while not initially speaking out loud. To think of something vivid enough to appeal to those listening as well as to keeping yourself mentally driven on the subject of choice. Whether you may feel “writer’s block”, or some form of “blank” stare into space when a topic like this is given to you.
As for me, I speak for me. I used to speak for others, trying desperately to appeal to myself. Yet, I felt despair every now and again because no one was listening. My music in general took a dramatic turn for the better because of it. Lyrics that people have heard from the “standard” artists, I used to apply to myself. No more. No more will I jeopardize my authentic nature and musical percussions for someone else’s agenda.
As an example rightful so, Hip-Hop/Rap had meaning. The past was beautiful. Artists were original and had their own feel. Their own persona. Their own logic. For years now, record companies have brutalized what I used to enjoy. The music I used to recite when I heard it. I music I used to dance to. Things change as always, sometimes not for the better. So many debates and discussions come out of this. I still listen to music, don’t get me wrong. Without it, I wouldn’t get through the day. But to bend down and accept what has been released from “crumbs” off of the street, rappers I mean, is not for me.
While either an attempt to share ideas, convey a current thought, or to persuade others to consider your perspectives; ones writing reflects the symbolism that is their conviction. Leon Lanzbaum’s essay describes how he suggests that one should consider their writings to be akin to a prayer as opposed to preaching an idea. He promotes that using simple terms and keeping the level of vocabulary down to earth should be the norm instead of words that are not used regularly. Ultimately Lanzbaum encourages writers to compile one’s specific beliefs and others will believe in you.
There is a good point being made here. The key to good writing is to write honestly but at the same time consider the readers. Just like the movie industry, the majority of films that unknowingly go straight-to-DVD is because they stink! Yeah the demographics and casting might be good, but if all of that still equals a movie that nobody finds appealing, then you have a bomb.
I guess it's harder for some writers than others to write this way, because some honesty is probably sacrificed even if it does pleases its readers, but the more readers are pleased, the more readers you gain that will be faithful to your craft.
Lanzbaum is perfect in his position on writing. As i have said in my This I Believe essay creativity and individuality are essential in anything we do as human beings. I agree with his point from top to bottom. Why conform when conformity just gets so boring. let your audience find you, identify with you, and love you for the writer you are. Writing is difficult as a college student being that we feel the constraints of our audience bearing down us but why be held down? Push away from that and maybe your audience well love it for what is.
Free writing has often been used to clear the mind in preparation for meditation or as a meditative technique in itself. This is a technique used by novelists and other writers to battle writer's block and also can be used for blogger's block. Those who are constantly writing do it because the enjoy it. When writers free their mind, their thoughts, memory, and imagination can travel so far and beyond into a whole new level of consciousness. Leon Lansbaum's position on writing is strongly agreed on by many because he demonstrates his views on the situation by grasping the attention of the audience with his perceptual state of mind. Words are a form of expression, so express yourself.
I totally agree with Lanzbaum on this subject. I know i dont like writing; for fun or for school but i do notice that when i write a paper on something that im not interested in or i feel that I am being forced to write i tend to just see what different combinations of words i can throw into the paper to make it look good and not care if I actually believe in it.
I like when he said, "to write for yourself, yet still write for an audience", that is what writing is all about. You have to stay true to yourself, then people will see the real you. When you stay true, then you can have an effect on millions of people lives. Socrates said, "Employ your tme in improving yourself by other men's writing so that you shall come easily by what others have labored hard for." So to all the writers, just be yourself
I like the way Lanzbaum thinks. I perfer writing in my own words, without worring about wether or not someone would be annoying or offended at one small mispelling or grammar problem.
I’m not much for writing, but I definitely enjoy it more when I am the one who chooses the subject and the style. I loathed writing in high school. The teachers never really taught me HOW to write, especially something that would satisfy all of their criteria. I also never understood the purpose of analytical papers, unless you planned to be an English teacher. Who am I to try and tell someone what Shakespeare was trying to convey to us in his many writings? I think high school English classes really ruined me for many writers. I read for pleasure. Being forced to read something already sours my taste for it, let alone being required to pick it apart and decipher the ‘hidden meanings.’ When I was younger I wrote poetry and short stories. I was proud of those writings and enjoyed telling stories in my own words. That really isn’t the case anymore. To my surprise, I really enjoyed my last composition class. The teacher broke things down for us and explained it all so that I understood it better than I ever did before. She also graded fairly, without letting her own views influence her. I still didn’t really enjoy writing, but I was better able to do it and am proud of the pieces that I did for that class. I do agree that you have to write to your audience, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t infuse the piece with your own passion. I think it’s better to write it for yourself first, then try to tailor it to the audience after the fact. If you spend all your time during the initial writing process making it perfect for the reader, it will lose some of its life.
I believe every writer owes it to him or herself to write for themself. No one should do something to please others and displease themselves. No individual should feel obligated to conform with the "norm". The most telling sentence in my opinion was "I say that if we satisfy ourselves, an audience will find us." I believe that is entirely true. People want to believe in people for who they are and not who they pretend to be.
I've been taught to always consider your audience when writing. It's been drilled in my head since high school. I don't like writing, but it seems that when i do write, if it comes from the heart or i take a personal approach to it, writing is more easier. I can see where audience can affect you dramatically, considering if the audience doesn't like your work, then it's not going to get read. I guess it would depend on the individual writer and the audience they are trying to reach. There are all sorts of readers out there who like so many different styles.
I think that writing goes is equally for you as it is for the audience. You have to write a paper that you are interested in in order for another person to be interested also. When your writing about something that you do not like then you more than likely will not have a the desire to make it interesting because it doesn't appeal to you. Therefore I think that you have to be interested in what you write about in order to make it interesting to the readers.
Good points
Writing is like comedy, though the script is for you there's still an audience to be entertained. The transaction of taking material that appeals to you and making it appeal to an audience presents a great challenge. Which brings us to creativity-- the ability to make it work.
Though you may have guidelines; in the end you are still writing for your toughest critic, yourself.
In conclusion, I do agree with what Lanzbaum has to say.
Meaning is everything.
Me growing up I was never a great writer reading this article i found it very informative. Lanzbaum made a great point. i find it easier when you are talking to an audience. in my writing i never looked at it as writing to an audience. but i also think the person writing should have an interest in what they are writing on.
If you're writing solely for the purpose of pleasing an audience and with no trace of your own voice, you may as well not even sign your name. I think personal identity is key in almost any writing and that a work's strength lies in its appeal to the reader. I think it's important for a reader to be see the writer as a person as opposed to something more like a generic, numb mind-pleasing machine. Most people, at least most people I know, don't like to be placed into a general audience.
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