I will preface this saying that I am a rather blunt person when it comes to writing. I am also kidding about the last part of this title; I have few qualifications for giving advice. Regardless, I have a few, or at least one (more if I can think of them) comment that I believe a few people will benefit from. My hope is that this thread can be used for writers to give each other general advice, though if for some reason addressing the group as a whole is bad, we could always delete this comment.
Excuse my embellishment.
After reading the first set of weekend writings, and more recently, the second set, I feel numerous pieces suffer the same problem, a symptom of the universe as Black Sabbath lends me. The writings most susceptible to this issue, from what I gather, are the personal adventure stories. The stories where the author reflects on some past experience and draws a conclusion on how it has affected them, or points out the unpredictable impact or outcome they notice years later. To stop beating around the bush, I feel like many of the writings from the last two weeks begin with strong imagery, thorough explanation and intent. And that all departs around seven-hundred words. I can literally feel the author trying to finish the essay and get to bed, a feeling that overcomes whatever else the author wants me to feel as I read.
When writing about a story, make sure to use equal detail and depth, or at least of a reasonably comparable level throughout the writing. As a reader I am much less fulfilled by the story that gives me tons of detail and then plops on a conclusion and seal of approval than the story that takes me on a journey all the way until the conclusion.
I am realizing now that this post is probably as incoherent as possible, but given that time has escaped me and I am just now noticing that it is nearly eleven thirty, not nine thirty as I would have had myself believe, I am content. Look for some corrections/annotations to this in the future, and please reply with your own comments. As our Glorious Leader said the other day, it is always useful to know what others value in writing when considering how we write.
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Dear qualified advice-giver:
ReplyDelete"from which a few people will benefit."
AFFECTED, not EFFECTED. EFFECT is a noun.
Regards,
T.J.
I actually feel like the stories that are not based off of a personal experience (or experiences) are also the ones that have been more difficult to grasp a final point from.
ReplyDeleteI think that singling out a specific writing choice is a mistake. All pieces are subject to being more easily understood by the writer than the reader and yes, that is something we should look out for, but I'd be careful about what advice you give the group. It seems like your advice is coming from a personal preference and that can be less constructive.
Remind me sometime to talk about "downshifting" at the conclusion of essays. To the extent that some pieces are ending with overly explanatory summing up of "the point" I tend to agree with the post. But I would agree with what Ana says above-- those pieces not rooted in experience are much harder to enter, much less transportive in effect (thank you T.J.), and frankly, less successful thus far. The simple, devilishly difficult thing at the heart of great writing is verisimilitude-- making the representation resemble the truth of the experience. Rooting pieces in personal experience is one of the best ways to move toward that goal. In my own humble opinion, anyway...
ReplyDelete