Writing
I think one of my favorite class in college was my comparative literature class. It was not simply the information that I learned in it - like bestiality, man's view of nature and etc, mind you this was a back to nature class - but it was that my professor taught me how to write better. What I learned was that writing doesn't consist of just proper grammar usage but also proper use of style; it was not until that class did I learn the little nuances in the writing: how the addition or subtraction of one simple word could make or break a sentence and sometimes even weaken a central thesis or how sometimes making your voice heard among a myriad of evidence is the most convincing argument that an individual can make. These are the little things that can't be taught from reading a lot of books but requires constant practice with a good guide to offer criticisms and suggestions.
Reading other's works with this new mindset has allowed me to enjoy books much more: to witness the careful balance that an author has to maintain in order to get his point across but at the same time to make it comprehensible to their audience, that is truly art. At the same time, this new insight has made me more critical of poor writing: not only the inappropriate use of grammar but especially the verbose writing that people use to sound intelligent. I think I am rather critical about verbose writing because I used and probably still am - at least to some degree - like that; but really, if you write something that is a paragraph long, makes no sense to your reader and could probably be condensed into one sentence, you should probably be shot. Well that's a bit harsh, as I said, I am probably guilty of the same crimes, but at least I am trying to improve... And mind you, I should probably be shot for my over use of passive constructions instead of active one...
Reading other's works with this new mindset has allowed me to enjoy books much more: to witness the careful balance that an author has to maintain in order to get his point across but at the same time to make it comprehensible to their audience, that is truly art. At the same time, this new insight has made me more critical of poor writing: not only the inappropriate use of grammar but especially the verbose writing that people use to sound intelligent. I think I am rather critical about verbose writing because I used and probably still am - at least to some degree - like that; but really, if you write something that is a paragraph long, makes no sense to your reader and could probably be condensed into one sentence, you should probably be shot. Well that's a bit harsh, as I said, I am probably guilty of the same crimes, but at least I am trying to improve... And mind you, I should probably be shot for my over use of passive constructions instead of active one...