Reading Response - Maria Diaz-Gonzalez

I did not read very much of either Keyes nor Pyne’s books, although I anticipate I will make further use of them as I continue to write my thesis. What little I did read of Keyes’ book made me a little nervous. 

It took me a very long time to want to write an honors thesis at all. Only once I began seeing it as an opportunity to do something I’d been dreamed of doing in my childhood (write a story) did I decide that it was something I wanted to do rather than something that I felt I was supposed to do. During this Honors College, Professor Hobbs’ encouragement and the guidance I’ve received from the several faculty and students involved in the program made me feel like I might actually be able to complete this thesis. 

Put simply, during the process so far, I haven’t felt very scared. I did feel scared when I still believed I was going to write an academic paper, but I feel much less so now. Keyes’ book makes me nervous because it seems that fear is the most legitimate place for writing to come from. I have been wondering a bit lately if maybe I am too sure about my writing, since there are a couple of elements I’m pretty set on including in it. I think I realized yesterday that I can potentially write the story without much research, even though it won’t be much good. I’ve yet to figure out if I think that is a good or a bad thing, although I’m leaning towards bad. 

I am also nervous about his implication that the best writing comes from a place that is deeply personal. If I understood him correctly, it is near impossible for an author to write well about something that they have little proximity to. I don’t however, know what the boundaries of personal connection are. I for example, have never experienced enslavement or many of the things that I plan to have the characters in my thesis experience. Even while writing the things that they experience, I still can’t really relate. I am nervous then, that my writing will be false in a sense, since on a personal level, I actually have no idea what I am writing about.  

The bit that I’ve read of Keyes’ book made me think a lot, though I have yet to reach any conclusions. The little I read of Pynes’ book didn’t hold my interest too much, so I don’t have much to say on it, although I intend to very carefully read the sections on character and setting.