Report on My Interviews

1. Important Genres:

1. Novels
2. Short Stories
3. Political Commentaries

2. In terms of purpose novels and short stories are very similar as they both aim to tell a narrative. Political commentaries have a more specific purpose as they usually aim to correctively ridicule politicians or policies. There is room for overlap between these genres as some of history's best novels were political commentaries at their heart: The Wizard of Oz, The Jungle, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The audiences and forms of all the aforementioned genres are truly dependent on the author's intent, however political commentaries tend to attract only those interested in politics.

3. The greatest difficulty in writing any of the aforementioned genres, or any genre in creative writing, is time management. Turning a profit for a professional writer is extremely difficult so writers typically have other jobs plus familial obligations.

4. From my interview I have collected that besides turning a profit and being published, being able to connect with an audience with similar ideas is extremely rewarding.

5. Examples of creative writing can be accessed easier than ever with the invention of mobile, non-print reading devices like the Kindle.

Jansson, Johannes. "Books". 3/8/11 via Wikimedia Commons. Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Denmark.

From Academia to Social Media

1. I had a hard time finding the journal editor and author of the introduction, Ariel Levy, on any social media mostly because her social media presence was eclipsed by a rather attractive actress of the same name. I was able to a Wikipedia page, a LinkedIn, a Twitter, and a Facebook account.

2. Her Twitter account is mostly devoted to documenting various news events because she works for the Huffington Post, showing me that she is a current events-oriented person. Moreover, her Facebook is unavailable to anyone not friends with her, showing me that she has a rather private social life. Her LinkedIn documents various achievements in various news mediums including print, radio, and television.

3. The beautiful and romantic voice she employed in the introduction to the journal, "For me, reading the essays in this anthology was as satisfying and invigorating as glimpsing a school of dolphins rippling in and out of the water: a privilege (Levy xviii)", is juxtaposed by factual, unbiased format of her news background.

Notwist. "Gonzo". 12/2/08 via Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain.

Academic Discourse and Genre

1. There are various genres present in the journal that all fit under the umbrella term: "essay". In terms of structure, some are in paragraphs, as you'd expect. Yet, others are numbered and some are more poetically formatted. Moreover, the purposes of the essays vary with the form as some are narrative, some reflective, some informative, and some lyrical.

2. The Different Genres Present:

1. The Narrative Essay
• Typically made up of a various paragraphs
• First person
• Past or present tense
• Meant to illustrate a major life experience
2. The Rhetorical Essay
• Occasionally satirical
• Typically made up of various paragraphs
• The voice of the narrator is not always the voice of the author
• Meant to persuade the reader
3. The Lyrical Essay
• Occasionally written in numbered segments
• Meant to be reflective
• Purpose is not determined by the genre

3. My Definitions

1. The Narrative Essay
• A first-person essay aimed to tell of an important life event of the author in attempt to make the audience sympathize with him/her.
• Targeted Audience: People who have not experienced anything similar to what the author is describing because the author aims to make them understand his/her unique experience.
2. The Rhetorical Essay
• An essay that through satire or other persuasive methods attempts to make the audience side with them on an issue.
• Targeted Audience: Anyone without a stance on the issue or a malleable opinion because the author is aiming to persuade them.
3. The Lyrical Essay
• An essay that employs various structures to poetically or reflectively discuss a topic.
• Targeted Audience: Anyone with the ability to comprehend the structure of the piece because the varying structures can be confusing for some. 

INeverCry. "Bacon Essays". 5/9/12 via Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain.

Rhetorical Analysis of an Academic Journal

1. There are 23, some alive and some dead, authors featured in The Best American Essays (2015):

1. Ariel Levy (Editor of the journal and writer of the Introduction)
2. Hilton Als
3. Roger Angell
4. Kendra Atleework
5. Isaiah Berlin
6. Sven Birkerts
7. Tiffany Briere
8. Justin Cronin
9. Meghan Daum
10. Anthony Doerr
11. Malcolm Gladwell
12. Mark Jacobson
13. Margo Jefferson
14. Philip Kennicott
15. Tim Kreider
16. Kate Lebo
17. John Reed
18. Ashraf H. A. Rushdy
19. David Sedaris
20. Zadie Smith
21. Rebecca Solnit
22. Cheryl Strayed
23. Kelly Sunberg

These authors are all held on a pedestal by the editor to be the best published essayists of the year of 2015: "The Best American Essays features a selection of the year's outstanding essays, essays of literary achievement that show an awareness of craft and forcefulness of thought (Levy xiii)." The authors come of various backgrounds, ages, and upbringings.

