PERSONAL STATEMENT ONE
PERSONAL STATEMENT TWO
“If you don’t have the time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that,”
- Stephen King, ‘On Writing’
Reflecting on the journey I took when crafting my imaginative response allowed me to truly grasp the immense impact reading has had on my writing, and the construction of my imaginative response.
Of course, there are the obvious impacts – the technical stuff we’ve all been taught since we were in primary school. Melissa Donovan compares our brains to sponges in an article she wrote for an online publication named ‘Writing Forward.’ By this, she was referring to the fact that we absorb literally everything we read, even when we fail to make a subconscious effort to learn. When I read, I noticed my writing slowly beginning to mimic the pieces I was reading, in all aspects. This included everything from sentence structure, understanding which figures of speech fit best together to form the best response, and incorporating appropriate grammar and punctuation.
And then, there was also the subtle influences I barely even noticed I had picked up. I read a great sum of books and articles throughout the course of the past few months, meaning I was exposed to an array of diverse, unique pieces of literature. piece
Seeing as I read such a large variety of texts, I was exposed to an array of different qualities, styles, and approaches to writing. There were pieces I enjoyed, and pieces I hated. It allowed me to reflect on what I appreciated in a novel or article as a reader, and therefore I attempted to incorporate those aspects into my own imaginative response.
What I enjoyed reading had a profound influence on my imaginative response. Only a few short weeks ago, when I began the first draft of the response, I practically swore to never write in first person. I viewed texts that were written in the first person as unreliable, disengaging, and of a lower quality than texts written in third person. I absolutely despised them. However, after writing my first draft for my imaginative response (in third person), I read an excellent story which happened to be written in first person. I truly adored the way in which the author expressed the emotions of the narrator in their story, without sounding cliché. I realised how impactful writing in first person can be when done right, and I observed which aspects of the piece I enjoyed, and how I could mimic them into my own piece. And so, that’s what I did. The next draft I wrote was in first person point of view, and I found that it gave off a greater emotional response than the first draft.
“We learned about that constitutes as a reliable narrator, and what makes a narrator unreliable. I learned that reliable narrators are typically in the third person omniscient, maintain the contextual nature of the text, produce thorough descriptions, and maintain a consistent tone throughout. Unreliable narrators are usually first person, inconsistent, and have obvious omissions throughout.”
- My Week Four Leaning Journal shows my past attitudes regarding first person point of view, highlighting how reading has had a profound influence of my beliefs.
Within my learning journal for week three, I explored how reading proved a great source for idea-related influences. When I was first provided with the outline for our imaginative responses, I truly had no idea what to write about. However, I eventually reflected on texts I had read which had a lasting impact on me regarding their ideas relating to values and cultures. I thought back to around three or so different texts which were immense sources of inspiration for a variety of different aspects of the plot of my imaginative response.
“The first thing I did was research other short stories with similar concepts as mine and analysed how they expressed values and culture. The first text I referred to was comic, Ms Marvel (2014) Issue #1. The issue explores Kamala Khan, daughter of two Muslim immigrants, and how she struggles with her conflicting cultures, and being different to everyone round her. She is very unsure of where she belongs.”
- Learning Journal, Week Three
“I need to read a lot more for my ideas regarding creative texts to improve.”
- Learning journal quote
In summary, this assignment, and the completion of my imaginative response allowed me to understand the impacts of reading on my writing. I learned that when you read, everything you learn will show through within your writing in the most incredible, unique manner.
Reading to Write 