A lot of times when I sit down to write I have something I want to say. I have notes and an idea about the course of the poem or story or article. Partly, this is because of the habits I've formed as a writer. Luckily, I also have an overactive imagination and am easily inspired by simple things. Ultimately, I am sitting down to the keyboard or notebook with intention.
Intention is the key. It is a catalyst for action. How you uncover that intention is the subject of this week's article.
Poems are a good example of a short exercise you can do on a regular basis. Poems are typically short (these days), abstract language balls wound up or unfurled with images that have high-impact. To write a good poem, a poem that touches the reader, the poet must abstract a concept into words that carry the desired effect in very short form.
Try utilizing a topic of interest; perhaps something you do everyday. You likely have some understanding of the nature of several subjects and a vocabulary to describe it. What are the nuances of what you do that sometimes make you stop and smile, or scratch your head, or clench your fist? It's quite possible that other people feel this way too, about this subject and others.
Abstracting: One way to “abstract” the subject is to reduce it to a single image or scene. Take one instance from your day; something you can reduce to an idea. Using the words specific to that subject, deconstruct a scene or a picture into words that can define the subject at its very base.
An example: You go to the same coffee shop every Monday through Friday and order the same thing from the same counter clerk. One morning, the clerk isn't there. You become befuddled. Will the rest of your day be the same? Or, maybe the clerk is there. Maybe you order something different. Suddenly it inspires the clerk to quit her day job to follow her dream. It could happen. It probably has happened.
Or maybe: You are a poet in the army stationed in Iraq. Your words are bullets and Kevlar and hope and sand. There are obstacles and successes every day. But you notice subtle similarities in the way it happens, a routine of orders, and repairs to material, injuries.
Subject matter can come from anywhere. It does come from anywhere. It's everywhere. It's in the words we say and the things we do; it's in the efforts we make and the forlorn moments when our love is away. All you have to do is look for it.
Turning to stories (novels and screenplays included), though typically not abstracted the way a poem is, stories specify the essence of what it is to be human in a more narrative form. They include similar difficulties we all face today and now.
In order to capture the right mood, the writer must capture what it is about the whole story in scenes and/or narrative montage and deliver the reader to a sensible or absurd end. However, stories, novels and screenplays require more work than poems. Though that has little to do with the subject you choose, stories do require subplots and more information to flesh out what is happening between the lines.
One way to harness a subject is to read about it in the newspaper or a journal or a book. Other ways include being told a story that stimulates your inspiration or leaves you feeling empathy for those involved.
When discussing subject matter as it pertains to writing articles, or in journalism, often times a senior editor assigns a story. In this way, the writer need not dig deep to find the subject of his story. But he must find a way to bring the entire story into a few short lines.
In many ways, abstraction of the subject into images and short sentences is how a lead (the first paragraph of a news article) is written. The whole story is all there. The rest of the article unfolds from the concept of the lead. Quotes and facts are then included and a conclusion is tacked onto the end.
There is no shortage of subject matter, or ways to say what you want to say. Finding something you can write about well is the key. Good writing about an uncomfortable topic far supersedes bad writing about a playful subject that everyone can agree on.
Be bold when you write. Be strong. A reader, though they may have willingly picked up your book or the magazine in which your article appears, still needs convincing.
Monday, February 05, 2007
Subject: What to write about
A lot of times when I sit down to write I have something I want to say. I have notes and an idea about the course of the poem or story or article. Partly, this is because of the habits I've formed as a writer. Luckily, I also have an overactive imagination and am easily inspired by simple things. Ultimately, I am sitting down to the keyboard or notebook with intention.
Intention is the key. It is a catalyst for action. How you uncover that intention is the subject of this week's article.
Poems are a good example of a short exercise you can do on a regular basis. Poems are typically short (these days), abstract language balls wound up or unfurled with images that have high-impact. To write a good poem, a poem that touches the reader, the poet must abstract a concept into words that carry the desired effect in very short form.
Try utilizing a topic of interest; perhaps something you do everyday. You likely have some understanding of the nature of several subjects and a vocabulary to describe it. What are the nuances of what you do that sometimes make you stop and smile, or scratch your head, or clench your fist? It's quite possible that other people feel this way too, about this subject and others.
Abstracting: One way to “abstract” the subject is to reduce it to a single image or scene. Take one instance from your day; something you can reduce to an idea. Using the words specific to that subject, deconstruct a scene or a picture into words that can define the subject at its very base.
An example: You go to the same coffee shop every Monday through Friday and order the same thing from the same counter clerk. One morning, the clerk isn't there. You become befuddled. Will the rest of your day be the same? Or, maybe the clerk is there. Maybe you order something different. Suddenly it inspires the clerk to quit her day job to follow her dream. It could happen. It probably has happened.
