Writing ... for discussion in a lecture or seminar ...

Angela Maria De Nobrega Freitas, BSc Hons, Social Sciences, Open University, DipGeog., Open University - MLit., Literature, Open University, studied, MPhil., and Playwriting, studied, Birmingham University. ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ Hello, a few words about writing. By now you will have learnt something about the mechanism of writing by observing and reading the texts on my website, Wordcraft 42. If you have only just started to write do remember to write from your particular experience and to write in ways that bring light on the experience you are relating. If you wish to write you need to be informed of the content you are writing about sufficiently to validate yourself as a writer. If you are someone who wishes to write it is important you develop a voice so you can address issues that are important to you and for you to address. Your voice is your key, your reference point and remember that what you say will impact on those reading your writing in ways that are relevant for them to see the world as you see it. Your lived experience will determine what you have to say, you may add to your lived experiences by exploring other worlds as you are doing here, by reading from this website, and reading from texts that will inform you on a subject or topic directly relevant to what you are writing about and learning from reading those texts. In developing your voice you are in fact approaching the writing medium in a way which is informative and relates directly to your subject. You are in fact imparting information in a collaborative process, without that collaborative process you cannot adjust to your subject in a way that is engaging and your subject may lose validity as a result. The way you write is your signature so do make sure you write well and in an informed way to ensure that what you write is interpreted correctly.  When reading the texts on this website it is important you keep an open mind as you acquire knowledge of the subjects i address in discussions. Those discussions will relate directly to the subject i wish to engage with in writing. You may be studying and its important that you appreciate that what you read in this website apart from your course texts will allow you to gain knowledge of the world around you and to learn of experiences lived by other writers. When learning the process of writing from other writers it is essential you take on board that your experiences will differ a great deal from those of the writer you are reading from. Your own writing will be informed from your own learned knowledge and interpreted into a writing experience that relates to your own lives. As a writer you develop as you learn about different subject matters you may wish to address and discuss in writing. Subjects and topics that are relevant and of interest to you and others who are interested in learning from you. It's essential you develop your own writing style and this becomes possible as you acquire knowledge and learn to interpret such knowledge in ways that are interesting on a page. Writing should be something you do as a second nature to you, and in order to facilitate and articulate your voice, you should read from textual formats as you will find here, in Wordcraft 42, and other interesting books that pique your attention and that capture your imagination. If you are a writer who is older than a student and accomplished you may be writing on subjects you wish to discuss in a lecture room or seminar room and if so you need to ensure that what you have prepared and written for discussion will engage your audience in a way that captivates their attention with the subject matter you have chosen to discuss. There are many different ways to discuss matters that are relevant and of interest to you and to your audience, this can be through phonetics, writing and speaking in ways that relate to sound and pronunciation, seeing the world phonetically is different from seeing the world through perceived experience and relating phonetically learnt experience to an audience is a way to engage their attention more succinctly. When engaging with an audience it is essential that the subject matter you choose for discussion is informed with some good illustrations, examples that tell your audience that what you are saying has validity and a basis and foundation to the truth. You may interact with your audience electronically or interactively in the lecture room or seminar, this way you know you are creating an environment that fully engages your audience and invites discussion and allows you to put questions to answer in an interactive format. Whilst discussing your subject do ensure that what you are discussing is sufficiently embursed with appropriate words that pertain specifically to the subject matter in hand and that its likely to ensure maximum attention from your audience, and that you do not stop mid-way through your discussion with a volte-face which will leave your audience wondering where your discussion is taking you, and indeed whether that which you are discussing is valid and truthful. As a writer you need to be sure that the subjects you bring to the lecture room for discussion relate to matters that are of sufficient interest to you and to your audience, your audience is there to engage with you, not impassively but actively. If your subject matter is likely to be lengthy in discussion this is a point in your seminar where you may involve your audience to participate with some interesting and relevant points that add to the discusion, you may further distinguish your discussion by inviting your audience