SQR 6

Vanessa Magdaleno & Mario A. Garcia
Eng. 1301
Tran Phan
10/16/10

Closing My Eyes as I Speak

SUMMARY:

Closing My Eyes as I Speak: An Argument for Ignoring Audience, Peter Elbow, College English, Vol. 49, No. 1 (Jan., 1987), pp. 50-69, National Council of Teachers of English, http://www.jstor.org/stable/377789,


This article tells us that an audience can be perceived as a force field or barrier; one that invites us or one that confuses or inhibits us. These are only some of the types of audiences that can be perceived in order to make our writing better. We can choose to either ignore or choose an audience. When we choose an audience, in our mind that audience is a great example of the people that you can impress with what you know, because they have a limited knowledge compared to yours. When you ignore your audience, this leads to something that Lind Flower would, call Writer-based Prose writing, which will lead to weak writing altogether. Sometimes when you ignore the wrong type of audience you will worry about how they will critique your writing because” we [find] them intimidating” (51), and so we are very defensive with our writing in order to please that intimidating person and therefore try and not be criticized as much as we would if we we’re comfortable with our writing. There is also an audience that we completely ignore in order to not go off track the topic and be able to stay focused on the writing rather than the readers. Having an audience is a great way to help shape your writing in a creative way.


QUESTION:
Why would writer-based prose be considered better than reader based prose? What are the negative and positive points about both?


RESPONSE:
Sometimes we write for an audience. Sometimes we write for ourselves. Sometimes we write just to simply explore our ideas. Most times, as writers, we need to be able to let out our ideas without the inhibiting factor of someone looking over our shoulder and pinpointing all of our mistakes. Sometimes the ideas in our head might be considered dumb, and irrelevant to a topic, but we need the security of knowing that it’s okay to explore such ideas. This is writer based prose.
I catch myself thinking that writer based prose is better because to me, it means writing for myself. Writer based prose occurs more often than reader based prose. It occurs while we are planning an essay. It allows the opportunity to put our own thoughts, emotions, and experiences into a topic. Using writer based prose is like putting a part of you into a composition.
However, Linda Flower states that ineffective writers use writer based prose. She says that people who use writer based prose are not concerned about the reader and the points that are made do not relate to each other. Essays that are written through writer based prose are sometimes understood as a language “private” to the writer.
The preference on what is better between reader and writer based prose is somewhat dependent on the writer. Some writers prefer to use reader based prose because it keeps the audience in mind. It is important to keep the audiences’ attitude toward your topic in mind.
After analyzing articles that we have covered, I have come to the conclusion that writer based prose is just as effective as reader based prose. Both need to be occurring when composing. However, they need to be done in the right way so that you are keeping the reader in mind, as well as letting yourself shine through in a paper.