Or maybe: You are a poet in the army stationed in Iraq. Your words are bullets and Kevlar and hope and sand. There are obstacles and successes every day. But you notice subtle similarities in the way it happens, a routine of orders, and repairs to material, injuries.
Subject matter can come from anywhere. It does come from anywhere. It's everywhere. It's in the words we say and the things we do; it's in the efforts we make and the forlorn moments when our love is away. All you have to do is look for it.
Turning to stories (novels and screenplays included), though typically not abstracted the way a poem is, stories specify the essence of what it is to be human in a more narrative form. They include similar difficulties we all face today and now.
In order to capture the right mood, the writer must capture what it is about the whole story in scenes and/or narrative montage and deliver the reader to a sensible or absurd end. However, stories, novels and screenplays require more work than poems. Though that has little to do with the subject you choose, stories do require subplots and more information to flesh out what is happening between the lines.
One way to harness a subject is to read about it in the newspaper or a journal or a book. Other ways include being told a story that stimulates your inspiration or leaves you feeling empathy for those involved.
When discussing subject matter as it pertains to writing articles, or in journalism, often times a senior editor assigns a story. In this way, the writer need not dig deep to find the subject of his story. But he must find a way to bring the entire story into a few short lines.
In many ways, abstraction of the subject into images and short sentences is how a lead (the first paragraph of a news article) is written. The whole story is all there. The rest of the article unfolds from the concept of the lead. Quotes and facts are then included and a conclusion is tacked onto the end.
There is no shortage of subject matter, or ways to say what you want to say. Finding something you can write about well is the key. Good writing about an uncomfortable topic far supersedes bad writing about a playful subject that everyone can agree on.
Be bold when you write. Be strong. A reader, though they may have willingly picked up your book or the magazine in which your article appears, still needs convincing.
Intention is the key. It is a catalyst for action. How you uncover that intention is the subject of this week's article.
Poems are a good example of a short exercise you can do on a regular basis. Poems are typically short (these days), abstract language balls wound up or unfurled with images that have high-impact. To write a good poem, a poem that touches the reader, the poet must abstract a concept into words that carry the desired effect in very short form.
Try utilizing a topic of interest; perhaps something you do everyday. You likely have some understanding of the nature of several subjects and a vocabulary to describe it. What are the nuances of what you do that sometimes make you stop and smile, or scratch your head, or clench your fist? It's quite possible that other people feel this way too, about this subject and others.
Abstracting: One way to “abstract” the subject is to reduce it to a single image or scene. Take one instance from your day; something you can reduce to an idea. Using the words specific to that subject, deconstruct a scene or a picture into words that can define the subject at its very base.
An example: You go to the same coffee shop every Monday through Friday and order the same thing from the same counter clerk. One morning, the clerk isn't there. You become befuddled. Will the rest of your day be the same? Or, maybe the clerk is there. Maybe you order something different. Suddenly it inspires the clerk to quit her day job to follow her dream. It could happen. It probably has happened.
Or maybe: You are a poet in the army stationed in Iraq. Your words are bullets and Kevlar and hope and sand. There are obstacles and successes every day. But you notice subtle similarities in the way it happens, a routine of orders, and repairs to material, injuries.
Subject matter can come from anywhere. It does come from anywhere. It's everywhere. It's in the words we say and the things we do; it's in the efforts we make and the forlorn moments when our love is away. All you have to do is look for it.
Turning to stories (novels and screenplays included), though typically not abstracted the way a poem is, stories specify the essence of what it is to be human in a more narrative form. They include similar difficulties we all face today and now.
In order to capture the right mood, the writer must capture what it is about the whole story in scenes and/or narrative montage and deliver the reader to a sensible or absurd end. However, stories, novels and screenplays require more work than poems. Though that has little to do with the subject you choose, stories do require subplots and more information to flesh out what is happening between the lines.
One way to harness a subject is to read about it in the newspaper or a journal or a book. Other ways include being told a story that stimulates your inspiration or leaves you feeling empathy for those involved.
When discussing subject matter as it pertains to writing articles, or in journalism, often times a senior editor assigns a story. In this way, the writer need not dig deep to find the subject of his story. But he must find a way to bring the entire story into a few short lines.
In many ways, abstraction of the subject into images and short sentences is how a lead (the first paragraph of a news article) is written. The whole story is all there. The rest of the article unfolds from the concept of the lead. Quotes and facts are then included and a conclusion is tacked onto the end.
There is no shortage of subject matter, or ways to say what you want to say. Finding something you can write about well is the key. Good writing about an uncomfortable topic far supersedes bad writing about a playful subject that everyone can agree on.
Be bold when you write. Be strong. A reader, though they may have willingly picked up your book or the magazine in which your article appears, still needs convincing.
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