There are two threads in the Roundtable at the moment discussing the significance of our writing. I haven't taken part in either but I have read them. A lot of people are discussing their legacies and how their writing affected someone else, and saying that makes their writing significant. Others seem to be talking about the craftmanship of the writing itself, and saying that the quality of the writing makes it significant.
I think it would be interesting to see how people define significance in their own writing. I can honestly see both arguments:
On the one hand, I think a very significant piece of my writing was the essay I wrote for admissions into U Chicago's summer session. The prompt was very boring (tell us about your favorite song/book/author/painter/whatever) so I decided to interpret it differently and describe how a song made me come to terms with my development as a writer and my relationship with my influences.
I told my English teacher, who proofread the essay, that I felt like I was handing the admissions board my bare soul. I think that this is an example of significance of the my-writing-affected-someone sort: it certainly affected the admissions board so much that they sent me my acceptance letter a day after I sent in the application.
On the other hand, I think craftsmanship is very important to determining significance as well. Not so much in a beauty of the phrase standpoint, because I'm not that kind of writer (yet, perhaps... I'm still a little young), but I decided that for Nano 07 I would write a high-concept novel. I got about halfway through before meatspace called, but for a time I was tackling issues like religious persecution, pedophilia and the origin of sin. In other words, I was dealing with things way beyond my maturity level.
I think this is an example of significance of the craftsmanship sort. Although I haven't yet finished the novel, I feel like I was writing about ideas that people all fundamentally worry about (life after death, acceptance, sexuality) and essentially commenting on the nature of religious differences leading to social stratification, etc, etc.
So I guess I wanted to ask how you all gauged the significance of your writing. I assume most of you are going to answer "it's a mixture of both" because that's always what happens, but I'd really love to see some thoughtful responses. And maybe some Lolcats -- I mean, it's bound to happen, right?
I think it would be interesting to see how people define significance in their own writing. I can honestly see both arguments:
On the one hand, I think a very significant piece of my writing was the essay I wrote for admissions into U Chicago's summer session. The prompt was very boring (tell us about your favorite song/book/author/painter/whatever) so I decided to interpret it differently and describe how a song made me come to terms with my development as a writer and my relationship with my influences.
I told my English teacher, who proofread the essay, that I felt like I was handing the admissions board my bare soul. I think that this is an example of significance of the my-writing-affected-someone sort: it certainly affected the admissions board so much that they sent me my acceptance letter a day after I sent in the application.
On the other hand, I think craftsmanship is very important to determining significance as well. Not so much in a beauty of the phrase standpoint, because I'm not that kind of writer (yet, perhaps... I'm still a little young), but I decided that for Nano 07 I would write a high-concept novel. I got about halfway through before meatspace called, but for a time I was tackling issues like religious persecution, pedophilia and the origin of sin. In other words, I was dealing with things way beyond my maturity level.
I think this is an example of significance of the craftsmanship sort. Although I haven't yet finished the novel, I feel like I was writing about ideas that people all fundamentally worry about (life after death, acceptance, sexuality) and essentially commenting on the nature of religious differences leading to social stratification, etc, etc.
So I guess I wanted to ask how you all gauged the significance of your writing. I assume most of you are going to answer "it's a mixture of both" because that's always what happens, but I'd really love to see some thoughtful responses. And maybe some Lolcats -- I mean, it's bound to happen, right?
