journal 3

I found the tone to be very humurous and light-hearted. However, it did have a few instances that suggested an underlying or parallel tone that was quite serious. I don't find the term "insane writer" altogether "cliche" because historically, many great writers did have mental ailments. The only question being wether being such a skilled artist had in turn caused them to become "insane" or if being "insane" is what made them such a great writer in the first place.
"Highly opinionated" and "insane" have a fine line between them in my opinion, so considering that a lot of writers have very unique opinions, it's easy to see why people categorize them as crazy people, writers have to take this critisism because they are "going against the grain" with their writings and are easily misinterpreted by the mainstream brain-washed population. The stereotypes that i handed out in high-school included "clueless" and "over-simplified" characters of people that i considered to have missed out on the big picture and had essentially taken their constraints of the definition of self right off the television set. I think that plot is certainly needed in arguementative essays and reviews or any other informative paper or essay. Plot is the sense of direction or purpose for an essay and helps the reader and the writer to stay on topic much easier. This is why i think plot is not always needed in creative writing. When the intentions of a paper are undefined or when the paper has no purpose it has no need for a plot, the plot or purpose of the story is solely created by the reader and is different to every individual. An example being the film Napolean Dynamite, in which napolean is "out to prove he has nothing to prove" the movie has basically no plot to it at all yet was still a popular flick because it could mean anything to viewers. So in writing I think a paper without a plot can still be interesting or entertaining,but it can have no pre-set purpose or cause. So in other words, if you have anything specific to say or prove you definately need a plot. I think the five-paragraph style that i am all to familiar with does restrict creative thinking, how much can you really say with that perimeter on elaboration? Not much, i think that style tends to instruct writers to make bland conclusions and avoid more complex ones. It is a great style for simple topics and short writing prompts but leaves too much unwritten in most cases. It also creates verbose essays when a writer has perhaps only one strong arguement and really only needs three paragraphs to show his or her point of view. I am familiar with this style of writing but I never really took a liking to it.