2. The primary audience of the passage is most likely serious purveyors of nonfiction literature given the intensity of its diction with words like: "kvetching", "altruism", etc. Given its widespread release, it can be assumed that its secondary audiences include the general public. 

3. The context of this journal is overwhelmingly dependent on the year its reflecting on: 2015. Since it aimed to pick the best articles published in 2015, the content was specifically chosen to reflect the aforesaid goal: "To qualify for the volume, the essay must be a work of respectable literary quality...(Levy xiii)."

4. There was no real overall message to the journal except to stress the overall beauty of literature, especially works published in 2015. I determined that there was no overall message because of the various topic covered by the various authors included.

5. I believe the journal aimed to illustrate the vast literary potential of mankind through various essays of merit by various people of various backgrounds: "For me, reading the essays in this anthology was as satisfying and invigorating as glimpsing a school of dolphins rippling in and out of the water: a privilege (Levy xviii)."

My Discipline

1. Students of my major, creative writing, learn how to best discover their own voices in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction through the analysis of others works, the analysis of our own work, and various critiques.

2. Typically, unemployment (as my father would say), just kidding. Usually, people with my major tend to go on to professions completely unrelated to their major (i.e. flight attendants, CEOs, and teachers) because it is such a hard profession to truly succeed in.

3. The aforementioned near-impossibility of success in this field led to me really want to do it (I'm weird in that way). Moreover, the opportunity to change the world with the written word just has my idol, Hunter S. Thompson, utilized was also a major factor in my decision to pursue a creative writing degree.

4. Three Important Figures in Creative Writing circa 2016:

1. Chuck Palahniuk
• He is exciting to me because he has a sardonic and grotesque writing style similar to my own and has achieved significant mainstream success.
2. J.K. Rowling
• She has received enormous profit from one super-successful series of novels.
3. Stephen King
• He has published more books than the two previously mentioned authors combined and has been a household name for decades.

5. Three Important Academic Journals:

1. The New Yorker, published online and in print
2. Ploughshares, published online and in print
3. The Best American Essays, published yearly in print

Young, T. "Cool. Dr. Hunter S. Thompson". 11/23/06 via Flickr. Attribution 2.0 Generic.

My Interviewees on Social Media

Aurelie Sheehan

1. I was only able to find her on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

2. The majority of the things posted on her more social, social media accounts (Twitter and Facebook) were links to articles for writers (i.e. book recommendations, interviews with writers, and writer advice columns). This combined with the fact that she has a Wikipedia page tells me that she is a major figure in the writing community and that she acts much more humbly then she ought to.

3. As previously mentioned, she acts much more humbly (or more does not act as conceded as I'd expect) in her works being that she has one various awards and has made a name for herself. This humbleness is visible through her appreciation for other authors: "I enjoy her fiction as I enjoy many good books (see above—serial lover under the blanket, snow outside, etc.) (Sheehan)."

Seth Foley

1. Foley has a much more humble social media presence, given that he only has a Facebook and definitely no Wikipedia page.

2. His Facebook page is exclusively for personal use, given that none of his posts revolve around his writing. Having interviewed Foley, I know that writing for him is a very internal and personal craft.

3. His persona in his writing can best be defined has loud and Hunter S. Thompson-esque, while his social media is very casual and much less intense: posting about cats, hippies, and Marine-memes.

O'Shea, Pete. "Writing Tools". 4/8/11 via Flickr. Attribution 2.0 Generic.

My Interviewees as Professional Writers

Aurelie Sheehan:

1. Aurelie Sheehan has written a for a variety of creative mediums: short story collections, novels, nonfiction pieces, and a novella. She has won a variety of awards for her works as well: the Pushcart Prize, a Camargo Fellowship, the Jack Kerouac Literary Award, among other grants and prizes.

2. "My City (or, On the Idea of Making It My Own)"

"Advent 12/9: Aurelie Sheehan on Zadie Smith"

Aurelie Sheehan has written, as illustrated by the examples, personal commentaries on her life and reflections and analysis's of other writer's works. The difference between these two genres is quite obvious, one is based off of introspection and the other examining the thoughts and ideas of another as articulated in their written work. Formatting-wise they are all the same.

