WP4: Storytelling With Sources
Growing up in an environment where grades defined your worth, I solely wrote essays for the sake of boosting my grades and GPA. Because of this, my work consisted only of phrases and styles that I knew my teachers wanted to hear. I didn’t have a voice in my academics which is why I channeled myself in creative writing. Creative writing allowed me to talk about anything and everything I was eager to explore without the negative consequences of a bad grade which is one of the reasons why I decided to pursue it. I was able to express myself through raw and unpolished thoughts that I was proud of and at the end of the day, it was simply another story that I wanted to tell. Yet, I put it to the side whenever I had to open yet another blank doc to write about a topic that I forgot about the minute I hit submit.
Upon taking this class I was hesitant and rather pessimistic, I took this class solely because my roommate took it the semester before me. From my past classes I was under the impression that this would just be another academic writing class where I would make a thesis, three claims, and a conclusion- yet another class USC created to further drain my bank account. Imagine my surprise when I was told that I could write about anything I wanted.
While I longed for that type of freedom in terms of writing for so long, the minute that I was given the opportunity to speak my mind, no ideas came to mind. I’ve realized that having this much creative control over an academic assignment rather than my screenwriting and creative courses put more pressure on me to do better. Simultaneously I’m glad that I’m able to express myself and tackle any subject I desire but I also felt like there was still a hidden formula that I couldn’t quite find. As a stickler for rubrics and unfortunately perfectionism, I would stare and wait for the pieces to click together in hopes of the correct way to be myself. As I started thinking about my dilemma, I started to wonder: Is it because I’m not used to speaking in my own writing? At the end of the day, it’s still a story.
By choosing a topic that was closely intertwined with my experience as an Asian-American, I forced myself into a space where I would have to take a stance on the matter and take part in the discourse. I was under the impression that by choosing something personal, it would be a breeze for me to write. It turned out to be the opposite. Candidly, writing for this class has been incredibly challenging and I found myself spending more time writing for this class than assignments where I had to write 2,000 word essays. Because there was no longer a formula that I could rely on, I had to break down each of my thoughts and consider what I really wanted to talk about. I was forced to articulate my thoughts in my own voice rather than sound lofty and prestigious like most academics do. I felt my writing turn much more grounded. Coupled with articulating the exact statement, I had to pair them with a semblance of evidence or a statistic to prove my point. Long gone were the days of me sharing a story about my childhood for the sake of telling the story but I had to look behind each word and phrase and give it a purpose. After writing every paragraph, I had to look back at the prompt and figure out if what I’m saying is still on par with what I said I was writing about which often involved a lot of backspacing.
I will say that forcing myself to put a purpose behind everything I wrote has helped me articulate my thoughts in a much shorter and condensed way, not just in writing but in every other aspect of my life. As a storyteller, I love to describe every little detail when I’m recounting something that happened to me the other day as I used to feel it was the only way to truly encapsulate the emotions and energy of the tale. Whether it was intentional or not, this class has allowed me to channel the tone, or rather purpose, of the story to where it’s less words and takes less time to set up the story and I’m able to immediately launch my audience to the heart of the story. (It’s rather detrimental when I’m trying to meet a word count on assignments though.) In addition, the use of Medium helped me feel as if people were actually intrigued by what I was writing rather than knowing it wouldn’t be looked at ever again. While it did add pressure, I feel like it motivated me to make each of my projects the best it can be. While each assignment was grueling and awfully time consuming– this is kind of pointed towards WP2, most of these pieces are samples that I’m truly proud of. The common denominator is that I was able to take the reins.
After this semester, I’m taking away the ability to find my voice in an academic setting. While I haven’t perfected my voice and found the most efficient way to get my point across, I feel as if I have a good foundation to continue exploring my voice. I realized that there shouldn’t be much of a difference between my screenwriting self and my essay self and I’ve been slowly but surely taking that opportunity to express myself with quips and remarks in my writing, one WP and post at a time. While I don’t plan on writing posts in my free time over the summer, I might come back to this platform and approach the topics I’ve explored in my previous works through a more creative lens where I’m able to make the most of the research and experiences gained through the class.
