Help me make sense (reading/writing)

November 4, 2007 10:20 AM

I have problems reading and writing in a linear fashion.

For example, when I am reading, I literally move my eyes in a circle around the words. I also skip tons of words. I feel like I get the meaning, but then the overall style and "feel" of the text bugs the crap out of me. I am hypersensitive to the author's style. For the most part, I do not enjoy reading. This makes me really defensive, which I also do not enjoy.

I also strongly dislike writing in a linear way. If I set out to write something in an orderly fashion, inevitably I will forget half the words and need to make up new words. For example, if I were to write the way that I *wanted* to write, the sentence I wrote before this one would sound like this, "When directed in the way of orderly formality (writing/expression), inevitably/conseqencely/determination succeeds/fails to provide verbiage adequately/primarily/normally/stereotypically/prescriptively. New forms (neologisms) are requisite." Yes. I said, "consequencely." That makes no sense.

So yay! Bored, irritated circular reader. Nonsense writer. Which is actually fine, except in school. Most importantly, the graduate studies that I have recently begun. Yikes. I feel really dumb.

So. Fix me. Can I relearn this? It was never a problem when I was a kid. I loved reading and maxed out my library limit constantly. Is it the internet's fault? Or typing rather than script? I would like to enjoy these things.

posted by unknowncommand to education (13 comments total)

You might want to consider outlining your work in a stream-of-conscious fashion; simple jot down ideas, phrasings, or terms on a few sheets of scrap paper. As you review your work, you can consider forming a rough outline or timeline of who you'd like your piece to progress. After that, you can experiment with writing complete paragraphs, then tailoring them to fit the continuity of a coherent page.

That's how some writers hash out ideas, particularly during (or even following) a creative block; on the downside, the process tends to be more time-consuming.
posted by Smart Dalek at 10:30 AM on November 4, 2007

Once upon a time, a (strange) teacher of mine decided to teach us all how to speed read. She showed us a video of where people's eyes go when they read. From your description, you sound DEAD ON like the video I watched- people's eyes bounce all around the page! I'm a natural-born speed reader (not to brag, honest), so I was flabbergasted to find this out. No wonder people read so slow!

From what I recall of the video, speed-readers tend to read by:
(a) taking a mental picture of the entire page
(b) skimming down the middle of the page (think running your finger down the middle of it).

So, perhaps learning how to speed read might help you somewhat? It's kind of a balance between linear and skimming.

I have no idea on the writing stuff whatsoever, sorry.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:31 AM on November 4, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

have you had your eyes checked? When I had a corneal abrasion and lost some vision in my left eye, reading became a lot more difficult for me - I used to just fall into books, but now I really have to concentrate to stay with the point of the author.

I have also heard that some people recommend eye exercises for people with ADD and that sort of diagnosis, so I think eye health has larger effects than we might think at first (so, yeah, screens might not always be positive).
posted by mdn at 10:35 AM on November 4, 2007

Have you been checked for dsylexia?

Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that manifests primarily as a difficulty with written language, particularly with reading and spelling. ... Evidence suggests that dyslexia results from differences in how the brain processes written and/or verbal language. Although dyslexia is the result of a neurological difference, it is not an intellectual disability. Dyslexia occurs at all levels of intelligence, average, above average, and highly gifted.
posted by salvia at 10:48 AM on November 4, 2007

I like everyone else's suggestions better, but anyway I recommend looking for a different language that conforms to your personal style. Like maybe something more picture-based like mandarin? Or different word ordering like German? Or a language where one word can mean many things (to help you get rid of the slashes) like Swedish? Once you learn it, you can read in it and be happier. Then, use english when you need it.
posted by Eringatang at 10:55 AM on November 4, 2007

Unless you're already familiar with German, it can be tricky to master; the varying infinitives and conjugative rules can be frustrating for anyone wrestling between colloquial and formalized sentence structure.
posted by Smart Dalek at 10:59 AM on November 4, 2007

I think you are having trouble reading because the standard back and forth movement of the eyes most people use for it gives or would give you vertigo.

I know from one of your previous questions that you have some unusual balance issues, and the way you describe your approach to reading reminds me irresistibly of a case I read about in Shadow Syndromes. After finding his patient had balance difficulties the doctor prescribes Dramamine:

The results had been encouraging: the Dramamine had had stopped the ringing in his ears, which he had heard all of his life, and interestingly, had dramatically improved his ability to read a line of print:

"I could follow one line to the end and drop down to the next line without my eyes wandering all over the page."

