WP2

Written by

MAX CHEYLOV
FADE IN

INT. PUBLIC LIBRARY - DAY

NARRATOR(ME)
So what is great writing? Does this
differ across genres? Is there one
component of writing that
supersedes all others in relevancy
and importance? These are all
things we will discuss here today.
The goal will be to uncover the
process and central components of
truly great writing.

I walk into a grand, empty library, home to thousands of

books on hundred of stacked shelves. We pan through a series
of different books on writing tips. THE CAMERA shows a wide
shot of myself standing in the middle of the space, and I
turn around to face it, breaking the fourth wall.

NARRATOR(ME) (CONT’D)
Here we are, folks. As many of you
know, the goal of today is to
analyze writing and to discover
what constitutes a successful and a
truly great work. In order to do
so, I will be giving you a
flashback, along with stops and
commentary, of an interaction I
encountered between six different
writing experts. It all began at a
simple dinner...

FADE OUT

DISSOLVE TO

FADE IN

EXT. RESTAURANT - OUTDOOR PATIO - DUSK

Six individuals sit around a narrow dinner table in the

corner of a bustling Italian restaurant, all incessantly
talking over one another.
 2.

There’s three men, two named Craig, Craig Hulst ("Grammar,

Rhetoric, and Style") and Craig Meyer ("The Evolution of
Imitation: Building Your Style")and a third man, Paul Butler
("What Is Style, and Why Does It Matter?") , along with three
women, Nora Bacon ("STYLE IN ACADEMIC WRITING"), Janice
Walker ("Formatting the List of References for Online
Publication in Academic Writing"), and Marjorie Stewart
("Weaving Personal Experience into Academic Writings").
Janice Walker and Craig Hulst sit on one side of the table,
and argue against the latter four individuals across from
them.

PAUL
(excitedly)
Style style style! That’s all that
matters! If you don’t have style,
you don’t have anything! And when I
say style, let me be clear, style
is the way you use your words! This
encompasses literal word choices,
tone, and the overall mood you
evoke in your audience! It’s the
basis for any and all things in
writing!

JANICE
Paul, you can scream about style
all you want, but style won’t even
matter if you are blacklisted from
your field and stripped of your
titles for accidental plagiarism.
You must make sure to cite
everything first and foremost! For
example, if you are citing a
journal, you just need “the full
title of the journal in italics
followed by a period, the URL for
the journal and the date of access,
enclosed in parentheses and
followed by a period” , but if you
are citing something like a
featured article, you must “list
the authors name, last name first,
the date of publication, and the
title of the article. List the
journal title in italics, followed
by the URL and the date of access”
(Walker pg. 2)
 3.

NORA
Blah blah blah! I’m with Paul. You
can have a zillion sources with
perfect formatting and citations,
but if you do not put the majority
of importance into your style, how
will the reader even consume your
work in an enjoyful and informative
manner? They surely will not be
able to.

CRAIG MEYER
Surely the audience will fall
asleep, before they even reach your
carefully crafted bibliography!

CRAIG HULST
Style is certainly important, but
we also must identify ‘the way that
parts of speech are used (or not
used) [to identify] the author’s
choices” (Hulst 98). If we do not
stay true to certain aspects of
each genre and the rhetoric it
employs across various fields, they
will not be able to identify our
work, nor its intended purpose. In
the same way, if we do not cite our
sources as authors, the audience
may think I am you, and you me, or
might think the ideas have just
appeared on their own; grabbed from
the air with no credit to be given.
You must certainly be able see
where the danger therein lies-

MARJORIE
But Craig! if you have no style,
the audience can still make this
mistake all the same. Besides, if
you do not “find stories that will
make your readers remember similar
times” (Stewart 172), then they
will never truly connect with your
work. It is extremely important to
integrate your own personal
experiences into your writing
style, so that you can firstly
distinguish your work to be easily
recognizable, and secondly so that
you can humanize the voice behind
your words and better relate to and
connect with your readers.
 4.