3. The first hyperlinked piece really has no context because it was written purely to personally reflect on the various cities that she has lived in: "Now I live in Tucson, Arizona. I've been here fourteen years. It's home in a sense, in large part because this is where my husband and I have raised our daughter, and we've got good friends here (Sheehan)."

The context of the second is a reflection on the works of Zadie Smith so she there is the contextual issue of honestly reflecting on her work without too harshly criticizing her peer. Luckily, it appears as though Sheehan had no major disagreements with Smith: "Any writer can feel like a narcissist—in the lazy form of that word. Me, me, me—as mentioned—I’m tired, I’m sad, I’m lonely. And yet, as Smith asserts, we’re in this game to connect. Connection is all (Sheehan)."

4. The first published work's overall message is that our setting and the act of traveling  has a definite effect on who we are as illustrated by the following: "I write what I believe or see or imagine, and you write what you believe or see or imagine, too. Finally, it's a place of the imagination, after all, and there's infinite space to move (Sheehan)."

The second published work's overall message is to inform the reader on Zadie Smith's work: "I am writing to tell you about Zadie Smith’s book, Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays (The Penguin Press 2009)."

5. The purpose of "My City..." is an elaboration of her feelings on having lived in various and how they have grown on her: "This was an excellent experience, but living there forced me right away to reckon with my ability to render place (Sheehan)." 

The purpose of "Advent 12/9..." is to personally reflect on the work, "On Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays", by Zadie Smith: "She has reminded me that I’m not alone. “My writing desk is covered in open novels,” Smith writes, and I believe her. All our desks are covered in novels, invisible cities filled with friends and foes (Sheehan)." 

Seth Foley:

1. Seth Foley has no published works but is currently working on a novel on modern politics and his experiences as a Marine inspired by the 9/11 tragedy.

Litterio, Antonio. "Power of Words". 5/26/11 via Wikimedia Commons. Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported. 

My Interview Subjects

Interviewee No. 1

1. Name: Aurelie Sheehan

2. Place of Work/Job Title: English Professor at the University of Arizona

3. Degrees: BA and MA in English

4. Years Worked in Field: First published in 1994, so 22 years.

5. Picture:

Aurelie Sheehan, http://www.aureliesheehan.com

6. Time and Location of Interview: 12:45 on February 25th, 2016 in the Modern Languages 471.

7. Interview Questions:

1. How would you describe your societal role as a creative writer?
2. How has your background and past prepared you for the aforementioned societal role?
3. What genres do you most contribute to and what conventions do you employ?
4. What kind of internal audiences do you write for in your work?
5. What kind of external audiences do you write for in your work?
6. How has the profession of creative writing changed since you started working in it?
7. How do you approach time management when it comes to your writing?
8. How mindful are you about your audience when writing?

Interviewee No. 2

1. Name: Seth Foley

2. Place of Work/Job Title: Manager at Hippie Gypsy, Currently working on a political commentary novel.

3. Degrees:  BA in Political Science

4. Years Worked in Field: At least a year.

5. Picture: 

Seth Foley (on the left), No professional website  

6. Time and Location of Interview: Via Email on February 27th, 2016.

7. Interview Questions:

1. How would you describe your societal role as a creative writer?
2. How has your background and past prepared you for the aforementioned societal role?
3. What genres do you most contribute to and what conventions do you employ?
4. What kind of internal audiences do you write for in your work?
5. What kind of external audiences do you write for in your work?
6. How has the profession of creative writing changed since you started working in it?
7. How do you approach time management when it comes to your writing?
8. How mindful are you about your audience when writing?

Brutally Honest Self-Assessment

1. I am honestly really worried having never submitted a QRG before. I am afraid it was too brief which was sadly intentional because I was trying to be loyal to the succinct QRG format.

2. The brevity and the lack of depth are my biggest concerns.

3. I feel that I was extremely careful in maintaining the structure and style of a QRG.

4. I NEED TO IMPROVE MY TIME MANAGEMENT. I ended up having to quit my job to finish this assignment and still missed some major deadlines. NEXT PROJECT WILL BE DIFFERENT!

