Every writer has their own theory of writing to help them overcome the challenges of writing and make their works feel unique. My own personal theory of writing is focused on getting as many people as possible on board. My writing gets right to the point I want to make, without dancing around the issue. I tend to avoid extra text and opt to instead focus on only what is relevant. Since I like to make my writing accessible, I tend to avoid alienating the audience massive walls of jargon. To make up for having less text, I try to jam as much relevant and easy to understand details as possible in order to make my point as clear as possible. I also make use of a large amount of sources so I can just write more and not worry about whether I can reach the quota, as most of the time I find myself regularly exceeding it. In this essay, I want to explain what influences my writing.

       The topics I choose are a major factor in the way I write, as they’re my main motivation. I mainly pick topics about the crises that humanity currently faces, as those are topics that I feel that I have a personal stake in. The most common topic I write about is how humans treat the environment, as I personally believe it to be the biggest threat to mankind. Because I am young, I will most likely experience the consequences of how humanity has treated the environment. I want to educate many people on how dire the situation is, as it affects not just me but everyone else as well. I believe that we need to take radical actions now in order to secure a clean and healthy environment for the future of humanity. My writing is a way for me to spread information to other people about issues that I feel we need to focus on immediately. I also write sometimes write about how people interact with others. I’ve suffered from some social anxiety, and so have had some issues in connecting with others. By writing about what I see on how other people treat each other, I understand how to connect with others and how to get over some of my anxiety. My writing is focused on helping either me or others understand about topics that I don’t have much knowledge of, and thus the kinds of topics I write about are a major factor in how I write. I feel that I write better when I’m invested in and care about the topics I write about, as it can help either myself or other people understand the kinds of that we should be invested in.

       Genres are perhaps the most important part of writing, as they can completely change how you write. When I created a poem, I couldn’t stuff as much information in it as with my research essay. I was forced then to focus on how I could make my point come across in a creative and interesting way, without a massive text dump. One of the ways I did this was through repetition. I repeated the phrase , “It’s only a little bit, it doesn’t matter” throughout the poem in order to give off a sense of irony. At some point, the audience should see that all the “little bits” are now adding up. The poetic techniques of repetition and rhyming make the poem fun and interesting, but also show how the actions they take can add up. The writing I used in my poem is all based around pathos in order to hook the audience. I make use of situations that are familiar to the audience to make them understand how much of a stake they have in this issue. Many terms, such as “vacation baggage” and “candy wrapper” are items familiar to the audience that help make the message more personal. When I created a poster for the project, I found it to ironically be the most difficult thing to write despite it having only a single sentence. A poster is a visual medium, so using an abundance of words would defeat the purpose of the genre in the first place. I realized that I had to plan my writing, and translate it visually. To appeal to pathos, I used images of common items people see everyday(Bottles, cans, cigarettes, etc..) and made a mountain out of it to show how they contribute to the issue and how their litter can become a huge issue. I also used an image of a dead plant, Mars, in order to show the consequences to the viewer and help them understand what is at stake here. I also used images of smog from the factories covering up some of the trash, as while smog is an issue, it can cause some people to become blind to and underestimate how they themselves have contributed to the issue. The only writing on the poster is just the phrase “It all adds up.” I choose this phrase as it both gets to the point and ties all the visual elements on the poster together. For my inquiry based essay however, I was free to write as much as I wanted to, and I took full advantage of that. The essay also meant that my writing could be less accessible than the poem and poster, as when I write essays, I assume that the audience that would be into a poem would be different from the one interested in an essay. I made use of the space I had to point out important statistics and data. I was able to give reasons for why companies pollute, such as “Since plastic bags are one of the main products of these companies, they oppose anti-pollution action as it could have severe effects on their business.” I can openly state my points and give reasons why, which is something I wasn’t able to do with the poem and the poster. Genres can influence how you writing, as they can force you to take a different approach to reach out to you audience.

       My insistence on making my writing accessible is something that comes from my roots and beliefs. My family is made up of immigrants who only know english as a second language. Some of my older relatives struggle with reading english, and while I love helping them, I hate to see them struggle, especially when it comes to important things like emails or setting up their phones. I want to help people who have the same issues as my family read, as I believe that reading is one of the most important skills people can learn. I also feel strongly about all the topics I write about, and believe that more people should know about what I write. I write about the environment and the issues that stem from how humans have treated it. I believe that pollution and other environmental issues are crises that threaten the safety of the human race The idea that someone interested in such an important issue could miss out on learning because they don’t have as much skill in reading as others is worrying to me. I make my writing accessible and easy to understand because I believe information is something that everyone is entitled to.

       My stances on information also influences why I like to get right to the point in my writing. I want people to get exactly what they need with little to no confusion. Many of my sources are text-heavy research essays and peer-reviewed journals. These sources can be difficult to read for people with high reading skills, let alone those who struggle with language. I feel that the information is complex enough already, and instead focus on making the point come across as clear as possible. I present the information in an easy to read way, and I also provide the consequences of said information in my text. People will feel more invested in any kind of writing if it has anything that pertains to them. Thus by writing about the consequences can help me in getting readers to connect with my work, as well as get them interested in the topics I push. I make extensive use of pathos in order to hook in readers and understand the purpose of my writing.
My theory of writing is based around my passion for issues I’m invested in. I want to educate as many people as possible about what I feel is important, in a way that is easy for everyone to understand. I use diction that uses pathos because I want readers to feel the same way I do about the topics I write about.