hot spots

While reading the first chapter in The Allen and Bacon Guide To Writing, I found two hotspots that interested me. The first hotspot was on page 20. The page was a whole list of rhetorical aims like explore or inquire, inform or explain, analyze, synthesize or interpret, persuading and reflecting. This interested me because I didn't know there were so many rhetorical aims to choose from. Each one has it's own focus of writing and relationship to the audience you are trying to relate to. For example, if you use the rhetorical aim that informs or explains, you provide knowledge and example that you want your audience to know about. If you use the persuading aim, you try to convince your readers to accept and understand what you believe about the situation. You're trying to change the minds of the people who think differently than you. I find it interesting that there are so many ways that you can write a paper and each way has a specific name and focus.
My other hotspot is on page 9. The page explains the difference between closed and open forms of writing. Closed form writing is usually a paper written in school filled with facts and structure. Open formed writing doesn't really have a focus and is more “free”. There is no clear structure and it's more like a story type of writing. This was interesting to me because, I knew there were different ways to write about certain things, but I didn't know that there was a name for a specific type of writing or when to use each one. I haven't really written in open form because most of my papers are for school. After reading the examples of the closed and open forms, I thought that the open form was more interesting to read.
One of two of my hotspots is on page 32. It was when the book talked about freewriting and just letting your ideas come to you as you type or write away. I think this was one of my hotspots because, like I said before, this is what I do. I think freewriting is fun. I like looking at all the thoughts that I had after I'm finished. Sometimes it's weird to see how one thought lead to another and to see how my brain connects certain ideas. I like when the book says to “perhaps turning off the monitor so that you can't see what you are writing.” This sounds like something I want to try. It would make things more exciting.
The second hotspot of mine was on page 42. This was when the book gives you two ways to surprise your readers. My hotspot was when the book gave the idea of giving your thesis tension. I like this because it's something that I now want to use in my writing. I think writing this gives the common example of things but then hits you with a completely different way to look or think about the subject. I think common views get old and there are always different ways to think about things just some people choose not to.
A hotspot of mine was on page 50. I liked the thought exercise on the angle of vision. I thought that the example was a good one. It said “suppose you attended on Friday night and two people ask what you did on Friday. One is your best friend, the other is your grandma. How would your descriptions of Friday night differ?” I liked this example because it's something that can very easily happen so it was easy to relate to. It also made me think about what I would say. I also liked where the book said that “ there is always more than one way to tell the same story.” This just makes me think about all the stories I've heard and how they could easily be told a different story and if the story caused trouble, it may have been able to be avoided.
My second hotspot is on page 60. I just thought it was weird that the book compared human flirting to peacocks flirting. It was odd. I also liked how it explained about the choices we make about the clothes we wear when flirting and peacocks have no choice at all. Our choices show our identity and project us the way we want to be seen.