SQR 1

Mario A. Garcia
ENG 1301.28
Trang Phan
8/31/2010

Understanding Composition

SUMMARY: This article focuses on three major points of writing. The first major point of this article is recursiveness in writing that we see many people doing today. There are many questions to be asked about recursive writing. People strategize as to what people go back and think about instead of moving ahead in their work. Like any other thing sometimes recursive writing is easy for the eye to catch, while in other instances it is not, depending on what the topic of discussion is. Recursiveness in writing is simply going back to what you have written over a period of time. It can be after a page, paragraph, or even after every sentence into which you have set thought into. Some writers refer to their topic and use it as a guide to make sure that what they have written so far is on course and has not been off topic.
There is a notion that writers get when they are given a new topic. This notion is called, felt sense. Felt sense can bring out emotions and expressions into your writing that you have never before let out. Felt sense comes from our life experiences that no one else has shared, and when these experiences are shared it gives our writing more creativity because the reader knows that our voice is present.
The composing process also includes projective structuring. Projective structuring can come as stiff writing. The writer wants to state facts and opinions of others while holding back his own voice in the writing. There is no association between the writer and the topic what-so-ever and the writer seems to follow ground rules as to what he is going to be writing and limiting himself as to what can be said. These writers can also use projective structuring to ask themselves whether what they are writing is correct, and if it follows what they have learned. For projective structuring to be used to its full potential the writer must become the reader and know that what he is writing is what someone else would like to be reading.

QUESTION: From what you read in this article what does felt sense mean to you? Have you ever experienced felt sense? What do you feel when this act comes upon you?

RESPONSE: This article dropped a topic upon my mind that I had never heard of. I had never heard of it but as I learned more about what it was I realized that I had been using it as one of my strategies for writing essays since I was in elementary school as a kid. Felt sense seemed awkward to me at first. I knew it was something that triggered the mind into thinking of new and fresh ideas about the topic being written but I could not tie it in with what I was reading at the moment. As I progressed with the reading I found out that felt sense is what creates the link between the writer and the topic being written. When something is written the writer wants to convey images and emotions in their writing in order for the reader to become interested and not be bored of the normal boring writing that has no voice to it. When I do my writing it is usually very hard to get started if the topic is something that I am not very familiar with. When this occurs I take time to relate the topic to something that I do know about and express my emotions and thoughts towards that, hence being able to talk about the topic at hand. When I make the connection felt sense I start becoming more comfortable with the topic at hand.
I have experienced felt sense many times in my writing. Since felt sense means bringing newness and freshness into the writing I always think about what people see the least in this world. Because we live in a city we do not always have time to do many outdoor activities unless on special occasions. For me, outdoor activities occur every weekend at my ranch. I come across experiences that many people will never encounter and I know that if I share these experiences in my writing I know that I can portray enough emotion and detail to intrigue the reader into what I am writing and keep them attached to my work until there is nothing left to read.
When felt sense comes to me I feel as if a light bulb has come off in my head or if a simple switch has been turned on. Usually it come with a giggle afterwards and I say to myself, “why didn’t I think of this earlier” and when that switch turns on the pen starts writing and as each phrase is being written it keeps gaining momentum from the one before it making the work have coordination as to what the topic is. But the only thing that can from felt sense is going off track and not staying on topic therefore your thinking has to be compact in a way that you do not steer of the topic that was given.