Week 8 Comments and Feedback

To start off, I'd just like to mention that I found this opportunity to look back over some comments and feedback structures very beneficial. With my schedule it is difficult to find time to check out feedback in addition to my regular assignment load this semester so having it as part of the weekly work worked out great.


Overall, I feel like all the comments I receive for my project website was very helpful. I noticed a common theme among them and they were all about something I could correct. I think the suggestions I received from the professor provided more insight into my grammatical and structural errors while a lot of the student suggestions revolved around aesthetics or plot ideas. A lot of suggestions confirmed what I concluded from my own review which was the fact that I should try incorporating more detail into my story. It seems a lot of comments shared that sentiment so that it something I will definitely look into.

When I write feedback to my peers I try to commend them on an aspect of their story that I really enjoyed or that they did well with, ask a question about something that confused me like a word they used or an action a character performed, and then finally I make a suggestion about something they might add to their story or alter in some way. I hope that my comments are seen as helpful, positive, and constructive. I find it a lot easier to write comments about fairy tales I'm more familiar with but hopefully all of my feedback is of a decent level of quality.

I feel like all of the introductions I've read did a good job of giving a solid level of insight into the hobbies and passions of the writer. After reading several of them, they were written so well that I felt like I could easily hold a conversation with that person face to face and discuss similar interests or have an interesting debate. I think my introduction could use some work but overall I like the layout of my blog.

I believe my introduction could benefit from a little change. I feel as though it should have less focus on traveling and more on things I do locally and more frequently. Regarding the feedback assignments, I think it would be beneficial to me to try to allocate some time to go over the comments I receive more often so I can grow more as a writer each time I tell a story.

I feel like a lot of times the idea of not doing something correctly or the possibility of failure keeps me from attempting some things. I remind myself that it's equally as important to experience failures as it is to experience success. If I never fail, I won't learn how to build myself back up or how to correct things I'm doing wrong. Everyone fails, even the greatest athletes, artists, and intellectuals. If they aren't afraid to fail, why should I?

Image Info : cheezburger

Week 8 Reading and Writing

Looking back on some of the things I've written and some of the notes I've taken this semester, there are are a lot of things that I felt were good and bad. I could see that as the semester has progressed I've made some significant improvement in making more useful and concise notes. At first I believe I was adding a little too much fluff from the stories, such as some irrelevant plot line details, but now I am doing better at taking note more specific scenarios from stories that caught my eye or a theme I had not thought of.
As the semester has progressed I feel as though I've become more comfortable with writing a story and I felt like that was evident in the examples I have created. I also feel good about the quality of the plot lines in my stories and the goals of the characters I've created. That being said, there are a couple things I'd really like to improve on. As I read through my stories I feel that, even though the story line is decent, they tend to be a little bland. They lack the descriptive words that make the reader interested and help them create the world I describe in my head. I know that I love reading those details in other people's stories so I'm sure mine would benefit from them as well.

Found on wikimedia.

I've chosen this image  of a depiction of Sindbad for very simple reasons. First, I really like all the vibrant colors it has. I think that accurately reflects the culture and trade that Sindbad comes from. Merchants were very important people in his time, and they traveled far and wide to sell and experience other cultures. I also like how this picture has all the elements of an adventure: food, a treasure chest, and a determined-looking individual.

Looking forward, I think I would greatly benefit from reading more stories that use very descriptive language. I think that is one of my biggest weaknesses regarding my story-telling capabilities. I need to look for more opportunities to add things into my story that would trigger the creative mind of the reader and allow them to really delve into the story. I should also look at more examples of comma splicing because that tends to be a recurring theme in my writing.