Taking an Approach

            Harris discusses his idea of “taking an approach” in his book Rewriting. He describes this as when an author will write something with the style or ideas of another writer. Taking an approach can be explained as a rewriting of a text but instead of just rewriting the original piece you take the ideas of the author and the style of the author and make it your own. Harris used a good example in how a movie producer or director will take a book and use the story and the author’s style to make a movie that is his own interpretation of the same story. Taking an approach can be both weak and strong. An example of a weak approach would be when an author uses quotes from the original author to form their own story. A strong approach would be when an author does not use the quotes of the original author but their ideas and style. If an author makes a strong approach they have incorporated the authors ideas into their own work.

            I am not quite sure if the New York Times takes an approach when they write their articles because they are just trying to get the news out there. They are not taking the ideas from someone else but are just taking the facts from the situation and putting them to paper. However, The New York Times might take an approach when it quotes other sources or other people but this would be an example of a weak approach. This is not a writing example but an example of taking approach would be fashion. Someone who does not have the money to buy designer clothes will use the ideas and styles of a famous designer and create their own outfits out of clothes they can afford.