My Writing With Constraints Experience

Link to Picture

       
         What you talkin' about?! That was my reaction when asked to write in a certain writing constraints exercise. What if I told you, you can write anything you want, but you have certain constraints you had to follow? You can only use one syllable words and there can be no more than ten words in each sentence. Oh, you also have to write at least half a page using these constraints. Sounds crazy, right? Maybe even impossible? Well, I completed this assignment and it wasn’t impossible, but it was definitely difficult. We were asked to complete an assignment with these constraints for one of my English classes. I actually really enjoyed it because of its challenging constraints.

            The plot of the story I wrote was about a guy named Josh who lives with his wife and four children. He is a farmer, but he also is a race car driver as a hobby and to make an extra income for his family. His wife secretly hates him traveling to race because he is inconsistent with being home for her and their children. He overhears her talking on the phone and then there is a discussion on whether he should give up his hobby of racing forever.

            This is a hard task because I would normally use a thesaurus to find words to use that mean something similar to what I am trying to convey. With this task, the thesaurus was not very useful. Most words are more than one syllable creating a greatly frustrating experience. I decided I had to stick with words that were easy and familiar. I would also normally create my sentence structure and length to be something more fluid and “flowy” if you will. I would not pick a word limit. I would just start writing until the sentence was complete. NOT IN THIS TASK! It was very strict in only using ten words. This was nice in some areas, but not very ideal in others. I couldn’t convey half of the details I wanted to because it would include using words that contain more than one syllable.

            Relating to sentence structure and conveying a story, sound is also very important. I felt that in this task it was very hard to give off the sound I was trying to accomplish. With that said, I also found that the constraints conveyed some sound better than if I were able to make a sentence however long I wanted. Sometimes the short seemingly “here’s the point” sound gave my story more of a suspenseful sound that I did not expect to gain from the constraints. It's amazing what abrupt periods and commas can do for a writing piece or story. I found this by reading the comments under my completed task. I found that some thought that my story went well with the constraints. I guess I'm my own worst critic! 

Link to Picture

        I usually go back through my writing after I am finished and think, “Okay, if I am the reader of this work, am I going to enjoy it or get out of it what I need to.” I may also ask myself, “If I know nothing about this topic and I am reading it for the first time right now, is there enough information here for me to gain an understanding?” I did that, but I still wasn't sure about it. I had to turn something in, though. When I turned it in, I had some wonderful feedback and everyone was impressed with my work! I didn't like it, but my readers loved it! They were impressed by the length of my story and detail with the constraints I was held against. It was a very unexpected outcome for sure.

Link to Picture

            I will say after writing within these constraints I do not hold an appreciation for short sentences. They bother me because I cannot convey everything I need to. Do I think they can help me get rid on run on sentences and seemingly paragraph long sentences? Of course they do. I can use this newfound strategy in my future writing to eliminate these things, but I will not be using them regularly as a style of writing. I will be implementing more abrupt periods and commas in my writing. This can give the story more of what it needs to give strict points or it can create a feeling of suspense, too! While it was fun, interesting, and educational, I do not wish to do this regularly in the future in my kind of writing.