View of what is right and what is wrong in writing.
What an interesting idea! I feel like it needs to be narrowed a bit, though, because there are so many different kinds of writing (poetry vs. academic writing vs. screenplays, and so on), and they all have different sets of rules. What's "right" and what's "wrong" for writers to do in their work? Who came up with these rules and what gave them the authority to do so? Or did the rules evolve from something else? – Nicole Williams9 years ago
I like this a lot! Because what is right and wrong is constantly shifting across cultures and across time. What is "wrong" now might have been "right" 500 years ago. This is also translates into what is a "good" person and what is a "bad" person, because those staples are defined by the amount of "right" vs. "wrong" things we do on a day to day basis! – Thomas019 years ago
Also, are we talking about what is right and wrong in terms of style? grammar? subject matter? plot and other elements? This could be a very interesting topic, looking at different standards of right and wrong, and how they are different across cultures and time. But It still needs to have a focus. Is this about taboo topics? Or is this from a more technical perspective? Or stylistic? – OddballGentleman9 years ago
It might be interesting to structure this as a case study in which response to a particular text across various regions or types of audiences has been divided because of differing values regarding what equates to "good" writing. – samfitzner9 years ago
I recently read an article about how the English language is drastically changing thanks to the internet. For example, we all know the "that moment when…" trend and how it's missing the independent clause. That being said, the article I read made the point that when we start our statement off with "that moment when" the people reading feel more a part of the story because "we've all been there." I thought it a really interesting topic! Because of the internet, the English language is changing rapidly and constantly. And not just written, it affects how we speak too. How do you feel about this? Personally, I think the changes give us more freedom to be creative with language than we ever have. Does anyone feel the same/have a different argument?
Adding the link to the article would be great. The more inlets of information, the more comprehensive the article can be. As for the actual topic itself, I think it'd be wise to consider slang vs. language. Your example with the "that moment when" phrase isn't necessarily representative of a changing language. The core of English is still the same; we still recognize that "that moment when" is grammatically insufficient. – Austin9 years ago
Building off what Austin said, I think you could almost look at how the internet is changing slang... because in many ways, it's very much slang and not the English language at large. I wouldn't use things like "all the feels" in a paper or an article or a formal meeting, but I certainly have and continue to do so in casual settings. It's an important distinction to consider. – Helen Parshall9 years ago
I think it depends on the audience. It's necessary to break the rules sometimes. I'd love to write a story using my local accent and dialect including some of the strange idiomatic language and slang we use in the North East of England. mickymoo15 – mickymoo159 years ago
Language is not quantifiable, but we try to put order to it anyway. How does banning words, ideas, and dictating specific rules of communication hinder our language development and expression?
It would also be good to look at this from the other perspective; how do we use the rules of language to reuse language in new and creative ways? How do we break the rules to make statements that the words themselves cannot convey? How do writers express themselves through their selective obedience to the rules? The truth is that without strict rules, it would be impossible for language to function. Without standard definitions, rules of grammar, and rules of style, there would be no possibility for creativity. To quote Phil Hansen, “embracing limitation can actually drive creativity.” Personally, this is the direction I would take on this article. – OddballGentleman9 years ago
"How does banning words, ideas, and dictating specific rules of communication hinder our language development and expression?" is basically the essence of 1984. Orwell proposed that without language or words to express something we will have troubles processing our emotions or acting on them which is part of the way Big Brother oppresses society. Without language to express rebellious thoughts how can they collectively start the movement? Communication is integral to people's ability to understand and grow, it's not wonder humans are more complex being than other species due to our language skills alone. – Slaidey9 years ago
With film adaptations of novels on the rise and a consistent genre to bring in money, have authors begun to tailor their writing to aid a future screenwriter who is adapting their novel? That is, are authors sacrificing the art of language to create literary worlds in order to create a "safe" cinematic novel?
