Annie Gerspach

Doctor Erin Dietel-McLaughlin

WR 13300
9 September 2014
Audio Narrative Reflection
Writing and recording an audio essay was unlike any assignment I have ever
done before. Creative writing is something I have not done much of. Then to record
my narrative was completely taking myself out of my comfort zone. By recording my
narrative, my eyes were really opened to the fact that my narrative was being
written with the purpose of being shared. I realized more clearly that I was writing a
piece for a certain audience, and because of that, I needed to have a strong story
with a strong purpose.
When I was assigned this project, I was clueless as to what I would write
about. The free write definitely helped me. I didnt get many ideas based off of my
artifact, but when Doctor E asked us what we felt other people expect of us when it
comes to social media, it was as if a light bulb went off in my head. Except, it wasnt
so much what other people expect of me, as it was an idea of what I expect of other
people-respect. I realized that respect is something that social media lacks so much
of, especially when it comes in the hands of a stereotypical mean girl. Mean girls
and social media were something I had a lot of experience with, and I knew that it
was a topic that would be relatable to so many other people.
In fact, relatable is the first thing my peer-edit partner called my piece. She
said she had an experience very similar to the one I shared in my narrative.

Although upsetting to hear that she had to go through what I had, too, I was happy
that I had successfully produced something so real.
My first draft was very rough, as the author of Shitty First Drafts suggested
it should be. I still got pretty good feedback on it at the peer-edit, but I knew I had a
lot of work to do. Revising is probably my least favorite part of any writing process,
as I typically just want to finish the paper as fast as I can. However, the readings
assigned to us throughout the week offered some great tips about writing audio
narratives that really helped my editing and revising process.
The Improving Audio Essays piece emphasized clearly that because this
piece was in audio format, and not in writing, that it had to have an organized
structure. My draft was very out of order and scattered, so my first step was to make
the structure cleaner. I worked very hard to make my piece more focused, but also
more captivating so that the audience would want to keep listening. Second, I
worked on inputting details that appealed to the senses. I tried to make the
emotions I felt emotions that the reader could feel with me. I incorporated more
setting and more character, through the use of description. I was also excited to
incorporate devices such as exemplum and epistrophe into my piece which I
discovered and learned about on the American Rhetoric website. Finally, I worked
on leaving the listeners with a take home message. This part of my essay, which
comes towards the end, is where I really tried to develop my purpose. I tried to
express how this narrative relates to not only me, but to many other people out
there. This was hard to do without rambling, but I did my best in sharing a story and
message that is very powerful to me, and I am very happy with my final product.