Spreadability is something that I
both do and do not consider while writing. On one hand, there is absolutely a
part of me thinking how a piece or a paragraph might be interpreted by someone
other than myself. I will be writing and read back the information as if I was
someone else. During this part of the editing process I make many revisions and
alternations to sections that at first did not seem at all problematic. Afterwards
I will be more comfortable in sharing the piece with others and publishing it
online. For example, for a recent assignment we were tasked with was writing a
story. My first draft was very much a story written for me in the sense that it
was something I would thoroughly enjoy. Upon rereading this story, I realized
some parts to be potentially inaccessible to others and made some changes in
hopes of remedying this.
On the
other hand, the question of spreadability can be a harmful prospect in my
mind. When writers alter their work to
appeal to a wider audience it can sometimes weaken or completely dismantle the
effectiveness of the writing. With this in mind I try to keep my initial
message and goal in mind when re-editing one of my essays or articles. Going
back to the example of the story I wrote recently, upon a third read through I attempted
to ensure that I still enjoyed the story myself. After finding it to be a bit
weaker I again went through and performed several edits.
In my opinion
spreadability is a question of balance. Writing pieces that no one will enjoy
or be able to share will hurt the power of the piece and ensure that it has no
readers. However, editing simply to please can harm the integrity of a work and
make it ultimately pointless. Writers should strive to achieve a balance
between these two. With this being said I am not at all proficient at achieving
this balance, with many of my compositions favoring one side or the other. I
think this is an issue many writers struggle with. Spreadability is an important
thing to consider.
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