Local Revision: Variety

1. Upon analysis, I have revealed that I have a natural gift for sentence variation. However, I used simple sentences, as defined in the Rules for Writers on page 154, sparingly. My paragraphs about the various sides to the issue is a touch repetitive upon comparison.

2. My sentence transitions have mostly been replaced by the various subtitles that I used to label each paragraph. As previously stated, I feel that my paragraph introduction structure is a bit too uniform.

3. My vocabulary could use a little more flavor. My greatest strength is that my simple vocabulary is loyal to the QRG format. My greatest weakness is its redundancy that can be avoided by describing the stakeholders in more depth.

Local Revision: Pronoun Usage

1. I used pronouns rather sparingly. This is most likely a sign that I need to go more in depth in my project because pronouns are only used correctly when referring to the subject for at least the second time so I am mentioning too many people just once. Perhaps, I am focusing on mentioning everyone in the conflict opposed to honing in on the most important people.

2. There is one instance where I use the word "we" to refer to the audience and I in the context of "This year's Academy Awards is set to pick the best pictures and performances for 2015, the year we saw Ferguson and various other fatal police shootings of African American citizens." I believe this is effective in connecting with the audience over a national tragedy.

My Pronouns

My Pronouns:
We (my audience and I)
Many (those who believe the Oscars are whitewashed)
Many (those who believe the Oscars are whitewashed)
Their (those who believe the Oscars are whitewashed)
Many (George Clooney, Barack Obama, Viola Davis, etc.)
Some (Will Smith, Spike Lee, Jada Pinkett Smith, etc.)
Others (those who believe the Oscars are not whitewashed)
Many (those angered by Leonardo DiCaprio not winning the 2014 Best Picture Oscar)
He (Leonardo DiCaprio)

Local Revisions: Passive and Active Voice

Active (Specific):
Overlooked
Voice
Voiced
Announced
Overlooked
Overlooked
Soothe
Broadcast

Active (General):
Have
Existed
Places
Is
Have
Picked
Is
Pick
Saw
Was
Argue
Were
Take
Use
Were
Has
Increase
Is
Are
Were
Supports
Argue
Be
Decided
Go
Call
Be
Is
Is
Win
Are
Be
Outdated
Is
Has
Pick
Cites
Back
Is
Continued
Were
Angered
Has
Were
Fix
Is
Provide
Feel
Offended
Revised
Tell

Passive:

Has
Served
Are
Has
Led

Has

Has
Has
Are
Considered
Have
Pointed
Have
Expressed
Produced

Questions:

1. Analyzing my verbs for passivity has been an eye-opener for me. The majority of my verbs do not pop and precisely describe the actions of the controversy's key players. Also there are too many instances of passive voice. Revision is needed!

2. I need to use more precise verbs and less passive voice.

Local Revisions: Tense Usage

Past:
Existed
Has
Served
Picked
Saw
Was
Were
Overlooked
Has
Led
Has
Has
Were
Considered
Pointed
Has
Voiced
Announced
Were
Overlooked
Expressed
Produced
Decided
Outdated
Has
Continued
Were
Angered
Overlooked
Has
Were
Offended
Revised

Present:
Have
Places
Are
Is
Have
Is
Pick
Argue
Take
Use
Voice
Are
Have
Increase
Is
Are
Have
Supports
Argue
Be
Go
Call
Be
Is
Is
Win
Are
Be
Is
Pick
Cites
Back
Is
Fix
Is
Provide
Feel
Soothe
Broadcast

Future:
Will tell

Questions:

1. The present tense.

2. I believe that my emphasis on the present and past tenses gives my project a reflective and scene-setting tone. I feel that by abstaining from the future tense until the last line that I properly alluded to the ongoing nature of this controversy with my tone.

3. I feel that my tones, though shifting frequently between the past and present tenses flow well because in their contexts I properly articulate the causes using the past tense and then the effects using the present.

4. I use the present tense frequently in order to illustrate the incompleteness of this controversy which is important because the event in question has not happened yet.

