Writing is hard. I've re-started this blog six times now. SIX. I'm getting paid to write fiction for the next two years. In theory, that says I'm an at least serviceable writer, and yet here I sit, failing over and over again to get an opening paragraph to sound the way I want it to. If you're Joe Engineering Freshman who HATES writing, I can only imaging how daunting putting fingers to keyboard must be. As of now, I feel under qualified to offer suggestions on fighting the fear. It haunts me constantly. I do know, though, when I've produced writing that makes the fear seem at least temporarily misplaced. These are the three most vital concepts/components I try to keep in mind while composing fiction/academic writing, and what I look for while obsessively re-reading my own work.
1. SENSE OF VOICE
It's a tried and true one, but it really is vital that it sounds like YOU wrote this paper. Don't just regurgitate information. Tell it to me. Make me believe that information is being imparted to me by a thoroughly fascinating, knowledgeable, confident individual. You matter. You're interesting(most of you). Let your readers know as much.
2. CLARITY
Do not fill your writing with bullshit. You have a point to make. Make it, without doing so at the expense of that voice we just talked about, but don't over do it. You should have a thesis that you're sticking to and doggedly proving to your readers with each passing paragraph. Be explicit, be aggressive.
3. ENTERTAINMENT
Voice and clarity won't make much of an impact on your reader if they fall asleep halfway through your paper. Like I said, I'm a fiction writer, and it's possible that I over-emphasize this point, but seriously, don't be boring. No audience likes boring writing. If you handle the first two concepts, then number three here should really take care of itself.
If you nail the above concepts, all the time, you can write anything. I find that a pervasive sense of terror that you'll fail in life if you CAN'T execute them helps focus tremendously.
-Golsan Out
4 comments:
so... I hear we have to respond to these things called posts...
I have to say, I agree with your main concepts. While they were not really mine, I agree that yours are definitely needed elements.
I definitely agree with the fact that the voice needs to be original. Moreover, I think it needs to be well expressed. If the work sounds choppy and stale, what does this reflect about the idea itself?
Moreover, I kinda hate scholarly writing. Thus why I am jealous of all you creative writing types. Secretly I want to be like you. Your work is original. It sounds like you. It's memorable. How many essays have you nodded off reading, or your eyes start to glaze over? I think scholarly mumbo-jumbo often allows for the main point to be lost; articulation overwhelms the subject. Moreover, if no one ever cares by the end of your boring, dry essay, what is the point anyway?
So the real question is, James... Are you funny and entertaining? When you next do a reading, I'll tell you if I fall asleep during it!
I do feel bad for Joe Engineer though. I hated taking two years of physics as an UG and I basically held my breath that whole time and hoped for a D, so I wouldn't have to retake any part of that wretched, wretched sequence. I just hated it and I was bad at it. And I know that is how a lot of 1301ers feel about this sequence. Hold their breath and hope to not be back in this building ever, ever again.
Some things just don't "take" even if you do try to pretend you like it. And I think a lot of English grad students who can act all "OMGosh, you don't LOVE POEMS!!!" on their students and be obsessive with it and forcing it on them, and that can turn students off even further. And yes, I am torn between the "I am just not wired to do X" and the "having an awesome teacher who blows you away and suddenly makes you love Differential Eqtns/Poems." But ya. The latter is rare. And you are lucky if you get one to rewire you that way. But I know how some of these kids feel, squirming for 80 minutes, waiting for it to end, and I am going to try and make it bearable and so they get something out of it instead of being bossy and lame and offended that they might not like the same things I do.
I love the way you wrestle at the beginning, and the empathy you feel for your students. Bravo!
I also like the idea of you placing "voice" first. I think we don't pay nearly enough attention to it.
Yet do you think everyone HAS one? I don't think I knew who I was until I was in my late 20's...and in turn, I don't think I had a voice until then.
I spent a lot of time "trying on" voices, though, in college and again in grad school. Is that perhaps what we might do in FYC?
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