"How to Become a Writer"

Moore’s article was an interesting read for me. Her sense of humor was definitely different from what I imagined when she said “I am a sucker for silliness” in her writing. I thought the humorous tone and realistic situations she depicted, though convoluted and hard to follow in the beginning, made her advice on “How to Become a Writer” relatable… and outrageously intimidating at the same time. The secluded, tortured-soul stereotype of the “insane writer” is an overly dramatized cliché, but all writers express some form of frustration when they have a passion for their art. Some of her statements about writers were very much degrading in my opinion though, such “…writers are merely open, helpless texts with no real understanding of what they have written”. To say that all writers have no knowledgeable conception of what they produce is inane. I think creativity comes in different forms for different minds. I’m not certain if this can be considered a stereotype, but a misconception I’ve come in counter with is people believing I’m... a less then nice person, or even incompetent, because I’m a quiet person. Not many, but a few people think that because I’m not putting my two cents in for every conversation, or because I admittedly feel a tad awkward at times, that I’m incapable of conversing all together, or that I dislike them. Though both inferences are far from the truth, it’s a common judgment people make of me. Now on the topic of plot, I think Moore tries to explain that any piece of work is read subjectively. While she, again and again, stuck with the morbid idea of an elderly couple being blown up for implausible reasons, many peers around her found it downright pointless. Granted it probably was, but even the essence of being meaningless can have a meaning. The main objective of any writing is to get the message across, and that leads me to talk about the “problematic” five paragraph essays. Maybe some people do find it easier to organize their thoughts in a formula structure, but in more cases than not, it’s difficult to confine an idea like that, and it’s unnecessary. Moore’s essay was far from a five paragraph essay, but her underlying points came across about becoming a writer. You have to allow yourself to be open to personal creativity, constant change, and the inevitable negative feedback in order to grow as a writer.