Writers' Bloc

Generally speaking, I am a pretty curious and conversational guy. If I find myself on the elevator with someone or waiting in line at the grocery store, I will ask a question or make a comment just to see if the person next to me wants to talk. However, near the end of each semester, I find myself dreading a certain conversation that I have to initiate with a student. That conversation concerns plagiarism, and the dialogue is usually uncomfortable.

Plagiarism, as you probably know, is taking another person’s ideas and passing them off as your own. Students who plagiarize are committing a serious academic offense, and if found guilty, they may face serious consequences such as failing the assignment, failing the course, and in the case of a repeat offender, being suspended from school.

A while back, I read an article by a movie reviewer, and he tried to convince his readers that the best movies ever made were produced in the 1970’s. At first, I didn’t think he was serious.

After all, the movie industry has experienced major improvements in technology during the last 30-40 years. Could the movies from that long-ago era really compare favorably to modern films? Yes, according to this author, and he provided five strong examples to make his case. Naturally, you can also use examples to support your persuasive arguments, but as you write the example essay, you should try to answer the following three questions.

If I told you that the Capital District is one of the most fertile areas for American novelists, you might view my comment with a bit of skepticism. After all, usually when people think of literary hot spots in this country, they think of major metropolitan areas such as New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago before they think of upstate New York. However, I do have four major examples to back up my argument, and as a writer, you, too, can use examples to make a point.

As the fall semester of 2008 begins, I find myself eagerly awaiting the first students to arrive in The Writing Center. Each year, we have a few success stories that really stand out, and last year was no exception. Allow me to share with you the stories of Cathy, José, and Shea.

Cathy was a returning student who had not been in school for a few years. Rather than go to college right after high school, Cathy joined the workforce and worked in a series of clerical jobs that allowed her to move forward in her career. However, at a certain point, she realized that without a college degree, her options might be limited, and she secretly wanted to become a lawyer. Thus, although she was a bit apprehensive at first, she enrolled as a full-time student, determined to take advantage of all the resources available to her.

Have you ever heard a young child say to his or her parent or teacher, “It’s not fair”? Of course you have. This cry is common among frustrated children, and perhaps you’ve even used that phrase yourself when you felt wronged or unfairly punished. While this cry may be justified at times, the young child, or adult, using it may be guilty of using a logical fallacy.

A logical fallacy is a paradox, a phrase that sounds contradictory at first but upon reflection makes perfect sense. The contradiction occurs because “logical” sounds positive, and “fallacy” sounds negative. Overall, however, the fallacy is negative; the user has simply used a logical form to make the argument appear more reasonable. Let’s look at some common examples.

I’ve been thinking about writing and surgery quite a bit lately. Usually, I think about writing a lot because I work all day in The Writing Center, I teach Composition courses two evenings a week, and I write fiction in my spare time. I’ve also been thinking about surgery recently because I’ve been reading the works of Richard Selzer, the surgeon/author who will be visiting the campus on Thursday March 6 as part of HVCC READS 2008. And the more I read by Selzer about his medical experiences and his writing, I realize that writing is, in fact, a lot like surgery.

Selzer, who is a Troy native and a graduate of Union College in Schenectady and the Albany Medical School, commented on the similarity between the two professions in a 1992 interview with Publisher’s Weekly: “A pen is the same size as the scalpel. When you use a scalpel, blood is shed; when you use a pen, ink is spilled on the page” (Steinberg).

Have you ever read a novel or a short story and wondered how much of that story was truth and how much was fiction? Or perhaps you wondered, “Did the author experience something like the main event of the work, or is it a total fabrication?” Sometimes, authors will answer those types of questions when they speak in public, or they might write about those topics in a “story-behind-the-story” type of essay. HVCC READS 2008 author Richard Selzer writes in detail about one of his short stories in his autobiography, Down from Troy.

Most writing instructors will tell you that if you want to become a better writer, you must write on a daily basis. You might record your activities every day in a diary, for instance, or you might reflect upon those activities in a journal. However, knowing what to write or how to write isn’t typically the real struggle. Instead, most people struggle with finding time to write. Fortunately, some successful writers have shared their secrets to finding time to write, and you may be able to duplicate their methods.

Authors often take readers to places where those readers might never get to go. For example, playwright Reginald Rose wrote the play Twelve Angry Men, and he brought his audience to a special place. As Rose stated, “no one anywhere ever knows what goes on inside a jury room but the jurors, and I thought then that a play taking place entirely within a jury room might be an exciting and possibly moving experience” (Miller, Gonzalez, and Millett 59). Author Richard Selzer – who will visit Hudson Valley Community College on March 6 as part of HVCC READS – also brings his readers into a special place; Selzer brings his readers into surgery with him.

Does Selzer go into surgery as a writer who observes the surgeon and writes about the experience? No. In fact, Selzer is the surgeon, and he writes about both his patients and his procedures from his 40-year career. Selzer, who grew up in Troy, New York, and graduated from Union College in Schenectady and the Albany Medical College, didn’t set out to be a writer. Instead, he became a doctor like his father and worked as a surgeon at the Yale Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut, for 20 years before he began to write. And he began by writing horror stories.