I'd agree this is happening to some authors. I'm sure new writers like myself are too worried about being accepted that they tailor their writing so it's easier to accept, in this case for screenplays. I'd say it almost goes farther than that as I commented on another article that writers are dumbing down their word play so the average reader won't lose interest. Readers and screenplay adapters alike don't want to spend a lot of time sitting there trying to figure out what it all really means, they just want to get to the end... Authors are pressured to be accessible to the less literary to maximize profit. – Slaidey9 years ago
I would agree that this does happen, but I do not know if it is entirely a bad thing. One example that comes to mind is the film/book My Sister's Keeper. The ending in the book changes when the plot is put to film drastically, where the opposite sister lives. I feel as if the author could have made this choice to offer her readers of the story an alternate ending, so that those who preferred the "other" sister that passed in the novel can have her live, too. – kathleensumpton9 years ago
I agree as well that literature's structure has changed after the arrival of film and not necessarily for the better. At least from the twentieth century onward, the majority of books are no longer full of lengthy prose and have instead become clipped or "dumbed down" for the sake of directness towards the reader. As was the case with Ernest Hemingway, writers who embody this style are more likely to be considered movie-friendly by directors and producers since their work resembles that of a screenplay and thus easier to market as a product; even at the expense of another writer's own creativity who might have preferred writing in that lengthiness if they weren't pressured to attract film prospects. – dsoumilas9 years ago
I do believe that is the case for present writers. they make sure to edit, rewrite or exclude from their novels, brilliant ideas. This is causing for a deterioration and standardization of novels, a.k.a "We already know how it ends". Plot twists are becoming more predictable by trying to become more unpredictable. All writers ought to remember, they are artists first. – Priskiller9 years ago
Yes some writers dumb down their work, but I wouldn't blame movies. I'd blame the desire to be rich and famous and "follow the heard" mentality. Some write but some just want to make money. And then there's the creative writing workshops and some of the "writers" that come out and say one should cut practically everything out of the story. Those fancy irrelevant details? Cut them out. Purple prose? Exterminate it. Keep it short and simple. And these are workshops for writers. Naturally I disagree. If that were the standard, Chaucer's books as well as the Beowulf manuscript should be burned because they're too playful with language. Clearly Dickens and Dostoyevsky are shlekht writers because they don't cut enough out of their prose. Too extravagant, too long and dull. And this attitude I've seen from fellow writers who come out of workshops. Not 100% of the time but still. I hear the underlining message. We must also remember however, we are not the Victorians whose vocabulary utilized way too many Latin-root words. One kan be artistick and still be kreativ. See what I mean. One kan still play with language. I'm doing it reight now, by changing die spelling of serten words. My main belief is it is the desire to be wealthy and the fact that we do not educate vocabulary well enough. But then again I'd rather use more stronge Germanic words, than Latin root words. I believ that secretly people want to be challenged. Not socially but linguistically. If a person complains about a book having to many big words, install on their phone Merriam Webster dictionary for them, so that way they kan't put a book down because it hath too many big and groB words. Blame not Film and Video games. They are merely other forms of telling brilliant stories. Our attentions are spread out all over the place. We have never in human history had so many fun things to doen. Books should be fun and exciting and that is a value that teachers and parents should instill in readers. – Starvix Draxon9 years ago
Is it a sacrifice or just a marketing decision? – T. Palomino10 months ago
There are so many majors for prospective college students to choose from in our society, but it is generally the areas of study that fall under the "Humanities" label that focus on the multifarious modes of the "accepted" written word. The "accepted" standard is, obviously, the academic level which professors expect students to meet. But this standard depends upon the major. A History essay differs from an English paper, while an argument posed in a Philosophy essay often takes a different stance on the human psyche as opposed to a Psychology paper. After considering all of the popular majors under the Humanities umbrella, these distinctions become even clearer, yet every student still chases after that elusive academic standard.
Yes, it is certainly controversial when considering the marking systems for humanities and essay-based subjects! Applying stringent rules to such varied pieces can be difficult. I think the humanities have been suffering due to the privileging of work that can produce quicker 'results' based on controlled experiments and statistics (something more suited to hard science subjects). In consequence, from the science side of things the expectations for quick results & need for funding can have a huge effect on the style of experiment undertaken (for example, longitudinal studies may be overlooked, or studies with less obvious and immediate results sadly abandoned) and on the humanities side of things the abilities to be critical, think deeply, and take a holistic approach are unfairly downgraded. This is a huge issue, and I think there is an interesting political angle to be considered in a piece such as this. – Camille Brouard9 years ago
I think this is a very interesting topic that should be explored further! It is super important to understand the distinction between writing for different audiences and genres. – Morgan Muller9 years ago
I think this is a very relevant topic, especially for the people writing on this cite, or for other outlets. It's important to know how to write for what audience, which will make someone more marketable in the future when looking for jobs in a particular field. – Samantha Brandbergh9 years ago
This is an interesting topic. I guess an important aspect to think about when Writing on the differences in academic writing within the humanities is not only the topic of discussion, but also the intended audience and most importantly of all the sources used to prove any one argument. – CheesyJ9 years ago
A good example is why Anime series sometimes leave the ending open and unexplained, if not outright inconclusive in an attempt to garner more reaction and raise demand for a second season which always fails. A fair example of this would be Pandora Hearts and Darker than Black, one of which was inconclusive and another which was not coherent, both of which became completely ridiculous. That said, as I am more familiar with Anime having to come back into circulation, I would put this topic as an Anime topic, not writing. – SpectreWriter9 years ago
Another example is Invader Zim, the Nickelodeon television series that was cancelled in the early 2000s but was slowly brought back through the memories of children who loved it at the time and powerful lobbying groups such as Operation Head Pigeons (a Facebook community that has held multiple letter writing and video campaigns, established a convention--InvaderCon--to demonstrate the scope of the IZ fanbase, and worked with the creators to bring back the series in a comic form, which will be released tomorrow!) For that, it took a team of leaders and a brilliant social media campaign to rally together artists and show fans alike who all agreed the series was too good to remain unfinished. – LavenderNotebook9 years ago
Maybe look into whether there have been change.org or indiegogo (or similar) campaigns about bringing stuff back? I heard that recently a group of fans raised enough money for three episodes of Thunderbirds (with puppets and all) using a fundraising campaign online. – Camille Brouard9 years ago
Originality is valued in every art form; setting yourself apart with new original ideas or forms. Is imitative writing or fan fiction discredited from greatness? Does innovation and creation take precedence over quality? What is more important to qualify a writer and classify their work as literature?
