Allen Reading Response

Summary

            In the article “The Inspired Writer vs. The Real Writer” author Sarah Allen attempts to explain to debunk for students the myth that what makes a good writer is a willingness to write and an inspiration to do so. She thinks that by explaining to students that writers do not write by divine intervention, that all writers must overcome an unwillingness to write and read in an alien discourse, is it possible to look at writing as a discipline not reserved for the elite few.

 

Synthesis

            Allen’s article is very similar to Greene’s in her suggestion that students emulate the writings of academics in their own writing. This practice reminds me of listening in on the academic conversation, as Greene describes it through the Burke metaphor, before one “puts in one’s oar” they must “catch the tenor of the argument” (11).

 

 

Prewriting Exercise

            I think of professional writers as not necessarily inherently better at writing than anyone else, just more practiced and disciplined. When I think of the will power it takes to work on a day-to-day basis, sometimes without deadlines, I wonder where the impetus to write comes from.

 

Applying and Exploring Ideas

1)      I think that, at some time in every writers life, she has used the method of imitation Allen mentions (32). How else can we join in on an academic conversation, if we don’t study the way in which ideas are being delivered and then emulate that delivery? The point of Writing About Writing is to get students to write real academic scholarship by making them read closely articles of current scholars in composition. I certainly have modeled my writing style after the style of others; it is necessary to pick up the “alien discourse” if one wants to be taken seriously (31).

 

Questions for Discussion and Journaling

2)      Allen proposes that students throw the idea of the inspired writer out the window. To become more comfortable in their writing they should model their writing after current scholarship and take the advice of teachers and other academic writers.

 

Meta Moment

            There was a time in my life when I was negatively affected by the idea of the inspired writer. I was writing a paper for my senior seminar and I felt the words and ideas should just flow out of me. After all, the topic was one I was interested in, and I had spent the last four years learning and practicing how to write academic papers. When that divine intervention did not come, I began to question what I was even doing in my major. The resulting paper was one of my worst efforts to date, but I learned from my mistakes. I have since utilized many of the same suggestions Allen makes in her article, primarily her suggestion of modeling one’s writing after other successful scholars.

 

Personal Thoughts

            Allen’s article can be a bit jarring at first; one gets used to a certain level of formality in academic writing. However, her intensely informal tone will, I hope, connect to the students in a way that perhaps some of the other writings did not.