I began my journey as a writer when I wrote my first draft ‘Nightfall’ three months back. While writing that short story, I didn’t understand how a story had to be written and there were plenty of grammatical and structural mistakes. As I spent time in class, I began to understand how a story had to be developed and despite making slow progress, I still continued to have the problem of developing sentences without grammatical errors. I made a conscious effort to understand where I was making the grammatical mistakes and started to look at refer to other peer-reviewed articles to understand where to put a comma, semi-colon, colon, exclamation mark, and full stops. The continuous effort to read and understand how short stories are written gave me useful information and this I began to put into practice. It was not easy for me to make the corrections and adjustments immediately, but the gradual progress that I was able to self-assess gave me the confidence that I could sooner than later, write much better than my first draft. I used a number of literary tools to give me sentences and story a powerful oratory impact. To express my anguish and sorrow on the untimely demise of my fictitious girlfriend; Dorothy McKenzie, a name synonymous of a friend whom I knew years ago, I used a number of natural settings to reflect my inner-thoughts. I, as the narrator, was able to give life to the story through the use of narrations and dialogues. I created Marty as a symbolism of time, and a person who could reveal my past and present.
The use of ‘Show, don’t tell” technique helped me bolster my sense of admiration, dejection, and excitement, which ultimately helped me move from one situation to another without much oratory glitch. For example, when I wrote, “Good morning Jimmy, care to have some flowers?” “It’ll just cost you seven dollars!” “You could be lucky today, you know” he continued. “There are quite a few familiar faces along the beach, and you might find someone interesting,” he ended. “No thanks, Marty” I replied, “I’ll survive on my own.” “Don’t blame for not offering a hand,” he quipped. I waved my hand in his direction and kept walking; there are a number of situations that my audience could interpret on their own. Such oratory dialogue presentations enhanced my creative skills and helped me give life to my story. Similarly, when I wrote, “She looked sullen and forlorn, and the sky faded into oblivion as my mind turned dark,” it was a way to express my personal feeling and mindset as I used to sit and looked out into the distance rather sullenly and forlornly after Dorothy’s death. In using the assonance, ““Hope everything is okay,” he asked apologetically. “Yes, everything is fine,” I was able to add a little of rhythmic tone and diction and style in the story. In writing, “Hi, I feel rather lonely here. I miss my family,” I could add a bit of consonance as well. These lines add to Fitzgerald’s style and tone of writing, as it leaves the audience in a state of anticipation. No audience wants his or her story to end on a sad or remorseful note, and always hope that there is a turn for the better. I used the same technique to imbibe in my audience a sense of anticipation and hope. In providing background information on the characters and the location, it was easy to connect the situation and the mood of the characters n to the story. For example, talking about the beach in Texas, and Julie coming all the way from England to Texas, gives the audience the picture of how a young, single girl from another country would feel, when she travels thousands of miles away from home for the first time. As my classmates are the audience, I tried to use my own words to create the story, but yes, as I mentioned earlier, I did read a lot of peer-reviewed stories and articles to learn a few new words that I used to impress my audience.
In writing the commencement I began by acknowledging and wishing my audience on the privilege I had to stand before them to make my speech. I covered a lot of subjects and gave the college a lot of credit for the way it shaped the character of their students. I narrated a personal incident to which I was a party, and spoke in length about cultural diversity and oneness. There was a misconception abroad that Americans were racists, but after my personal experience in the U.S for so long, I admitted that racism belonged in the alleys where education was non-existent. I was vociferous in applauding my professors and other faculties for the commendable job they are doing in educating young minds, and stated how important education is in moulding individual personalities. I believe I spoke on the subject of racism with conviction, and my audience also appreciated me for my unbiased and sincere view. Ending the speech, I thanked everyone for listening to my speech most intently, and applauding me for the effort.
Finally, in ‘Voice,’ I used my ‘voice’ to express my anguish at how I, as a foreign student in the U.S., was singled-out for racist attack. I used a number of works of other writers to show how this malice was confined to a minority group who had no concern for others, and did so out of sadistic pleasures. In trying to relive the experience before my audience, I tried my best to expose them to the harsh experience of being a victim of racism. I used voice to clearly distinguish between the people involved in racists’ attacks and those who weren’t, and I made it a point to clarify why there was a misconception on the part of that minority, who believed that immigrants were taking away their jobs, was wrong. I admitted that there was truth in what they said, but also clarified why I thought they were misguided.
The experience of writing the three assignments that were distinctly different has only enhanced my writing skills and ability, and the credit should go to the professor and support staffs for making it happen.
