As a teacher, I often hear about the diverse ways that people learn. I.e. some people are better at learning by listening, while others need to see the lesson in writing or experience it on a more kinetic level. In what ways do we engage with a story differently when it is in audiobook form vs. paper format?
I like this topic. It would be nice to add other formats like Kindle or reading from your laptop. For me it is better when I am reading straight from the pages, and it is tough when I have to read in my computer. – Andrestrada8 years ago
On a physical level, reading requires work, so it makes people more tired whereas its easier to just listen to someone recounting a story. Although for audiobooks, there is the issue of a person's voice being too high or too low, making the story hard for someone to listen to.
I once did a presentation in college where I read some of my stories to the class and their feedback was that the experience brought them back to when they were young children listening to their teacher reading stories and how much they missed that magical feeling. – JennyCardinal8 years ago
This is a difficult topic due to the excellent points you bring up regarding the different learning styles of individuals. A story is such a fascinating example due to the use of the imagination in deriving the appearances of the characters, as well as the setting, and even body language. Though many of these facets are provided to the reader, we, as readers, tend to reconstruct--or, at times, deconstruct--what is written or heard. This is the reason why so many people become upset with film adaptations and the casting of certain characters; a level of disappointment arises when the character does not meet the reader's expectations.
While teaching a television series in a literature course, I had students turn on the subtitles, even though the series was spoken in English. By doing so, students were subjected to the actual interactions, spoken words, and character evolutions, as well as "reading," the series as if it were a story (which, it is). I think this is a fascinating topic and I would be quite intrigued to see someone write on this, as I personally do not have a definitive answer for this topic. – danielle5778 years ago
Fantastic topic! I think it's important to also consider the ways we can judge others for their choices, ie. seeing someone reading a paper book versus seeing someone read on their phone. – LilyaRider8 years ago
This is something that I have spent quite a bit of time thinking about as well. I think, in a broad sense, we can get the same story from multiple sources (I firmly believe that you can get as much out of the film Romeo + Juliet as you can from reading the play). However, like LilyaRider said, we make value judgements based on the ways in which people engage with texts of all types. – Derek8 years ago
And there's a misguided assumption in education that after elementary school, lecture is somehow the best method of lesson delivery. When grades become indicators of success, only the auditory are valued. Our world is run by the auditory, and they don't listen to us. – Tigey8 years ago
I suspect that the audiobook form of communication provides a wider margin for distraction. The reader can attend to other necessities while gorging on the side show of the voice behind the audiobook. In the paperback form, the reader has to stop the flow of information in order to acknowledge more urgent or unexpected activity. Although both are reading time, each is unique in the path to the ultimate goal of completion and inspiration. This is a double faceted theme that will require intricate writing to whomever embarks on it. Looking forward to the finished product. – L:Freire6 years ago
Always have in mind that "learning styles" are a myth. – T. Palomino2 years ago
Analyse how recent trends in Young Adult fiction, such as Vampires narratives, Dystopias, etc have both contributed to a more feminist dialogue within these worlds (for example the Hunger Games) but on the other hand also supported older, patriarchal systems (such as Twilight). How can writers address these issues when writing young adult fiction?
What do you mean "How can writers address these issues when writing young adult fiction?" The point of most YA fiction is to tell a story. Telling a story from a strong, Independent women lends a story a certain feel but does not fit every character and the personality the writer is imagining. Not every writer wants their characters to come from a strong feminist perspective. I don't think you should include that last sentence because it makes it sound like all non-feminist characters in novels should never be written. Newsflash: there are still extremely sexist people in this world and they are the audience books are written for. I agree that there are books out there that are so blatantly sexist it makes me sick but they aren't all bad. After all, you cite twilight as part of the problem yet it is beloved by many girls regardless of some pretty sexist parts. I think that a better direction to take this is not why authors should change ow they write, but how the writer uses a variety of narrators to create an effect and what this effect is doing to young adults. – Jutor8 years ago
It becomes clear with times that the Romanticism holds an internal contradiction. These disagreements have a very humanistic nature. Thus, the theme of the concealed self plays particularly integral role in works of some romantic artists such as Emily Dickinson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, and etc.. The role of artist, the role of artist’s self can be considered as a one of main themes of the romantic age. Although, the new limitless artistic and creative possibilities begun with understanding of their godlike nature, the faith in the absolute “thereness”, in the man’s transcendental origin faded. Did it lead to the logical conclusion that faith in the God needs to be replaced with the faith in the man, his mind, his creative powers and possibilities, his nobleness, dignity, and his ability to “self-rely”?
Looking at many modern top-selling video games the focus on plot development is a key selling feature. An analysis on different genres of video games should be taken into consideration. Do many gamers, both casual and dedicated, rely on plot when choosing their games; does it effect the industry to base the game on plot and do they help us learn things more effectively than reading?
