12/18/17 - An Authentic Log Blog

We started the class off by learning about authenticity, what it is and what it does. Authenticity is the sense that something that comes from not others, but rather something that is unique and original. Maybe even something that isn’t just manufactured out of the desire of money, but maybe something that is made, because someone genuinely wanted to make it and in the case of literature, share it with the world.

The rest of the lesson was heavily influenced by George Saunders’ What Writers Really Do When They Write which discusses exactly what one might guess based on the title. One of the examples we used showed how writers use detail and specificity in order to create more empathetic writing using several different descriptions of the Bobs and their actions.

• Bob was an asshole
• A 2 dimensional description that conveys him as someone who is probably an overall asshole
• Bob snapped at the barista
• Is a bit more specific showing Bob’s  actions and allowing the reader to make the assumption that Bob is probably an asshole or just having a bad day
• Bob snapped immediately at the young barista, who reminded him of his dead wife
• Adds some details that are small, but effective at creating empathy. The reader gets the sense that maybe Bob is just being emotional because of his past.
• Bob snapped immediately at the young barista, who reminded him of his dead wife, who he missed so much, especially now, at Christmas
• Adds even more detail and therefore even more empathy since we have a better understanding of Bob as a character and may be able to sympathize with his plight.

Another part of writing that could assist with detail and authenticity is the ever essential revising. Saunders imagines a meter on his forehead with a “P” on one side and a “N” on the other side and encourage a writer to, “edit, so as to move the needle into the “p” zone. Move slowly, like a cruise ship, making better gradually.” Similar to cruise ship writing doesn’t take leaps as it improves with each draft, but rather slowly improves just as a cruise ship turns.

We took all this information and applied it to the letter we wrote on Wednesday and why a lot of what makes good writing wasn’t there. Of course, for everyone it was different but there was a large amount of common ground. As a graded and time assignment it did not encourage many of us to express ourselves with authenticity.The time constraints of a forty-two minute period didn’t allow us time to add details we wanted if we even got to finish, nevermind having the time to revise our work moving slowly like a cruise ship was out of the question.

Aside from the many times ingenuine film industries the video game industry is often disconnected from the notion of displaying something genuine. Since I’ve already used the very easy target of any of EA’s recently released video games I’ll use the recent explosion in battle royale games. With Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds success it seems that everybody and their mothers wants a hand in the cookie jar of battle royale games. I don’t think I’ve gone two days without hearing about another video game adding a battle royale mode or just releasing a new game a completely. Most recently there was a rumor of Counter Strike: Global Offensive releasing one. In my opinion, this is not a game that needs one or would even benefit from adding it, but you know they’ll make money.