Week Ten: This One's Personal

The Introduction of the The Art of Influence brings up many thought provoking ideas about persuasive writing. It reveals that the personal essay "should certainly be celebrated, because it is one of the most approachable and diverting types of literature we possess." The essays are intimate and personable, with self-revealing style, humor, and grace. Personal essays allow the writer to explore topics in a close, desirable, and freeing way. The introductions says, "the personal essay has an open form and a drive toward candor and self-disclosure."

The Art of Influence discusses "the conversational element" of personal essays as having a close relationship to dialogue, which brings a duality, or conversation, to the writing. This conversational element is very important, in my opinion because it not only brings readability to the piece, but it allows it to be casual, engaging, and relate-able to readers. In my own writing, I always try to be conversational rather than formal. I think formal writing can tip the balance of being too scholarly, which leads to distractions and complications within the writing that takes away from the point of the piece. A conversation can engage a reader more than a speech can. If one wants to persuade, a dialogue that is both engaging and casual, will bring dynamics to the writing and open the reader to influence and persuasion.

With personal writing comes "the problem of egotism" or the question of whether or not to use "I" in an essay. Some argue that it is acceptable to remind the readers that what they are reading is in the first person. Others say that the use of "I" is bad for the ego and that a certain sort of guilt creeps into the writer for it's usage. In personal writing, I think that the use of "I" is inevitable. I think it helps to deliver certain ideas to the readers, especially if one is telling something from their own point of view. It shouldn't be overused or tired out in a piece, but I think it adds more than it takes away. It's as if I were to argue my perspective in an essay, it would be I who would remind you of my opinion in order to try to influence your perspective.

"Questions of form and style" go back to the casual feel that a persuasive essay should carry. The Art of Influence says that form and style are flexible, that "it possesses the freedom to move anywhere, in all directions." Free form and style gives the writer the choice of how to set up their essay and how to link ideas in order to influence the reader. In my own writing, having that freedom allows me to explore an array of things with out feeling pressured to conform to anything formal. This way, I can write what feels right.

The Art of Influence says that, "At the core of the personal essay is the supposition that there is a certain unity to the human experience." I think this is quite true, especially when looking at essays and the different, yet similar, ways we approach them.