Choose a sample of writing that is in a genre you are considering for the Style Project and/or The Exchange.
Genre is a category like editorials (opinion pieces), reviews, poetry, sports writing, fiction, science fiction, sports, humor, mystery, etc.
Format is the form in which a work appears—whether that be a, book, newspaper, online magazine, blog, etc.
Please title your submission with Title_Author_format_genre.
For example: The Day the Saucers Came_Neil Gaiman_blog_poetry
Type about 100 words from your chosen sample. Do not copy and paste: typing another writer’s words is part of this assignment. When you type word by word, you will notice their stylistic choices more closely. For this assignment, it’s fine to choose a book that you are familiar with. It is often easier to notice stylistic strategies when you are already familiar with the information presented.
For the Genre Analysis, answer the questions and add any of your observations that seem useful. Watch for strategies that you can borrow and adapt for your own writing.
1. How familiar are you with this genre? Is your sample representative of what most other writers would do, or is it distinctive writing that you can instantly recognize as the author’s?
2. How would you describe the author’s style? How did it serve the purpose of their writing? Note word choice, sentence variation, tone, and any other of aspect of the writing and try to describe how it works.
3. What genre do you think you are going to experiment with for the Style Project? Do you have any questions about the Style Project or The Exchange?
As you practice closely reading and describing how writing affects you, you are preparing both for the Style Project and for next week’s Workshop Reviews on Eli Review. In the Workshop Reviews, you will read writing samples from this class and provide feedback. Quality feedback explains to the writer the effect that their writing is having, and then suggesting how they might revise to improve that effect. Describing the impact of your chosen genre sample on this week’s Discussion will help you prepare for Workshop Reviews next week.
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