Reflecting On The Course

  I found the structure of this course quite conducive to developing my writing skills. Beginning with non-fiction helped me learn to structure my writing properly, create cohesive pieces of writing with central arguments or ideas, and back my writing up with evidence or logic. Moving on to the poetry unit, the focus shifted to literary devices, aesthetically pleasing writing, creativity, and outside of the box thinking. Finally, the fiction writing unit allowed me to synthesize these skills into two culminating pieces of creative writing, giving me great freedom with regards to the topic and allowing for an exciting exploration of all the skills I have developed.

  If there is one thing I have learnt from this course, it is that the skills involved in different formats of writing are all interdependent and build on each other. What is useful in writing a journalistic piece may not seem immediately helpful for writing a novel, but a skilled writer knows how to use every tool at their disposal to achieve the best result, even if those tools have to be used differently in disparate situations. For example, one of my strongest skills: my expansive vocabulary, can be used both to bring splashes of colour and emotion to a piece of fictional writing, enhancing its aesthetic appeal, and to augment my argumentative or analytical writing with greater clarity, specificity, and impact.

  While I would consider this course to be a success, there is still a long way for me to go in developing my writing skills. Some areas I need to work on include my time management, my attention to detail, and my flexibility with regards to editing. All of these, but particularly the first two, are skills that naturally improve with experience. As I move forward to university, I hope that writing more about a variety of topics will help me develop those skills, though writing more on my own time will hopefully help as well. This fall, I will be attending Trent University for Cultural Studies, a major that will hopefully improve both my appreciation for and the depth of my knowledge of literature, media, and culture. I am excited to grow into an even stronger writer and explore every field that a writer could flourish in, from fiction and critique to journalism or even the law.