All writing has to serve a certain purpose. It is designed to reach the mind of the reader. "Think about your audience", we are writing for them. It is the writer's goal to have a connection with the reader. You want to share your knowledge with the purpose of bonding with the mind of your reader. Does it serve a common purpose? Normally, people have different ideas and beliefs. But as a writer, when we present our ideas we can help them to understand our stand point and incorporate it. Linda Flower believe, that a good piece of writing closes the gap between the writer and the reader. I strongly agree with that.
When we are writing, we have to analyze our audience. We all came from different levels and categories. It is important to consider the reader's knowledge, their attitude, personal or professional needs. Having different perspective is the most difficult part for the writer. But for the sake of serving it's purpose to the audience, we tend to weigh things to minimize the differences.
When we share our knowledge, regardless of what we think, the center of our main goal is the reader. Whether our purpose is to share what we know, we also have to consider the reader's knowledge regarding the issue.Writer should know the reader's needs and what they can learn from the article. And it is the writer's best abilitly to inform and educate the reader.
We view our concepts with different things. We associated words in different perspective just like others give meaning to it. In Flower example, the image of the lake includes fishing, water skiing, stalled ouboards, and lots of kids catching night crawlers with flashlights. In my own experienced , lake is where my family enjoys swimming, boating, knee boarding, tubing and picnic on the shore during summer. As I mentioned , we have a different attitude in one concept. But as a writer, we just present our image hoping our reader will see the other side of the picture and understand your point.
Bridging the gap between the writer and reader is not easy. In some situations, the writer has to compromise his status in accordance to job's requirement. Like Flower example of a writer in a TV program, the writer only propose for a program that meet the needs of the consumer and pass the guideline of the station. Some TV station and media have regulations to protect the reputation and credibility of the organization. Their ideas are limited to give respect of their job.
As a student, we are writing for the purpose of passing and meeting the requirement. We were given a thesis to research, analyze and think critically. We learn, develop and discover our ability in writing in a way that our teachers expect us. There is a reason behind for following and learning the curriculum that is assigned to us.
Good writers does not only express and share their knowledge. They bind their mind and heart to the reader's interest. Whether their goal is to influence, educate, inform or for personal aspirations. Their self worth as a writer give only meaning when the reader understand where they are coming from.
I very much agree with every thing you've said here. When writing for a bigger audience (other than ourselves) we must take that audience into consideration. Our purpose may be to persuade or simply inform the reader of a certain topic, but this does not mean that we can write anything we wish. In fact we have to pay close attention to what we do write because it has the potential to offend or cause the complete opposite of what you intended it to.
ReplyDeleteWhen we write for ourselves we are merely expressing what we feel and recording our emotions on paper, when we write for others we may incorporate our thoughts and what we know into the paper, but modify it in order to make ourselves relatable to the reader. This way our writing will be better appreciated by the audience.
In order to fully express a message, it must be powerful but also clear and concise. Your reader must know precisely what you're talking about in order for your message to be effective and to cause a connection between your reader. The way to measure the success of what you've written is to see whether your reader has learned something knew or if you've affected them emotionally.