Hollie's+Final+Reflection

Final Paper Reflection

For my final paper I looked and compared video games and art and how video games should be considered art. My arguement looked into modern day art compared to classical art and then video games as a text compared to classical literature pieces.

I found it difficult to come up with my thesis for this project as I had to make sure that what ever my idea was it could be tied back into the idea of video games as text. Once I had come up with my thesis I sat down and just did some free writing - writing down all sorts of ideas and thought lines that I had. This included artist research, some video game research and looking into some articles that others had written about where they stand on the matter of if video games should be considered text. This is often where I start when writing my paper, I find that it is easier to organise my thoughts once I have them written down on paper. I then like to think about how I could organise my paper, for this particular paper I started off with my opening paragraph, I then numbered the following paragraphs and put some brief notes about what I would write about, I then finished with my conclusion paragraph. So even though the body of my paper was still jumbled and not quite organised I at least had an opening paragraph and then I had my conclusion to aim for as well as having the majority of my thoughts and notes written down and ready to go.

I'm not sure if I can really measure how much I've grown as a writer but I do know what my optimum working conditions are to get a paper done. Once I have finally figured out my thesis it really helps me to sit down with a pen and notebook and my laptop and just research and free write, just get as many ideas and thought lines down so that I have something in my hands that I can work with and manipulate. I also find this works for me well because once I get my 'writing bug' that's it I have to sit down and just write. If I also have to do research while I write then I find myself very easily distracted, whereas if I already have the background and research written down, there isn't really much reason for me to wander off to the internet and distrupt my run. Once that happens it's game over and I get extremely unproductive.

I think the most important thing about growing as a writer is finding your comfort zone. No one can really tell you 'how to write', they can give you tips and get you to try out new ways to find your 'zone', but I don't think there is one set way for people to write. If you find you have to sit in a pitch black room and disconnect yourself from the world or drink endless cups of coffee while people watching at Starbucks or drafting and redrafting again and again until you've found what it is you want: it doesn't matter! If that's how you produce your best work, no one can tell you what you're doing is wrong. Find how it is that you work best and then run with it!!!