Interesting topic! It could be extended to drawing and filmmaking, or any other art actually. Students that copy their masters to learn and find their own way, but then how can they detach themselves from their style? It's an important question
– Rachel Elfassy Bitoun9 years ago
I believe that fan fiction takes an authors writing someplace that the author themselves cannot go. And adds a deeper breadth of insight regarding the characters in a story. – terry60209 years ago
If I find the time between other articles, I might just take this up. In my opinion, fan fiction is a valuable tool to get started. Imitation is not bad inherently as long as it's done right. These days, originality is hard to come by simply because most people see originality as 'new' and strictly 'new.' This is wrong. Originality is 'new form.' A new way of doing something that has been done before. In that sense, imitation is the starting point and at the end leads to innovation and originality. That's y two cents. – SpectreWriter9 years ago
I think it's C.S.Lewis or Tolkien who writes about designing a new leaf in relation to originality in stories. What are genres and why do we have favourite ones? They are all kind of the same, but also a little different. When does something become "just a rip off of that which came before it" "are there only seven or so basic different stories to be told"? It seems to me innovation is taking precedence over quality in today's culture because people are willing to publish smut because it's new (mostly because no one was willing to publish smut before).
When it comes to fanfiction there's also a quality barrier that could be explored, who is appreciating and expanding on the universe in a unique individual way and who is just being a lazy writer using another person's already developed characters to tell a simple meaningless story? – Slaidey9 years ago
This is an extremely interesting topic given the fact that one of the creative writing techniques taught in high schools today deals with imitating the craft of legendary authors. I think it is extremely hard to be innovative when people, especially writers who are most likely readers as well, are constantly in contact with others and interacting with the craft of other writers and readers. I think that most of the time, depending on the situation and writing style, innovation and creation do not take precedence over quality. On the other hand, having a unique voice as a writer is important to establishing and classifying their work as art or literature. – Morgan Muller9 years ago
This could chime in well with a consideration of how attitudes to writing & originality have changed over time. Centuries back it was much more accepted to lift themes and stories from others' work, Shakespeare did it a hell of a lot, for example. Copyright laws especially have made originality at the forefront of importance in comparison to copying/being inspired by dominant stories, themes, characters, and styles. Could also have something to do with the emphasis on individuality in Western cultures. – Camille Brouard9 years ago
I have learned that there are differences between writing in print and writing for the screen, and that the way we read isn't the same. Is this true, and to what extent? Is this something that will eventually disappear as time goes on, and generations become more and more naturalized to technology?
Another important thing to discuss for this topic would be the value of each method. Is digital more valuable simply because of the technology movement? Or will print always have its own place?
As someone who still writes down all of their notes and to do lists on paper, keeping a paper calendar organizer instead of using a digital one on my phone, I see print as holding a place for quite some time to come.
Afterall, I see the increase in technology eventually translating over to fewer and fewer jobs available to humans, and print is falling to the wayside the same way we are. Saving print might mean saving ourselves.
What do you think? Take this topic in any direction you want.
The way I see it, a similar dilemma to bread making or buy it from the store ready made. Writing with paper and pencil is the all encompassing process of recording ideas for others to decipher. Composing for digital media is basically the entire publishing process compressed for the individual, in a more rapid and efficient manner; but, with many more bells and whistles. – L:Freire6 years ago
