The Process to Achieving a Writer’s Epiphany
I vividly remember a powerful moment when I sat in my freshman year dorm writing my final English 125 essay. I was hours into writing the rough draft, and I had this unexplainable “a-ha” moment. During this moment, which happened a few pages into the essay, I came to a monumental realization—I have the ability to teach myself through my own writing. Prior to this experience, my essays never pointed at a unique realization or had a specific purpose. It was at this moment that I realized that I had the power and ability to turn in a paper that had the possibility to teach the reader, but also teach me—the writer—when writing it. This moment demonstrated that I was able to further push my writing to a new level of sophistication. Eventually, I was able to manufacture an equivalent response, and over time this epiphany progressed from an accidental and isolated moment to a more methodical process. Ultimately, this process not only changed the way that I approached writing, but thinking as well.
The final paper in my freshman English 125 class asked me to consider the question, “How does one learn to write?” In order to successfully answer this question, we had to use evidence from the semester, including musical lyrics, readings, documentaries, and our personal experiences. I struggled to find a connection or pattern between the way I learned to write, as compared to how Kanye West learned to write. As I was writing the essay, I reached my “a-ha” moment. I discovered that the connection that we all shared was that writing was the documentation of self-discovery. This moment was surprising, as I could not previously draw an interesting connection. The a-ha moment can be defined as the instance when the writer makes a unique connection that was not anticipated. In other words, I did not set out to make the argument that I did, but rather came to the realization as the writing process progressed. In order to make this connection, I had to include a deeply personal example in my essay:
“Two years ago, I was devastated when my doctor diagnosed me with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Being diagnosed with cancer was the most terrifying moment in my life, but I knew it happened to me for a reason. I decided to keep a journal of my battle with cancer so I could have something to reflect on and maybe one-day share my story with others. Two days after being diagnosed I wrote: “I have decided I can battle cancer two different ways. I can be positive and do something extraordinary, or I can be negative and live with fear. I have cancer for a reason, I am just not sure what it is yet” (Lisner, “Cancer Journal”). Writing in my journal was therapeutic, and for the first time since childhood I was writing freely. This journal was not a school assignment and nobody but myself knew it existed...This journal was written from my heart and was a documentation of my road to self-discovery—in my terms (Lisner, 2011).”
I was then able to compare my experience with Kanye West’s, by analyzing his song “Through the Wire.” In this example, Kanye West also used a personal experience to learn how to write in a different way. His song, “Through the Wire” was written and recorded when his jaw was wired shut after a tragic car accident. In this continuation of my “a-ha” moment, I realized that West’s lyric “But I’m a champion, so I turned tragedy to triumph” (West, 2004) was actually “what writing freely is all about” (Lisner, 2011). This conclusion aided to my argument, adding a further level of unanticipated complexity. This realization was not a connection I had made prior to writing this paper, but rather happened authentically and genuinely as I wrote the paper. In this moment, I learned something new about the topic while also creating an unanticipated argument.
In order to reach these conclusions, I had to think about the prompt differently. In the prompt, the instructor writes: “The question “How does one learn to write?” is intentionally broad.” Looking back, it is clear that this broadness is what led to my epiphany. Deep and critical thought was needed in order to reach this conclusion, and I remember how proud I felt when I finally realized what the question “How does one learn to write?” meant to me. I answer this question on the bottom of page two when I write, “Writing freely is not about pleasing others, but rather it is something that we do for ourselves. It is not something that can be taught, but something we discover when we realize that we have something powerful to say.” While this realization was unanticipated, it did contradict the prior argument, it just pushed it to new heights. During a conversation with my professor, she complimented my approach and arguments presented in this paper. I received a 99% on this paper, and I realized that reaching the “a-ha” moment would be critical for my own personal learning, as well receiving a high grade on writing assignments.
The following semester I took English 225 with the same professor as English 125, where the class was centered around one essay that analyzed a hip-hop album of our choice. I chose to spend the semester examining Jay Z’s and Kanye West’s “Watch The Throne album”. During this process, the “a-ha” moment happened during my brainstorming/research period as opposed to writing the paper itself. In order to write this essay, I printed off the lyrics to every song on the album. I read through the lyrics as a text, and annotated them with notes in order to determine an overall pattern/argument. I created a detailed outline, which I had not done previously, which included each song’s main themes, connections to other songs on the album, and greater implications. This is an example of this structure:
“Body Paragraph 3: Who’s Gon Stop Me
-Main Themes: The color black is a motif through the song. Compares the struggling black community to the holocaust and says that both Kanye and Jay-Z have beaten the societal odds and redefined what it means to be in the black elite.
-*Songs 1-3 are similar. Overlapping themes of trouble in the black community as opposed to their new and unanticipated success.
During the creation of this intensive six page outline, I was able manufacture this epiphany at a nearly continual speed. The outline allowed me to examine all of the information and lyrics on the album before writing the paper, and achieving this moment of learning during the brainstorming stage allowed me to heighten my writing even further. This experience differed from my “a-ha” moment in English 125, as I did set out to make the argument, which was established in the brainstorming phase as opposed to the writing of the paper.