As soon as Marjorie concludes her points, we FREEZE FRAME the

screen in the midst of her passion:

NARRATOR (ME)
Hey Folks. Just checking in. So
far, we have already learned a
great deal about writing, despite
having witnessed differing
viewpoints. We have discovered that
each different genre of writing, be
it articles, or journals, or online
publications, must all be cited in
specific ways, and each differently
as to avoid both misrepresentation
in regards to credit, and
punishment due to plagiarism. We
have also learned that while these
technical aspects of writing are
surely important, we must also put
an equal focus into our style, as
this is what distinguishes our work
and makes it both audience and
genre appropriate. We learned that
style encompasses the totality of
how our writing sounds, and the
moods and emotions it emits from
our readers. Clearly there is some
debate over which is most
important, but for now we will
leave that to the experts. For now,
we still must uncover just exactly
how we are to develop this style,
and how we can integrate this in
with the more structural, format
centered components of writing.

The FREEZE FRAME resumes:

CRAIG HULST
Surely in regards to academic
papers, you all can not contend
that style is so important? Surely
you must concede that at least in
certain genres adherence to
conventions must be more important
than style?
 5.

NORA
Even in purely academic writing,
where your arguments for citations
and structure prove to be all too
familiar and important, style still
holds a great deal of relevance. It
is important to n=recognize that
even in these citation centered
works, one must still be sure to
incorporate, and put equal
importance into style. This both
allows the audience to “ ind more
pleasure and beauty than we
expected” and in order to “create
more room by pushing at the edges
of academic genres” (Bacon 189). In
regards to academic writing, we are
still able to identify and employ
appropriate rhetoric and genre like
Craig and Janice so desire, but we
can also simultaneously emphasize
how we intend for these things to
be delivered, and the reaction we
intend from our audience, through
style.

CRAIG MEYER
In all types of writing, including
academic, one way we can do this
successfully is to “not to only use
imitation, but to consider it one
of the tools of learning—a powerful
tool, but a tool nonetheless”
(Meyer 118). By observing and
analyzing others works, we can
formulate our own styles. This
allows us to speak in our own voice
while also staying true to accepted
genre conventions. In this way, we
get the best of both worlds and
cover all important points in our
writing.

CRAIG HULST
This is a good point, but one you
have slightly misconstrued. We can
certainly put some emphasis on
style, but accepted and appropriate
genre conventions must still
ultimately supersede style.
(MORE)
 6.
CRAIG HULST (CONT’D)
For instance, “the use of the
personal pronoun is not expected by
a science audience” (Hulst 95), so
if one’s style is a constant use of
the third person and they desire to
work in this field, their work will
not be accepted. They may even be
looked down upon in the field for
their emphasis of tone over
accepted content matter.

PAUL
I believe at the end of the day,
you all think of writing in much
too rigid a way. Why cant it be
that we “promote style as a
continuum of choices from plain to
lively, rather than as a set of
dichotomies?” (Butler 5). If we do
this, we are not so constrained and
can produce overall better works!
We can identify genre conventions,
and appropriate citations and
formatting, while also constructing
our ideas and arguments in our own
voices.

Paul lifts his glass in the air and the supporters on his
side cheer. We pause for a moment or two and as they cheer we
FREEZE FRAME again:

DISSOLVE TO

INT - LIBRARY - DAY

We transition back to myself in the library, walking, and I

conclude my final analysis of the conversation:

NARRATOR
Now, we finally have more specific
answers to our questions, and we
have began to uncover what
constitutes a successful, great
piece of literature in any and all
fields. Through Marjorie Stewart,
Paul Butler, Craig Meyer, and Nora
Bacon we have learned several
different tips for how to first
build, and then distinguish your
personal writing style. These tips
included things such as weaving in
personal experiences and employing
the use of imitation and analyzing
other successful works.
(MORE)
 7.
NARRATOR (CONT’D)
Through Craig Hulst and Janice
Walker, we have also learned that
in the midst of developing style,
we must also put an equal relevance
and importance into staying true to
genre, rhetoric, and proper
citations so that our work is
academically appropriate and
acceptable. We have learned that
each different genre of writing
requires different formatting,
different uses of language, and
different citations which all must
be taken into account in accordance
with how one actually delivers
their content and intended message.
The only questions that might still
remain are ‘can these conventions
be broken altogether’? As well as,
‘are there certain fields where one
aspect, I.E. style or rhetoric,
does in fact supersede the
other?’These Are questions that may
never fully be answered, but if we
are striving to be the best writers
we can be, we must keep striving to
uncover all the secrets of what it
means to be a great writer! In due
time, we can too can be experts!

I walk out of the back door of the library and as the CAMERA
tracks me we:

FADE TO BLACK

The screen reads:

THE END