Before coming into this Narrative Medicine my writing was very different and not as polished. All of the writing I knew and loved came from different books that I read in genres of romance, sci-fi, mystery and thrillers. All of these books that I read had the same plot, storyline and themes. Since I read these books so much, they started to influence the way that I approached and went through with writing. I started to copy the style that these authors had, since it was the only thing I knew. My writing became very superficial and lacking in detail and originality. Reading all of these books and adopting their lackluster structure made my writing to suffer.
Before this class I was never able to fully unlock my potential as a writer because of how I kept the same structure. I was never able to grow and mature properly until this Narrative Medicine class. All of these books and ideas clouded my vision on what was good writing. However even currently, those books I have read still influence the way I write. But the way they influence my writing is not the same as before. The Narrative Medicine class has changed the way these books come into the structure of my writing. This class had made me to redefine my theory of writing. My theory of writing is that whatever a person writes should be able convey a plot that is captivating and interests the reader. When a person reads your writing, they should be able to make a connection to what you wrote. They should feel the feelings that you portray, and it should be able to take the reader to another place like an escape. This Narrative medicine course has enforced this theory in my writing. This class also taught me to be vulnerable in my writing. When I write I should not always have my guard up but allow my emotions to pour out into my writing.
Something I think that is important for writing is you should be able to connect to all types of an audience. Whoever reads it no matter the person should be able to feel what you wrote and not feel secluded because they do not relate. During the early session of the class when I wrote the narrative essay, I told the story, but I missed many opportunities to add depth and character to the narrative. I could have added more specifics, but I didn’t and left it vague. This is seen in where I say, “ I had become whitewashed to the point that I knew nothing about Nigeria”. I did not add any details or any feeling to it. In my narrative I just told the story blandly with no other substance.
As time went on I learned more about the structure of writing effectively. Narrative Medicine allowed me to broaden my scope and become more vulnerable and open with my writing. This was seen in my research paper where I write “When they do relax their hair or get a weave, people say that they are not being true to their identity and culture. They can never fit in, no matter how hard they try, and this can have lasting impacts. It can lead to low self-esteem and worth, anxiety, depression, suicide and other bad coping mechanisms. In this research essay I elaborate more on the topic by using detail and have more substance in writing my thoughts, Overall, the Narrative Medicine class allowed me to expand my writing skills and improve from where I was before. My writing improved from being bland and weak to insightful and captivating. Also many other things in the class have allowed my writing to improve tremendously. The peer reviews and the reflections helped a lot in how I approached writing. These aspects allowed me to self-reflect on what I wrote and allowed me to bounce ideas off of my peers that I did not have before.
