How Does a Writer Engage a Reader? :: Teaching Writing

How Does a Writer Engage a Reader? It's still snowing. The wind is so strong; it is hard to stay upright. I'm lost in a blizzard. Ahead of me, I see a faint glow. Is it a lamp in my house? I tell myself, "Keep moving toward the light." Left, right, left, right, up, down, I keep walking. I'm so cold. I press on, but the light remains just out of range. Left, right, left, right, up, down. The light grows brighter. Now it dims. I suddenly realize that I'm walking in circles. Where do I go with this paper? How do I get beyond the theme? Why is this assignment so difficult for me to grasp? Intellectually I understand the assignment, at least the right side of my brain does. The left side of my brain seems to be disengaged. Every time I feel like I've nearly got "it,""it" vanishes, eluding me once more. I never realized how difficult it was to break the writing habits learned throughout life. "Themewriting" may not be good writing, but I fear it is the only kind of writing I've ever done. I believe that "theme writing" may still have value and that "themewriting" is undesirable because it fails to engage the reader and to communicate anything of substance. How does a writer communicate and engage a reader? Is it by using a lot of details? The author of The Innocent Nihilist used a lot of details. Those details didn't help me understand it any better. I still am confused about what he was trying to communicate to me. Did Lee really dislike his dog? Was he happy when the dog was killed? Or, was Lee just happy that he wasn't the one hit by the car. The author caught my attention initially by his use of dialogue, much as Mike's attention was held by Lee's story. A lot of details were present, but they didn't help me any with this story. Another paper, Martin Luther King, also used details. It told me where Martin Luther King was educated and what some of his religious convictions were, but it failed to reveal the whole man. It didn't develop his character or reveal his passions. The paper had some details, but it fell short of my expectations. It's still snowing. It's been snowing since noon. The wind is howling; it must be at least 30 m.p.h.