Portfolio Reflection

 

    Throughout this class I have learned a lot about how my writing is read by an audience. I tend to write what I want, and I forget that a reader does not have all the information that I do about the content. My main issues throughout my writing in this semester have been that my ideas can be too abstract, and I have a hard time seeing that I might not be translating those thoughts accurately. Another issue I had throughout the semester was that I had bigger ideas that what was called for. My primary flaw in my short story was that I was building a world that was not meant for the short story format. I tried to believe that I could make it work, but there were several ideas I had to drop to fit the story in the page limit. My intro to literature professor had said a week or so ago that "if a short story can be expanded on then it isn't a short story". That is when I really understood that what I needed was to develop ideas that were fit for their purpose. I think this class helped me become better in my writing, and I even feel that my writing outside of fiction has been heightened. My term paper in ethics is one of my most carefully written items, and I think that is because I had to learn that complex concepts needed to be carefully translated so the reader can understand what I really mean.

    In my portfolio revisions, specifically the poems, I made the content behind them more understandable. I tried too hard to lean into the abstract theme and I did not let the reader come to a conclusion on their own, so in the revisions I placed more emphasis on the stories being told. 

    In the first revision I tried to make the character of Judith Arwood. In the original I had focused heavily on making a detailed backstory that would make for an interesting narrative, but a short story does not require that level of backstory to understand the character. In a short story the author only has a couple dozen pages to craft each facet of the story, and there is not a lot of room for character development afterward. The first portfolio revision was my character sketch, and so I put more information about Judith's mannerisms, disposition, and personality. The unconscious elements of a character are almost more important for helping an audience understand them. To see how the character navigates the world is vital for a short story. 

    In the second and third revisions I focused on perspective in my poems. Both my image, and sound poems were weak in the area of plot. I thought that it would be more poetic not to give everything away, and let the reader consider it themselves, but I realized that I was not giving them enough information to do that. I turned the abstract thoughts in these poems into a story, so that way the theme is more digestible. 

    I will continue to add these tactics in my writing. I am trying for a science communications position with the National Parks Service over the summer, so it would be a good way to utilize these skills.