My Verbs

Verb List:
Have
Existed
Has
Served
Places
Are
Is
Have
Picked
Is
Pick
Saw
Was
Argue
Were
Overlooked
Has
Led
Take
Use
Voice
Has
Has
Were
Are
Considered
Have
Pointed
Has
Voiced
Announced
Increase
Is
Are
Were
Overlooked
Have
Expressed
Produced
Supports
Argue
Be
Decided
Go
Call
Be
Is
Is
Win
Are
Be
Outdated
Is
Has
Pick
Cites
Back
Is
Continued
Were
Angered
Overlooked
Has
Were
Fix
Is
Provide
Feel
Offended
Revised
Soothe
Tell
Broadcast

Frequency:
Be (and other tenses): 21
Have (and other tenses):10
Pick (and other tenses): 3
Overlook (and other tenses): 3
Voice (and other tenses): 2
Argue (and other tenses): 2

Local Revision: Wordiness

From my draft:

"For the eighty-eight years that the Academy Awards have existed, the award show has served as American (and occasionally global) cinema’s equivalent to the ESPY Awards for sports and athletics, the Tony Awards for theater, the Grammy Awards for music, the Emmy Awards for televised programs. The Oscars, being the oldest of the aforementioned award shows, places the burden of deciding the year’s best actors, actresses, films, directors, and other key players in the field on a board of over 6,000 members of the film industry known as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). Opposing the People’s Choice Awards and many other modern awards programs, the victors are chosen by the peers of the nominated filmmakers not the general audiences. Therefore, the AMPAS’s pick for best picture is not always what the masses would have picked."

Revised excerpt:

"The Academy Awards have long been American cinema's most popular awards show. The Oscars relies on the 6,000 or so members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to vote on the year's best films, filmmakers, actors, and actresses. Since the general public does not have a say in who wins or gets nominated it is not uncommon for the AMPAS's to rival common opinion."

I believe my revised draft is rather boring in comparison to the original. However, its succinctness is more relevant to the style of a quick reference guide. I will probably try to make it 10-20% as brief to adapt to the genre yet not sacrifice my diction.

Peer Review 2

For my second round of peer reviewing, I reviewed Nicholas Hoover's video and Jianna LoCricchio's quick reference guide.
Here are their drafts: Hoover's Draft and LoCricchio's Draft.
1. After watching Hoover's video, I was left with an impending sense of doom because at some point in the near future I will have to produce one myself. I also realized that I need to start thinking of ways to differentiate my video from everyone else's and to make it entertaining as soon as possible.
2. My top three issue with my draft

1. I feel like it is too short.
• To fix this, I plan to do a lot more research on my controversy this weekend in order to have enough information to add another section to my quick reference guide.
2. I feel like I could go in depth on the various stakeholders.
• To fix this, I plan to perform vigorous research with the specific goal of finding suitable quotes that sum up each stakeholder's view on the controversy.
3. I feel like I could focus more on setting and occasion.
• I plan to research specific places in which my controversy is a hot topic, besides Hollywood.

3. My top three strengths

1. Loyalty to the format of a quick reference guide.
• As I add more sections to my QRG, I hope to maintain the short, sweet, and to-the-point tone of m first draft.
2. Analysis of my controversy being an example of a greater social issue.
• By relating the controversy to a greater flaw in our society, I manage to thoughtfully conclude my entire QRG.
3. The general flow and consistency.
• Typically my writing style erratically jumps from tone to tone, but I feel that this QRG, due to its pragmatism, is very consistently toned.

AJC ajcann.wordpress.com. "Peer Review". 5/23/2008 via Flickr. Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic License. 

Peer Review 1

For my peer review, I graded Rashaan Malik's QRG on the NFL Concussion Controversy.

Two Things I Liked:

1. He made excellent use of the QRG format and seemed to have a knack for its diction and flow.
2. He did an excellent job of illustrating both stakeholders' position on the issue without being too blatant (like having each stakeholder and their intentions described in different sections of the QRG).

Two Mistakes I Noticed:

1. Certain paragraphs were too meaty in my opinion to be considered a part of the QRG. More succinct information could have been supplemented.
2. Little traces of descriptive story telling are apparent: "It was a cold Pittsburgh fall morning...". I feel that this did not coexist well with the QRG format.

Draft of Project 1

My draft , on the whole, can best be described as a very, very rough draft. I feel that I have not yet grasped the fluidity of the organization and diction of the typical quick reference guide. However, I do feel I accurately identified the various stakeholders in the controversy, though I could add more depth. I am also pretty happy with my conclusion, though it will need a lot of editing.