Writing Identities and Prior Experiences

Kathleen Blake Yancey

“Writers’ identities are, in part, a function of the time they live” is one quote that stuck out to me and I feel like this is relatable to me in the education field because children LOVE to write about themselves, what they did this past weekend, or what their newest obsession is. However, when you make them write about why maps and grids are important and explain the difference between primary and secondary sources, they’ll throw a fit. This shows how children are not as enthused about writing something that happened at another time.

I feel like this quote can really highlight diversity. It shows age as well. Maybe I am taking it to a completely different route than what Yancey meant, but to me, a person is shaped to be a writer based on the time they live and what might be trending at that specific time. For example, someone born in the 1950s writing about the 1950s, it is something that they are familiar with because they grew up in that time and they have personal experience to develop a great story compared to someone who was born in 2000. Yes, that person may have a lot of knowledge about the time, but they will never have that connection and experience.

Andrea Lunsford

What I just mentioned about experience ties into Andrea Lunsford’s piece. Writing is shaped by a person and their interactions with other people and the world. Students often use these experiences and prior knowledge and apply it to their writing academically. Lunsford highlights how when writers wrote about their past experiences it became a negative story. It is funny how the brain works sometimes. I heard a quote today about how “it is not about what you say to someone but how you make them feel” and I guess when people think of things from their childhood a lot of people may have bad experiences that make them think negatively. Although these writers may have tons of good experiences, the way these bad ones made them FEEL has taken full control of everything else.

Victor Villanueva

Lastly, I just wanted to touch upon Villanueva’s passage where he said that people’s identities are often discovered when writing. Then, he continues by saying that these identities are everchanging. Some people can have more than one identity and can alter it depending on the different texts and audiences that they may have. One thing that he mentions that I think is really important especially nowadays with gender identity and politics, is that “Writers must become aware of how those identities and ideologies are represented in their writing”. Not saying that people have to walk on eggshells when getting political in their stories but people should just take caution when putting something out like that into the world because it can always be interpreted in many ways and people will try to shift whatever you say and pin it on you.