to participate with you by addressing questions that relate to the content in discussion. It is important to observe some etiquettes that relate to matters of seminars, engage your audience not in a way that becomes irrelevant which may in fact be a fudge, your audience will read this as something that does not in fact relate to the discussion and is in fact something they will see as ill-informed and not likely to engage the attention of those whose capacity is for learning valid information, and gaining important knowledge that will add to the discussion at this moment in time, and engages you fully in the moment. Do remember that what you say in a lecture room will impact directly on your audience, they are there to engage with you in a particular instance that dds value to your mutual experience. During your seminar you are likely to reach some moot points which you may wish to address directly to your audience by involving them in the discussion to the points made at that stage of your seminar. This may also be the moment you address your audience for questions and answers, and In doing that do be aware that your audience is there to engage and to participate fully with you and that the moment of truth is where your answers relate to the subject under discussion which impress your audience in a way that changes the course of their thinking. What you say may change the course of their lives so be sure that what you say relates to the way you think and is not something that is said in a way that disengages your audience from the discussion. Bringing glibness with you is not a good point to bring to a discussion in a lecture room, your audience is there to relate to you as much as you relate to them; and by this I am not inferring that you as a writer are glib only that what you say in a lecture room has validity and is relevant to the content of the lecture under discussion. During the course of the discussion your audience should be able to state an opinion which they have a right to expect your valued participation in by answering them that leaves them with no room for doubt in what you are saying. Breaking off at important points in the discussion should not be something you exercise over your audience or they may be left with the impression that you are not a person of your word, they are there to participate and to engage with you, they are not interested in moments where you may be likely to break off at an important point in the discussion and bring an impasse to bear on what you are saying as an expert in your field of vision. If the discussion becomes fraught because your topic is unpopular of course then it becomes important to break and often, to ensure rationality of thought so that you may continue with your seminar to impart your particular vision of the world through your interpretation of events which add validity to your discussion ... to be continued ... To return to what I was saying at the beginning of the page ... if your intention is to write be sure to analyse your thinking, your ideas, and commit to copy (writing), you may to begin with when you start writing find that the confluence of your words has no flow, in that instance you should edit and re-edit your writing work so that what you say is coherent. You must try to read texts that are informative and think about the arrangement of words you see on the page, re-arranging your writing so that it flows is necessary to make sense of your writing, its like topiary, like trimming a shrub, you have to trim and trim until it takes shape. Literally, you gain the practice of writing through a process of articulation, essentially you need to be articulate in your thinking and writing so that when you commit your writing to paper your writing makes sense and that its something you are happy to present to a reader as a gift, and writing that you too appreciate reading. To become a writer you must read good illustrative texts, and you should perhaps include into your reading a very good newspaper, such as The Guardian or Telegraph or similar as well as one or two fine publications, such as Elle or Vogue, or Cosmopolitan, perhaps too, Harper's Bazaar and look for the long articles, those articles you should make a point of reading, then consider what you have read and compare the way those people, the articularians live their lives, and pay close attention to the work of the writer or interviewer and how they conduct what they see and learn to the page, you should think about in writing by comparing the way you live your life and engage with the writing, remember a lot of those writers have been professionally trained to write they may have a training background in journalism, don't let that deter you if you don't have that background, remember your voice is unique and it's a question of finely tuning or honing your instrument, your voice to say something equally interesting and with a professional edge to it because you are taking the time to consider other writers' work, reading articles from other writers allows you to appreciate the practice of reading and calibrating what you read and see as very organised language, and become used to that, those experiences are full of potential and you should take note and add that to your portfolio of reading interests, reading is important. To re-iterate, you need to edit and you need to focus in order to develop a writing style that is not perfunctory, that it retains a professional edge through the correct arrangement of words on the page through the correct appreciation of language. Your language should be complete, not superfluous, don't be florid, be concise and precise. To continue ...