My article reaction

The article I chose to share my thoughts on was in the Sell Your Own Work edition of The Writer magazine. The article was called "What Harper Lee taught me about writing and the writing life." I chose this article because when I saw it was about Harper Lee, I knew that was the one. Harper Lee wrote To Kill a Mockingbird. Out of all the books I've had to read in high school and college thus far, that is by far the best required text. It is such a vivid story with a great point and it tells about a time that I wasn't there for but the way Lee told the story, I felt like I experienced it. But anyways, about the article. I kind of thought it was ironic for another author that is not Lee to be writing a book about a young girl whose favorite book is To Kill a Mockingbird. But I did like that the author was using the book itself as a "writing tool." I think you can tell a lot about an author by looking at their work.

I actually found out a few things I didn't know in this article. I didn't know that Lee's father served as the model for Atticus, Dill resembled her friend Truman Capote and she was tomboyish like Scout. There was even a neighbor that left presents in a tree like Boo Radley did. All of this goes to show, you know your characters and you base things off your experiences. (I think some good advice because look what happened when she wrote what she knew.)

Lee actually started To Kill a Mockingbird as a series of short stories, then she took off two and a half years to revise it.

I love the quote they included that Lee said, "Writing is a process of self-discipline you must learn before you can call yourself a writer. There are people who write, but I think they're quite different from people who must write."

The author also learns from Lee that you should include an element of surprise. The example she picks is great because it is when Atticus takes one shot and kills the rabid dog. And How Scout and Jem learned something surprising about their father who is soft spoken. I remember reading that part of the book and being just as surprised as Scout and Jem were, which is why the book is so great because you feel like you're there.

She also says to let your characters grow in the novel, to hope for the best and expect nothing (I think is a great thing in life, not just writing) and to be humble.

I loved this article because for one, I learned a few things I didn't know, I felt it had good advice and supporting evidence as to how it works and I thought it was great to see an article that shows well written work and why especially from Harper Lee because I think everyone should read that book.