Video games/cyber games seem to offer a future literary path. There is something literary to them. I think it is the future. – Jeffery Moser8 years ago
Looking into the ludology versus narratology debate could be helpful for this article, particularly in answering the question of whether gamers rely on plot when choosing what to play. – Prongsley8 years ago
There's a whole other level to story telling in games that books don't allow for. While readers can get invested in the plot and characters of a novel, video games allow for the player to take control of the story. At best, books will grip you and have you speculating what might happen next, while games allow the player to decide what to do, and experience the consequences of the chosen action. While I don't think that games will replace books or that either medium if better than the other, I think the individual experiences of reading and gaming are what make them unique and enjoyable and need to be considered when you compare the two. – tbarker8 years ago
With science fiction being popular enough in the American media to have it's own channel on most cable/HD tv services, it's become quite the commodity, but a lot of this science fiction is based around America or European powers, with a few exceptions, but there is actually a rich history of using science fiction to depict political unrest and situations under dictators and during war. I'd just like to throw out a list with some interesting stories with their summaries and maybe a bit of analysis.
Not only one can find such lists and analyses in articles, but also in books and compilations, many available for free online. Although it may look like Latin American fiction is an unexplored field or a diluted copy of Western science fiction, it has been largely explored and there are many people studying the topic. – T. Palomino2 years ago
JD Salinger's 1948 short story "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" is our first glimpse into his Glass family. The story, first published in the New Yorker, discusses a WWII soldier's re-acclamation into society and has a tough, realistic ending. Salinger, a WWII veteran, provides an honest glimpse into American society as seen by recently returned veterans. How does Salinger's message in the short story resonate in today's culture of war and America?
I am deeply interested by this topic. I have always been a fan of Salinger, and I would very much be curious to hear other people's perspectives on the Glass family and Seymour. – tysonfraleigh8 years ago
There is so much to say on this topic. Seymour Glass, the protagonist of A Perfect Day For Banana Fish, is largely absent from Salinger's oeuvre despite being referred to in several of his other works. He is a member of America's 'Greatest Generation' that won what is often considered to be the last 'just war' (WWII). This all seems to have a jarring connection to what followed: Vietnam, Nixon, the CIA involvement in Latin America, Bush, Iraq, and directly the PTSD issue. – ptoro8 years ago
I definitely agree; Salinger was setting the stage for the PTSD issue for generations to come, but in a way that broke boundaries of newspapers or televisions. I think A Perfect Day for Banana Fish was far ahead of its time. – Aine8 years ago
Discuss how young adults are addicted to the instant gratification of texting and being on the internet and how this leads to the failure of engaging in more meaningful activities in the real world, such as reading, writing and creating.
This is far too general of a topic IMO. It's a good subject though. You're implying all young adults everywhere suffer from an addiction, which is a serious medical ailment. Read between the lines on this subject. Numerous people have written about the lack of solitary time (me time, thinking time, alone time, etc.) that has arrived since social media and quick and easy asynchronous communication technologies like SMS. The topic could be edited to add to this discourse perhaps? Either way you should edit this topic so a writer does not add to the millions of articles out there demonizing technology, addiction, and young adults. – Aaron8 years ago
I agree with Aaron that your topic should specify that not all young adults suffer from this addiction. Those who do also feel it in different intensities. Some people develop severe anxiety while others just get a little restless. I am strongly against our continual technology worshiping, but it would make your text stronger, I think, to include a bit of both worlds. I'm very interested in reading more about this topic. – Alstroemeria8 years ago
Following Aaron's and Alstromeria's suggestions, I would narrow it down to the fact that we don't deal with emotions because we distract ourselves with the internet. I would recommend watching "Louis C.K. Hates Cell Phones" and use his thesis as a starting point, and go from there to find actual evidence to see if he is right. – ismael6768 years ago
Texting and the internet are instantaneous: after pressing a few keys and the ever-powerful 'send' or 'submit' button, one can get their message and thoughts to anyone they choose. Writing, reading and creating are strenuous and difficult task. We live in a world where finding unique and impassionating topics (we often believe - and are presented with more and more evidence to support the fact that - individualized ideas have been exhausted). Texting and the internet are, unless otherwise formatted, anonymous and seldom entail immediate ramifications. Being creative will forever run the risk of criticism. To label creativity as 'more meaningful' may be contestable, but people like texting because its safe. Reading, writing and forming unique ideas can sometimes be anything but. – oteolis988 years ago
The Universe created by Ransom Riggs in the series of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is one built on the manipulation of time where the secret residents of the world, peculiars, live in time loops where they live the same day over and over again in a particular spot. Peculiars are aware of this and and may go about the day however they'd like and the future beyond that fixed point would never be changed and the day is always reset so that each morning is the same. How might this contradict or relate to the belief that time is either linear or circular? Are these loops directly related to time or are they more like a parallel universe? Is the universe in this series a parallel universe in itself?
This sounds like it would hurt my head. Can't wait! – J.P. Shiel8 years ago
Also, a good time for something like this as we approach Tim Burton's upcoming adaptation. – J.P. Shiel8 years ago
This is a great topic; I wondered how time and universe applied, too, while reading it. It seems as though the world of Miss Peregrine's house exists in a cycle of the same, directly related to time. It became fragmented for me when it became easier to go between the worlds and incorporate facets in both, especially when the peculiar timeloop fails to reset and they have to find another. – Aine8 years ago
As it is clearly relevant: Edge of Tomorrow is a film with the same basic premis and may be worth looking at from a film standpoint – Cory MacRae8 years ago
