My Strengths and Weaknesses as a Writer

I have always been a fan of the realistic-style of writing. By this, I mean I have always loved realistic fiction novels. It seems that when you combine creativity with reality, the product ends up becoming some beautiful, or even tragic, depiction of our world. No matter what, the end result is always an emotionally amplified version of real-life situations.

This style of writing truly appeals to me. I love incorporating details into my writing and describing a situation in such full detail that the reader feels like they are experiencing the events described first hand.

This is my strength as a writer. I have developed skills throughout my years through practice and reading. My senior year in high school helped me develop through the extensive studying of Shakespeare and American classics. I feel that I am constantly growing in this style of writing and will continue to develop due to my admiration for the great works of literature.

During my senior year, however, I also struggled with some styles of writing. We practiced writing responses to generic topics in which we would insert our personal opinions into our writing. I used to struggle with the language of an opinion piece because I had always been told not to use terms like “feel” or “perhaps”. I was always told to write from an academic standpoint and I never fully felt confident in my abilities as a writer so I would never take risks and stray away from what I had always been taught.

This year, I feel that I have truly found myself and, therefore, my confidence in my writing has skyrocketed. I am not afraid or ashamed of what I write onto a piece of paper. My opinions are just that: my opinions. I enjoy expressing my opinions to the world now and have begun my own personal blog to gain more experience with a writing style I once felt uncomfortable with. Although, I struggle now with keeping my lighthearted, casual writing style out of my academic work. This was apparent in my writing style in my paper regarding the portrayal of amputees in film.

I still have not perfected multiple writing styles. I still face problems with defining my idea in the beginning of an essay without sounding so “blocky” and rehearsed that the reader gets turned off. I think this will just take practice at examining and critiquing other students’ writing so I can see what works and what doesn’t.

I have learned many different things in Intro to Academic Writing. I have learned that the basic five-paragraph format is meant to be used as a training technique, not a full time go-to. I have learned how to loosen up my formatting and, therefore, write essays the way I feel best suits for my ideas. I plan on taking this trait with my through school and beyond when I write e- mails or other essays. I have learned so much this past semester about writing and I hope to still continue on developing my writing styles into something that captivates my readers.