Chapter 1 RR

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While I wasn’t a fan of this first chapter, I found it interesting that the author(s) of this chapter noted that writers have a tendency to reflect the same style and techniques of other writers in the same genre. Whether this is done subconsciously or not, I don’t know, but it certainly introduces the impact that a community can have on a person’s style. Style seems to be the focus of the majority of this chapter, and for good reason, without style, reading would be extremely boring and have little to no substance. Style is what sparks interest in readers and as it further explains in chapter 1, style can be tweaked and polished to achieve the author’s purpose. Using colloquial language, for example, can help a writer reach out to his or her audience through familiarity, or in contrast, formal language can be used to gain respect or, on occasion, be used to intimidate others.

 I’ve learned about style nearly my entire educational life, but what was truly unique in this chapter was how style is described as a determining factor in the genre of a work. Changing the tone of a passage can certainly change the author’s purpose in writing it and contribute to deciding in what genre a piece of writing belongs. For example, tone alone, can determine whether a piece is labeled as political or satirical, as The Onion makes use of satire in their mock political stories. While this chapter wasn’t particularly compelling, it did make me realize how many different devices contribute to the genre of a piece.

Comments

  1. Camille VilelaSeptember 3, 2017 at 10:57 AM

    Hi Josh
    I loved it how you pointed out that we are who we read. We are influenced by what we've read and that's why reading is just as important as writing. Style is indeed very important in a text, and intertwined with audience, genre and other elements of writing, it can spark interest in the reader, as you pointed out. Loved your reflection on the elements of reading and writing.

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