Most of them are nondisclosable and therefore will be reserved to close friends and family. One of the things I will share with you is my experience in ENG 101 today. So we have to type a paper on something we learned...so I plug in my jump drive and making some minor changes to When I Learned What Love Is... I turned that in. So my teacher has received one OSC paper today. Won't he be surprised and delighted to find yet another one on Thursday! Yep, we were supposed to write about an author that we thought used writing effectively. That sounds an awful lot like Scard to me!
So here it is for you, so you can grade it before my teacher does and post comments on it(please). I hope you enjoy it!
Writing that Affects and is Effective
What makes an author and his writing effective? Perhaps it is merely the accomplishment of what the author intended, or perhaps it is in understanding the purpose of the article. Maybe it is only accomplished if the spirit behind the piece is understood—maybe. Here we measure the effectiveness of a sample of writing through three basic indicators: First, did you understand the content and the message as well as the theory behind the writing. Second, did you make a personal connection between your life and what the author through his prose was suggesting? Finally, do you consider yourself changed, transformed, or made anew by what you read and experienced?
The criterion for an effective writer is accomplished by Orson Scott Card in this piece, Hey, Who Are You Calling a Cult, if only to some readers. In this piece he keeps the content and the message simple and the purpose straightforward. He clearly labels each section and stays on topic throughout each paragraph. Additionally, he makes each point in easy-to-understand language, not trying to impress, but rather to communicate his ideas.
Furthermore he accomplishes the second ideal through his ability to write for a person rather than to a person. Card always tries to communicate with his readers and express complex ideas directly to him. In this article, Card plays with emotions and our moral obligations pointing out the things that the readers will feel on a more religious level and even a innate moral level. He speaks to our minds and our hearts.
When he communicates on this personal level he makes connections with his readers insomuch that they enter a metamorphosis of the mind. The intention of all great writers is to have an impact upon the mind and the lives of each person that reads their opinions, ideas, and articles. If by reading this article you see the demand for changes in your life, then what you are reading has affected you. It is the actual changing of normal thought patterns and lifestyles that makes an author effective.
I know that I was affected by not only this essay but also by many of the essays by Card. I know that he is an effective writer, because he has made a difference in the things I say, the way I write, the books I read, how much I spend at the bookstore, in the way I treat the people around me. He has become not only an effective writer but also a dynamic one at that.
