Franky Gomez

Writing 2
Zack De Piero
March 1,2015

Lucid Dreaming
As a writer we all have a certain approach when dealing with a certain genre.
Although most of us may understand the social conformities attached to each one, being
mindful of what youre trying to get across and to who can really shape a writers
moves. While working on my writing project I discovered that not only trying to
follow genres conformities is important but also limiting and even changing your moves
really can further develop your main point. Its through these different genres that a writer
learns to adapt and evolve his style to target his selected audience.
In my writing project I really became fascinated with the concept of lucid
dreaming. I used Steffen Schmidt, Tadas Stumbrys, and Daniel Erlachers Dream
Character and the Dream Ego: An Exploratory online study in lucid dreams as my main
article to draw most of the concepts related to lucid dreaming. Within the scholarly piece
the authors really formatted their article within the social conformities of a scholarly
article. Within the article the authors included subsections to each one of their topics as
well as inserting graphs and data sheets to really get their research out there. When given
the task of translating this genre and making it appealing to two separate audiences I
knew I would have to consider a few elements in order to make sure the pieces were able
to still get the main point of the article out there.
One of the elements that would have to shift revolved around the tone of the piece.
Within the scholarly article the authors maintains and informative and sophisticated tone
with their audience. According to the degree of lucidity (Barrett, 1992), the dream ego
(the dreaming person in his dream, see Tholey, 1989, p.567) is able to make conscious

Franky Gomez
Writing 2
Zack De Piero
March 1,2015
decisions that often serve to direct the dream narrative during lucid dream.1 Just in this
sentence along the article demonstrates a clear comprehension on the subject and
furthermore demonstrates it by citing sources to enforce their findings. The tone self is
very educational and didactic in a way trying to explain the experiment to the reader.
When working with my childrens book I understood my tone could not be as direct and
sophisticated as that of a piece intended for an older audience.
In my childrens book I decided to use simplistic jargon seeing the social conformity for
childrens book requires it. I ended up using Dr. Seusss books as my basis to understand
just what type of social conformities in regards to tone I needed to follow. At first I was
afraid of not being able to capture the main points of the article but changing your
identity maybe about choosing the right frame of mind.2 By that I understood that
changing the genre of a piece and transforming it into something new will have me shift
my state of mind. Instead of focusing on smaller components leading up to the main
points as the scholarly article did, I needed to chose the right frame of mind and try to
adapt the main points of the article and focus primarily on that. By framing my story
around these main ideas rather than individual aspects the format of the piece shaped and
formed my tone. Initially I wanted to hit an audience of children from 5th grade to middle
school but once I finished by book I was really able to bring down my audiences age
anywhere from 6 years old to 8 also I knew my book will be read
1 Schmidt, S. C. E., Stumbrys, T., & Erlacher, D. (2014). Dream characters and the dream ego:
An exploratory online study in lucid dreams. Dreaming, 24(2), 138-151.
doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0036942
2 Losh, Elizabeth M., Jonathan Alexander, Kevin Cannon, and Zander Cannon. "Writing
Identities." Understanding Rhetoric: A Graphic Guide to Writing. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 118.
Print.

Franky Gomez
Writing 2
Zack De Piero
March 1,2015
mostly by females seeing as it is about a ballerina but if a boy reads it hey more power to
you! Ultimately I wanted to make what the authors in the scholarly article wrote and
make it less scary of a subject. Personally I had lucid dreams, which freaked me out but
after reading the scholarly article I wanted to bring that to children and make sure it
became more palpable to them.
While my chiders book came out exactly like I wanted too I now needed to shift my
attention and focus on my adult audience portion. For my more mature audience I wanted
to work on making a script and filming it make it into a new report genre. However
writing the script alone became heavier then I expected it to be so I really just focused on
the script itself. While I used childrens book to shape mine I decided to go online and
really get an understanding of social conformities that follow a news script genre. I really
focused on a specific example of a news script published by USC3 from the script alone I
managed to really understand how when writing a news script your writings to be at an
exact tone as if one were speaking. The trouble for me was making sure the words and
tone didnt sound to like an essay, I really wanted to capture a conversation in my
writing. Throughout my writing I made sure to interchange direct words such as you, our
audience, and I in order to make my writing sound like an actual conversation. In regards
to my syntax I made sure not to deviate too much from the original scholarly article
primarily because my audience consisted of an older more educated audience. However,
although my news cast was aimed to an older audience, in their late 20s early
3 "OPENING ANNOUNCEMENT: ITEM C-1." METRO-APEX: Sample News
Broadcast Script. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2015.
<http://www.usc.edu/schools/price/apex/manuals/script.htm>.

Franky Gomez
Writing 2
Zack De Piero
March 1,2015
40s, I didnt want to overdue the jargon primarily due to the fact that I wanted to open up
my pool audience just in case someone with a lower education would like to watch. I
decided to invite one of the authors of the scholarly piece in order to make the newscast
sound really special. By inviting the author I was able to play with my audience, the news
anchor would be able to ask the questions most of the audience have and may even
simplify the answer being given by the professional. By the end of my news script I
really focused on how it flowed and if it sounds natural and smooth rather than bulky.
Overall my main focus in this project was making sure I was able to capture the main
points of the scholarly article. I placed a really strong emphasis in making sure my mind
fit the right context when working on each genre to make sure it tailored correctly to the
piece as a whole. In my childrens book I was able to use simplistic jargon and tone to
really make my book fun and appropriate to my young audience while still getting my
point across. My news script on the other hand was a bit tricky because I needed it to
sound like a conversation rather than an essay while at the same time making sure I didn't
confuse my audience. Ultimately it was through these things that I really liked the
outcome of my project.

Franky Gomez
Writing 2
Zack De Piero
March 1,2015

Writing 2 Feedback for WP3

Writer: Franky G
Did Not
Meet
Expectat
ions
Translated/Transformed
Genres
(Overall)

Met
Expectati
ons

Exceeded
Expectations

Younger Genres
Conventions and
Rhetorical Factors

Older Genres Conventions

and Rhetorical Factors

Consideration of Big
Ideas
in the Scholarly Article

Perceived Effort

Self-Analysis Reflection
(Overall)

Description of Moves

X-

Attention to
Genre/Conventions and
Rhetorical Factors
Use of Translated Genres
as Evidence of Moves
Use of Course Readings
(McCloud and
Losh/Alexander)

X
X

Franky Gomez
Writing 2
Zack De Piero
March 1,2015
Sentence-level Clarity,
Mechanics, Flow

Other Comments
Franky,
I like how you thought very hard about your
precise audience for the childrens book.
Narrowing it to that age range and females,
predominantly, proves to me that youre seeing the
differences in different age
populations/demographics.
I reaaaaaaaally liked you younger translation.
Way to go, Franky.
Let me address with some critiques on your selfreflection: there were a few surface-level errors
in your papermisspelled words and probablyforgotten words. Dont forget to always re-read
and polish up your writing before submitting.
One thing that Id like you to improve on in your
reflectionif you choose to revise this for the
portfoliois to tie your decisions of moves to
the actual texts that you created (the translated
genres). You kind of spoke about them without
specifically mentioning anything in them. Textual
evidence is key!
Maybe more importantly, though: what big ideas
in the scholarly piece did you try/want to get
across? I feel like you didnt give that adequate
attention.
Also, I need my Dr. Seuss book back.
Z
9/10

Franky Gomez
Writing 2
Zack De Piero
March 1,2015