His comprehension had not improved, but the physical act of reading, under the influence of the Dramamine, now flowed smoothly for him. [pp. 259-260]

The doctor went on to prescribe Antivert for this man (called Ham, in this account) with striking results:

...suddenly, almost overnight, Ham's depression of forty years simply vanished:

"I've even tried at times to get depressed since I started the Antivert. I'll think what is the worst thing that has happened to me. But it doesn't seem to do anything, doesn't affect my mood." [p. 261]

Despite the rather breathless tone of all this, these medications were no permanent miracle cure for 'Ham' (perhaps because of the added effects of the anti-depressant Norpramin), and the whole thing is a bit of a cautionary tale, but I wouldn't be surprised if you were to find that chapter of the book ('Autistic Echoes') highly instructive.
posted by jamjam at 1:01 PM on November 4, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

As far as writing goes, you clearly can write in linear fashion when you try. So why not just write your first draft however comes naturally, just to get the ideas out, then revise into standard form?
posted by footnote at 2:14 PM on November 4, 2007

@Smart Dalek and @footnote, it's fine when something is short or informal enough that I know it is acceptable, or at least passes as quirky. I have tried doing the stream-of-consciousness thing, or writing how I want to and then trying to translate. When I do it, I find that what I have actually written conveys (to me) way more meaning that I could possibly put into one sentence. It's like the words within the sentence need to be on top of each other.

Thanks for all the suggestions, I appreciate it, though jamjam's blows my mind!
posted by unknowncommand at 2:38 PM on November 4, 2007

What I always suggest when people ask how to write clearer is just this: when you are reading, constantly ask, "Why?"

Read through a sentence. Note the exact words the author used. And then, ask yourself, "Why did the author use that word, as opposed to another?" and "Why did the author state the sentence that way, as opposed to some other way?"

What this is supposed to do? It's supposed to make you more aware of just how very important every single word is. It's supposed to make you more aware of what difference a single word can make to a sentence. And the more aware you are of how much every word matters, the more attention you'll give to those very small details.

The sample of your preferred-writing style shows that you're just getting ideas down as quickly as possible, without planning out ahead of time how they all go together. Sometimes, quick-thinkers have the most trouble writing clearly. This is because they just don't spend enough time figuring out how to put all their ideas in a coherent order before actually writing. They get all the ideas so quickly, and they know how they all go together intuitively, so they just spill the ideas out all over the page without thinking about what they're saying. So, you have to slow down. Go so slow it's almost painful and analyze each and every word you think should be written down.

It won't be fun. You won't enjoy it. But it's at least the best advice I can give about how to learn to write clearly.
posted by Ms. Saint at 5:16 PM on November 4, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

It sounds to me like you might be a right-brained person (non-linear, big-picture, possibly pictorial or concrete rather than abstract thinker). Maybe you could look into that and see if any online tips or resources for right-brainers would help you. Academia is overwhelmingly left-brained and you may just be a square peg in a round hole. (But you can clearly shift hemispheres when you need to, since your "linear" writing was perfectly, well, linear.)

Don't despair, right-brainers have their strengths even in left-brained environments. (For example, Hubby is very right-brained and he's an engineer - he can look at blueprints of machine parts and tell whether they would dock together properly, which is very difficult for a typical left-brainer.) Your profile says you're a librarian, so maybe your right-brain advantage might be to maintain a big-picture knowledge of various fields, understanding their history and trends, rather than knowing the minute details. Or maybe putting together information from widely disparate fields, which might not occur to a detail-oriented left-brainer.

I don't know why your style would have changed since childhood, though - I sort of have the impression that a person's favored hemisphere stays constant for life.
posted by Quietgal at 6:42 PM on November 4, 2007

conveys (to me) way more meaning that I could possibly put into one sentence. It's like the words within the sentence need to be on top of each other.

This is a good way to write brainstorming, or a first draft -- but it's a terrible feature to leave in a final draft of an essay.

Remember you are writing for an audience of people who don't yet understand you. (The depth of other people's failure to understand us is often hard to appreciate! Maybe imagine an audience that is inclined to misunderstand you in any way you let it.) You need to think about what order they need to hear things in, to understand your point. If you don't so this, it doesn't matter how much meaning you've put into your sentences because your readers won't be able to get any meaning back out again. In re-writing, some of your meanings will need to be left behind so that at least some of your other meanings will get through.

Can you go talk to someone (a pro, not a student volunteer) in the writing center at your university who specializes in working with grad students or people with unusual writing styles? They would be able to work with you in re-writing drafts (the best way to learn this skill) and strategize about ways to fit your habits and needs with the demands of your program.
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:48 PM on November 4, 2007

As to reading: would it help if you made yourself a screen to read through? That is, cut a letterbox hole in a piece of paper, so you can see only one (or a few) lines at a time. Might help if you find you are missing things by doing the "holistic impression of the page" thing.
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:50 PM on November 4, 2007