By the time I actually begin to write the paper, I was already sure of the direction and the argument that I wanted to pursue. As opposed to my prior semester, this paper was fluid, as it started off with my “a-ha” moment—which ultimately became my thesis statement: “However, while there are several references to the lavish brands that reflect their fortune, the purpose of Watch The Throne for both Kanye West and Jay-Z is not to add to their already staggering capital, but rather to demolish the caste system that does not allow fellow African Americans to bathe in similar success” (Lisner, 2012). To date, this is the paper that I feel the most proud of. As I read through it, I am impressed with my ability to make connections between single songs on the album in order to create a unique argument. I received an A on this paper, and my peers expressed during peer reviews that my argument made them think differently about the “Watch The Throne” album. In my teacher’s feedback of this essay, she wrote, “This was a great paper, with a specific thesis that was proven time and again. Great job, Emily! You have a lot of excellent writing ahead of you. This paper received an A.” This feedback confirms that this “a-ha” moment led to a nuanced argument that was accepted well by my intended audience. Similarly to my previous paper, I had achieved my own goal of developing a new perspective and learning something new through my writing, and also provided my audience with a different way to think about the topic at hand.
Last semester, I worked on a semester long paper in a course entitled Communications 440: Global Iconic Events. The final essay asked the class to select a global event and analyze how the media interacted with the coverage of this event. Additionally, we were asked to use the framework of the authors used throughout the semester to further analyze the event. This essay was unique in the sense that the direction of my paper was much different than the majority of the class. While most students chose to focus on a particular event such as the Olympics, or the assassination of JFK, I pursued a different approach. I was really interested in focusing on “everyday” life events which is explained by my thesis statement: “I have chosen showcase global subjects in order to demonstrate how life events of loss shared through new media bring people together through shared human understanding” (Lisner, 2014).
The “a-ha” moment in this paper did not happen while writing it, or even during the brainstorming stages. Rather, it occurred to me in class when our instructor showed the class a short film about “everyday” life events and how they shape the people we become. One of these stories in particular centered on a drunk driving accident, which left a woman physically and mentally compromised. I thought this film was incredibly powerful, and realized that I wanted to examine life events, portrayed through a digital lens, and somehow find a way to relate this to the course assignment and material. This moment happened much earlier in the writing process than ever before, and shaped the way that I approached the assignment.
In order to do this, I focused on Brandon Stanton’s popular and sensationalized “Humans of New York” (HONY) phenomenon. The creator of HONY, Brandon Stanton, travels around the globe in order to share the stories of the people he photographs. These pictures are paired with captions that can widely range in emotion and topic. While I was incredibly intrigued and interested in the topic, it was more challenging to write than I had anticipated. Perhaps the most difficult aspect of this paper was to remain in the parameters of the class and assignment, while still taking a unique and different approach to this assignment. In order to do this, I divided my paper into sub-categories: Introduction, Background of Humans of New York, Humans of New York as a Global Exploration, Case Studies, Social Sharing and Conclusion. By separating my paper into these specific categories, I was able to remained focused on the assignment while still intertwining my creative approach. Additionally, I utilized screenshots from the HONY Instagram and Facebook account to further illustrate my argument: “Ultimately, opening up and sharing a personal life event like this globally through social media brings people together through shared human understanding” (Lisner, 2014).
My professor initially expressed concerns regarding my topic, as she was concerned that it would not be able to meet the expectations for this assignment. To combat this, I went to her office hours countless times to explain the vision I had for this assignment. I explained that the inspiration for this project was derived from the short film that we watched in class, and I would still be able to make an argument about global events—just in a different way. During one of our meetings, I showed her a rough draft of my essay and my professor said, “Wow, I never thought about it like that before.” It was at this moment that I realized that I had succeeded in making someone think differently about a topic than they had before. This “a-ha” moment was powerful and transformative, as it pushed me to explore an area that was categorically different. In the end, my teacher gave me the following comments on my final paper: “A (you really nailed it!!! Wasn't as easy task...).” My “a-ha” moment while watching the film in class allowed me to make a unique connection to a topic of personal interest, while still remaining within the parameters of the assignment. While I was and still am proud of the grade that I received on this paper, I am more proud to know that I am able to think differently within the parameters of an outlined assignment.
Each of these three examples showcases the “a-ha” moment in different stages of the writing process. The first being during the actual writing of the paper, the second in the brainstorming phase after selecting a topic, and the last being a selection of the topic as a learning opportunity in itself. While in some aspects it has become easier to evoke this writer’s epiphany, it has also added another layer of pressure to the writing process. I am no longer satisfied with an “average” paper. To me, average is defined as meeting all basic criteria and therefore may receive a satisfactory grade. However, this average paper is missing above average, or unique, thoughts. Essentially, what first occurred as a unique and special moment in time became a standard for writing set by myself. The “a-ha” moment can be classified as the moment in time that I realize what exactly I learned and want others to learn through my writing. Ultimately, these unanticipated realizations have had a very a transformative effect on my writing. This learning is derived from unanticipated or unique connections that help myself, along with my readers, to explore the topic in a new light. My process with writing taught me that while you cannot always engineer these connections, it is energizing to realize that something extraordinary is possible. Overall, I aim to produce writing and thoughts that make the reader, and myself, think differently.
Work Cited
Lisner, Emily. “Cancer Journal.” 25 February 2011. MS.
Lisner, Emily. “Humans Of The World.” 9 December 2014. MS.
Lisner, Emily. “Jay-Z and Kanye West: Watching The Throne of The Past, Present, and Future.” March 2012.
Lisner, Emily. ‘“Writing Freely: “Tragedy to Triumph.”’ 16 December 20.
West, Kanye. “Through The Wire.” The College Dropout. Roc-a-fella Records/Def Jam. Feburary 24, 2004.
