Journal 5 - Julia Hecht

Composing is a process by which an individual’s mind is projected onto a screen or page, or even some other medium. Whether that is academic work or an exploration in personal creativity, it is always a representation of the author or artist. That representation can contain immense persuasive capabilities, political standpoints, tales of fantasy lands, news, research, or really anything that can be conceived. Writing and composing allows even the smallest individual to make an impact, or even change the world.

            I almost always approach writing from the standpoint of a creative writer. I have been composing stories for as long as I can remember—even before I got my first laptop back in 2008. Writing has always been special to me, and I believe that all writing comes from the heart and has the power to move people. Composing is more of an umbrella term in my opinion; writing will always be words, but a composition could be anything. It could be a collage, a painting, a writing, a comic, or even a sculpture. Coming from an artistic background as well has allowed me to accept the broader definition for composing, since a “composition” was frequently used to describe any finished piece of artwork.

Several terms I attribute to composing are:

• Conception: Every piece has an origin story. In some ways, this term relates to exigence, but I feel like it is a much more applicable term. The conception of an idea is how all good compositions are born.
•  Process: All compositions are a step-by-step process. Everything has more than one stage between conception and completion, in varying ranges of difficulty.
• Creativity: Everyone has some degree of creativity. The different ways that individuals approach their compositions can have a serious impact on how it is received by their audience.
• Audience: It is always important to keep your audience in mind, but it should not necessarily completely drive the composition. In the end, the piece has to be the author’s, but tailoring it to a specific audience can generally increase the success rate of a composition
• Structure: Creativity is always encouraged, but taking too much liberty with the structure of a composition can make a piece confusing or chaotic. It is always important to pay attention to the overall readability of any writing.
• Block: Writer’s block is a horrible thing, but everyone experiences it some time or another. Do not worry—It is simply part of the process, and you will overcome it.