Outcome 4: Be Prepared for Change

For Outcome 4, the writer must practice several revision techniques and processes through their composition. The writer does this by utilizing processes such as re-brainstorming, drafting, reading, writing and analyzing. The writer must also incorporate feedback into refining their rhetoric and evaluative choices to fully understand their writing and deliver to the reader in the intended way that is consistent with the situation, purpose, genre and desired effect.

The processes required in Outcome 4 is like changing plans and taking suggestions while on a vacation. When planning a vacation, or an essay, we do not fully evaluate the consequences of our choices and we cannot predict what will happen. For example, maybe you are an hour away from a dinner reservation that starts in 10 minutes. You will need to be open to changing your plans and maybe having a barbeque instead. Or maybe there are simply too many things to do and you are feeling overwhelmed on a vacation meant to relax you. That is when you go back to the drawing board and shift some things around so you can have that successful trip. On a vacation, we can change our plans at the suggestion of a friend because it will make our experience better. While writing, we must also take suggestions to improve our writing. This is similar when composing an essay because while we write we do not consider how the audience will interpret our sentences. It is imperative to go back after receiving feedback and revising paragraphs so it fits better with our purpose.

Revision is a crucial aspect of essay writing, it allows you to reprocess your writing and make it better. To exemplify Outcome 4, I will showcase short assignment 6, the Sudden Fiction composition piece. Before submitting this essay, I went through intensive revisioning techniques to create the final product.

When I first started writing my Sudden Fiction piece, I had no sense of direction. The story lacked any sudden “wow” factor and was confusing. With my edits, I practiced composing as a recursive, collaborative process and to develop flexible strategies for revising throughout the composition process by engaging in a variety of (re)visioning techniques, including (re)brainstorming, (re)drafting, (re)reading, (re)writing, (re)thinking, and editing. My first draft of the sudden fiction piece was a simple narrative of a car crash. It was set up like a news report and the victim was watching the broadcast. The final twist at the end of the composition piece revealed the victim, “the obituary picture appeared on the screen, and I stared straight into my eyes.” This ending lacked creativity and seemed confusing, even to me. I began to re-brainstorm different ways of writing about a car crash. I developed a variety of different techniques. such as a post-mortem letter from the victim, a vivid description of a crash, and a backwards poem by a drunk driver. With these ideas running around, I redrafted a few scenes. For example, the concluding sentence of the piece would be the logical beginning of events, “I had one too many shots.” But this was too obvious for me and I needed something a little more subtle. I brainstormed and reread and realized I could combine my ideas. I started to rewrite my composition piece and integrating my different ideas into my writing. I juggled between two different forms, from a personal and mysterious narrative to vivid descriptions of a scene. I was satisfied with this technique, but based on the peer feedback I received--there were still things that needed to be changed.

Through my Sudden Fiction piece, I demonstrate giving, receiving, interpreting, and incorporating constructive feedback in my writing. The first person to read the draft I submitted stated that “the essay is about some terrible accident, but I cannot tell what kind of accident.” This meant that I had to include more hints in my writing, so I added sentences like “An unbearable wail echoing off the crushed metal, chasing the last breath of air.” and “A faint heartbeat against a deflating airbag, frantically slowly down with every thump.” I wanted to make it obvious that it was a car crash, so including airbag and crushed metal made it clearer. The peer editor read through these edits and stated that they could now see it was a car crash but they did not understand what happened to cause it. I wanted to show a drunk driving incident, so I added sentences like “Cans with the remnants of that fateful night shot upwards and turned into an elegant dive towards metal.” and “I did everything right. I didn’t have a single sip.” I did this to make it clear that there was alcohol involved and that the narrator was a victim. My peer editor then was able to tell that the piece was about a drunk driving accident and that the narrative detailed the apology letter of the victim, despite them never doing anything wrong. Another peer editor stated that some of my sentences messed with the flow of my writing. I had a section of writing in which I detailed that “the strong smelling substance leaked onto the car seats.” I agreed with this feedback and so I removed this section so I could keep the balance and flow in my writing.

In my composition of this Sudden Fiction piece, I refined nuanced composition choices for delivery to intended audiences in a manner consonant with the genre, situation, and desired rhetorical effects and meanings. My intended audience was teenagers that go to parties and drink alcohol. I wanted to show them the consequences of their actions but also keep the descriptions graphically vivid. Originally, the narration was not italicized. I refined this composition choice to deliver the narration in an emphasized way so that my audience could fully grasp what was going on, otherwise, the narration is swallowed up in the imagery. Also, I would originally switch between one line of narration and three sentences of imagery. However, I refined this composition choice because the structure of my writing became too predictable. It allowed my audience to fall into a trance. I changed up the structure with a line of narration, a paragraph, a few lines of narration, a few paragraphs. This change kept my audience engaged and it is a change consistent with my desire rhetorical effect of demonstrating the consequences of drinking and driving.

Overall, by writing my Sudden Fiction piece, I learned the importance of rewriting. I always hated editing my papers, but this has given me a newfound appreciation for re-visioning and re-brainstorming. If I had not taken a step back and brainstormed again, I would have had a poorly written and lackluster essay. I also do not really like submitting my papers for peer edits because I feel like other people cannot fully understand my writing. However, this assignment has taught me to value other people’s opinions on my writing because they read it with no preconceived ideas and underlying knowledge about the piece. So if something is missing or not obvious, they would know. I have learned even the smallest of changes can alter the entire piece of writing, and to be very deliberate and careful in my edits.

Like the revisions required for writing the perfect essay, you have to be open to changing aspects of your vacation. I know that my plans for this vacation are not perfect. We have a dinner reservation at a restaurant an hour drive away. Everyone is stressed about getting to dinner on time, but we all forgot our nice dresses at the hotel which is 45 minutes away. A friend suggests going to a beach where there is bio-luminescent plankton and having a barbecue. We call ahead and inform the restaurant that we will not make it, and everyone’s sanity is preserved. Sitting around a warm campfire, sharing barbecued shrimp and talking about your favorite memories proved to be a much better experience than sitting in a cramped restaurant. The bio-luminescent plankton beach is breathtaking, feeling the waves play at your feet as the plankton lighting up the beach look like stars in the sky. This was a great change to our plans, and it has made our experience much more meaningful and relaxing.