Reflection: Genre & Style
Two of the respected behaviors of working in a busy newsroom are brevity and clarity. They show up in the speed with which we work with each other, but also manifests inside of our written communication. Simple sentences abound, and complex sentences have to really be worth it. Especially in our Slack communications, sentence fragments are everywhere. My academic work sits parallel to this environment, but is greatly informed by it. I tend to write from a compound and complex perspective, but edit from a simple and fragmented one. Simple sentences show up frequently, and are often used to reinforce a point which may otherwise have been made through a complex sentence. A common technique I use for this is to use three supporting and reinforcing sentences or sentence fragments together. For example, Work writing is depletive, taking more than it gives. Academic and personal writing is literally life-giving and restorative. I ache for the opportunity to write all day, and I often do get to do that.
I always feel as if my sentences have the opportunity to be simpler, cleaner, and crisper. I am never comfortable with a thought that simply runs too long. And while I use editing more than writing itself to make this happen, the introduction of branching is helpful for understanding the connective tissue between the individual expressions, and how they join together to form a more holistic clarified whole. I’m a lifelong reader of choose-your-own adventure books (and also branching event video games), so the language of this is very familiar, even if the isolated mechanics within my own writing are not.
The exercises of imitation were refreshing, if a little uncomfortable. Adjusting someone else’s words still feels like plagiarism to me, even though I recognize and appreciate this is simply a technique of learning of course. But it’s in these spaces of discomfort that growth happens, and that’s certainly been the case over the past week.
