I know it may seem like a lot to read, but I encourage you to at
least check it out and read at least half way.
Hello Everyone,
My name is Spencer Mallett and I am a teenager from
Idaho, United States. I do not hate to write, but I will say that I
am not completely in love with writing. I enjoy writing about
specific topics that interest me and concern my future and in
general, my life. Although I do enjoy writing about things that
interest me, there are always writing assignments and projects that
bore me and I wish not to complete. About a year ago I took a
course on writing by the name of Excellence in Writing. It was
similar to this course's setup in many ways. There were short
video lessons, small writing assignments, and key concepts that
helped further my understanding of writing concepts. Before I had
been involved with that course (Excellence in Writing), I didn't like
to write about anything! Whether it be something that interested
me or not, it just wasn't fun. Through that course I became quite
fond of writing in general. Not only do I enjoy writing more, I
actually learned stuff that would stick! I learned key techniques
and concepts to extract information and reproduce it in a manner
where I wasn't plagiarizing anything. Now that, was a huge plus
for me. I would have to say, that course was my main motivation
to learn how to write and actually produce something worth
reading.
I am currently a freshman in high school, so I must say I've
learned the basics of writing through the primary schooling
system. On the contrary, I do believe that most teachers in middle
and high school don't truly teach us how to write. When you
write, you should enjoy it! Many kids my age don't like to write
and dislike any writing assignment; mainly because they were
never right way to write! Like I said earlier, the main thing that
influenced me to write was, that small course that taught me how
to write in an enjoyable and educational way. What we need now
are teachers willing to go out and find these courses that are fun
for the students, all the while teaching them the right way to write.
I have had conversations with writing teachers, speech and debate
coaches, and many other language and English teachers. I won't
quote any of them, but the majority agreed that students these
days do not like to write. I understand there are always the small
percentages that enjoy writing and do it quite well, but the
majority doesn't like to write. I know that before went through
the Excellence in Writing course I abhorred writing. Any loophole
or way to get out of a writing assignment, I took. Although my
primary school teachers taught me the basics of writing, I feel that,
indirectly, they were the ones who discouraged me from wanting
to write. But now, I am improving as a writer and I enjoy it.
I have never entered a piece in a writing competition, but I
am on a speech and debate team. I know that isn't the same
thing, but it is the closest experience I have to being in a writing
competition. There are many different events one can be involved
in when on a speech team. The events I am involved in are
Expository Speaking and Impromptu Speaking. Impromptu isn't a
prepared speech, whereas Expository is a formal speech and it is
prepared. An Expository speech is an informative speech on an
idea, a process, or a person. This past year I spoke on the topic of
Feces (Yes, I did give an eight minute speech on "Poop").
Although my speech may seem disgusting, the majority of my
audiences always enjoyed it and loved all the helpful information.
Anyway, I believe an Expository speech is the most similar to a
writing piece you might enter in a contest or competition. You
might be wondering how this might be related to any form of a
writing competition. Well first of all, you must spend some time
researching the information. Secondly, you must reproduce that
information in an attractive, captivating format; so the audience
actually enjoys listening to and possibly reading your speech. It
took me about two months to completely perfect and memorize
my writing piece. It may seem like a long and tedious task, but
this past year the hard work paid off. I made it to Idaho's state
championship competition for my Expository speech!
What a
success, for all the hard work, constant revising, and several rough
drafts I actually made it to my state competition. Even though I
didn't make it any father than my state competition, I was
overjoyed to see my work had paid off.
One of my favorite authors of all time is John Ronald Reuel
Tolkien, more commonly know as J. R. R. Tolkien. He was a poet,
university professor, philologist, and English writer, best known as
the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord
of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.
I haven't had the chance to
read The Silmarillion, but I thoroughly enjoyed The Hobbit and The
Lord of the Rings series. So much that I read The Hobbit (There
and Back Again) seven times. The way he wrote and his style of
writing is most enjoyable to read. His writing style is high fantasy;
he is widely known for pioneering this genre. His writing style can
be characterized as elegant, graceful, and old-fashioned. Most
believe his inspiration for these fantasy tales comes from a number
of historical events. Such as World War I & II, Biblical History, Irish
Mythology, and Catholicism. According to the
website TalkingAboutTolkien.com, his writing style was also unique
in his own fashion. Tolkien excelled in portraiting his imaginations
in great details with words, but he disliked using fancy vocabuary.
And when compared with other fantasy fictions, The Lord of the
Rings noticeably does not contain many fighting scenes. Poetry is
also another major element found in Tolkien's works that further
diverged his style from others. It is said that he even invented his
own language, Elven. I found this out through online websites and
I own a limited edition Lord of the Rings Trilogy book. In the
appendices of that book, a new language "Elven", is described in
detail and you can actually find, pronounce, and translate many of
the symbols and words found in his books. His style and his book,
The Hobbit, inspired my to try and 'emulate' his writings. I tried to
write a story similar to The Hobbit. I came up with new characters
(who were quite charming), I changed the names of all the places
and people, I even came up with a different plot. I was on a
journey and I had a goal, to at least give writing a book a chance.
I spent days brainstorming and writing rough drafts. It was about
the fifth week in and about twenty some-odd pages, when I just
went brain dead and got stumped. School was starting again,
sports just around the corner, and friends having parties; my life
was getting super busy again and I just couldn't keep up. I had to
close the notebook and put away the numerous drawings that
somehow sprouted from my fingertips. I had to pause that part of
my life for quite a while now. To this day I still have that
notebook and drawings stuffed away in some unknown cranny in
my bedroom. I hope someday that story can be resumed and
completed all for the better.
Through these past experiences and the whole of my life, I
do consider myself a writer. Maybe not an author, an
accomplished speaker, or a person, who pioneered the ways of an
entire genre, but more-or-less an amateur, is improving writer. I
also have to take in account that I am still a child, a fourteen yearold child at that. I wish some day to become a great speaker and
writer all the same, and have the ability to influence and inspire
the people of our world and country. Whether it is though a state
speech competition, the writing of an unfinished book, or through
a simple online course, I'll take it.