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writing contexts

We always write in the light of other texts. This is the case whether we are writing fiction, essays, or laboratory reports. This is obviously one aspect of what constitutes genre.

These other texts may be explicit (I may write in a manner that acknowledges other texts - this is one role of a bibliography for instance), or implicit (I write a romance novel which relies on my and the reader's shared understanding of the conventions of the romance - without explicitly quoting or referring to any individual romance).

However these are both quite literal examples of how writing relates to other writing (we always write the already said), but any writing practice, for any of us, also writes us.

This is just a flash way of pointing out that we must subject ourselves to a language which prescribes terms, grammars, and uses. Not only must we use (to a considerable degree) these rules and conditions to write, but in writing we particpate in these.

Furthermore while we may think we know where we are starting from when we write it is rare to actually know where we are going. This is an important experience in writing (and could even be considered the most difficult skill for novice writers to learn) and is a condition of all writing. Our arguments, stories, genres, have their own logics, and as we write we become subject to them.


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