Monday, October 3, 2016
My Words
When you approach a piece of writing, you are bringing with you all your experiences and education and emotions. You will experience that piece of writing differently than anyone else because of who you are. Of course, it is possible to discuss pieces of writing with others and to have enlightening and wonderful conversations around it, but your first encounter with that piece of writing is uniquely yours.
As a writer, it is tempting to take ownership of your words, because of course they are yours! You thought of them, you typed/wrote them out, and that story or thought is unique to you. Yet, you cannot control how the reader will experience them, and that is not your job.
While this dichotomy may be uncomfortable to many writers, it can also be uncomfortable to readers. Readers who read passively everything they see on a page/screen are missing out on the underlying conversation. Interacting with a text, interpreting it in your own unique way, and letting it influence your thinking is vital. It can shape your thoughts, whether you are in agreement with the text or are infuriated by it, it changes you. This engagement with the text is what makes the literary community so inspiring, so diverse, and so complex.
I attended a lecture earlier today by the author Gerald Vizenor. Vizenor is an incredibly prolific and accomplished native writer. Listening to him speak was truly captivating and his ideas and theories were inspiring. The theory that I have been ruminating on all of today involves the dichotomy of the reader and the writer. Vizenor began his lecture by encouraging his audience not to be shy with their questions about the text or their own interpretations because their experience with the text was vastly different to his own.
So take this blog post for instance. It is a personal rumination on my evolving theory of writing. Perhaps it is a bit intimate since it is a glimpse into my own continuing thought process, but it is also a discussion that I want to have. I am encouraging the reader to take my thoughts and add their own. It is very likely I will never hear your thoughts, but perhaps by leaving these words here for you to find I will encourage you to no longer be that passive reader who takes the words on the page for granted. These words are only half mine, the other half are yours. How you interpret it, and whether or not you choose to incorporate these ideas, in your own life is up to you. Do with it what you will, but I hope you do something.
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Hey Annie,
ReplyDeleteSorry for my usual lateness. But, as promised, I'm here with my comment!
I want to start by saying that this was a really inspiring and super insightful post. I don't think I've ever consciously thought about how reader's experiences vary from each other until your comment on my post - and now reading this post of yours here. I've thought about how our writing experiences vary, but not reading of the same material.
It makes me think about what makes a good story, too. Like taking Harry Potter for instance (Harry Potter has been overly brought up in class, so I apologize. I love using it as an example), we can think about how those stories touched such a broad audience on many intrapersonal levels. But, my experience is slightly different from yours, and so on. I wonder if an author is ever quite able to put themselves in a reader's shoes, completely. It makes me think about how feedback from outside perspectives can be immensely important.
I don't know Vizenor, but that I'm happy that you were able to take away a meaningful experience.
I like the bit about words being half yours and half the reader's. I think I'm definitely going to take something substantial away from this post. It leaves much to reflect upon. I really mean that - I'm not just typing out some bs mandatory comment.
I'll conclude by saying it was a pleasure having you in my group the past couple weeks.
See you around,
Ash