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Short-Notice Assignment for Wednesday’s Session (Dec 3) – Reading Like a Writer

You’re reading an academic paper. But not for content. For craft.

What to read: Downloadable here: “Unveiled in Ashes: Hellblade and the Revelatory Collapse of the Self” by Victoria Mummelthei (game studies paper, 17 pages)

What to do:

  1. Read it. Don’t worry if you know nothing about video games or this game specifically. That’s the point.
  2. Print it if necessary and annotate as you read. Mark three things: X = Where you get lost (not “I don’t know this vocabulary” but “I have no idea what this paragraph is doing or why”) ? = Where you stop caring (“so what?” / “why am I reading this?”) ! = Where you start caring (something creates stakes, makes you want to keep reading)
  3. Write in the margins: What is each section DOING?
    • Setting up a problem?
    • Making a theoretical move?
    • Telling a story?
    • Asking a question?
    • Connecting two things?
    • Not doing anything specific at all?
  4. Note what strikes you as strange, confusing, “too essayistic,” “un-academic,” or just different from what you usually read in your field. Don’t judge whether it’s good or bad—just notice it.

Why this paper? It’s not about the Middle East. It’s maybe adjacent to your field but not in it. This lets you notice HOW it works instead of getting distracted by whether you agree with WHAT it says.

What we’ll do in session:

  • Compare what you noticed
  • Identify moves the writer makes that your field or your writing usually doesn’t make
  • Discuss what works, what doesn’t, what feels risky, what you’d never do, what you might steal
  • Practice experimenting with some of these moves in your own writing

Bring:

  • Your annotated printout or file
  • One paragraph from your own draft (any paragraph, printed or file)

Time estimate: 1-1.5 hours to read and annotate carefully.

See you Wednesday.


OpenEdition schlägt Ihnen vor, diesen Beitrag wie folgt zu zitieren:
Victoria Mummelthei (1. Dezember 2025). Short-Notice Assignment for Wednesday’s Session (Dec 3) – Reading Like a Writer. Keine Disziplin – No Discipline. Abgerufen am 7. März 2026 von https://doi.org/10.58079/159lc


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