It’s December, y’all. We’ve got a couple more birthdays and holidays left before the true end of the year, but if you’re anything like me you’re already starting to write about 2017 in the past tense. It’s been a year of fierce joy and powerful tragedy in many senses, and as writers one of the ways we process those events is to, well, write about them.
So instead of doing a more traditional technique post, I thought I’d delve back into this year (and maybe a little further) for some of our editors’ favorite technique posts. With our writing help library at your fingertips, we hope you’re feeling inspired and capable to begin chronicling 2017 during this season of lights.
Before you start writing
I know it seems counterintuitive, but most of our writing process takes place before we ever sit down in front of a page or screen. We observe, process, and feel everything that needs to go into our nonfiction before the first word ever hits the page. Anything that comes afterward is just us processing and analyzing those experiences and ideas. With that in mind, let’s look at a few ways to start writing, and what comes before.
Obviously, the first thing you need is an idea, something to write about. You may find that in an online prompt, a topical call for writing, or a linkup suggestion, but what do you do when none of those things presents itself? I like to look back at what I call my “darlings file,” a collection of snippets of ideas that weren’t developed or analyzed enough at the time to be a complete story or essay. Sometimes that’s just a bunch of journal entries. No matter where you get your ideas, though, go find them!
Once I have an idea, I check to make sure I’m the right person to write about it. That is, is this my story to tell? If folks I care about are affected, sometimes I need to discuss the essay with them before writing it (as a quick example, I discussed my essay about living with a partner with TBI with my actual partner and got permission before putting it up on the ol’ blog). Sometimes, too, it’s better for me to write about my own learning process and include a lot of links to the voices I’m reading, to lift up the people who are really affected, rather than putting myself in their place as a savior who can’t actually know the issues they’re facing. That doesn’t mean that I don’t write about it, but it affects the nature of what I’m going to write, and how I’m going to present it.
After I think of myself and my subject, I consider my readers: does this work merit a content warning? Far from the tool of “protected special snowflakes,” content warnings give readers more freedom to engage intelligently with a broader range of subjects, because they’re able to prepare themselves to encounter the material at a time they feel ready for the challenge, instead of accidentally scrolling into a super-emotional post at dinner or on the bus (or, as one editor said this week, now I’m crying in a movie theater with a bunch of people who have no idea what’s going on).
Diving in
So you’ve Had an Idea and you’re ready to start writing? Great! Here’s some of our greatest hits to help you get through the rough part.
- Watch your word choice! Remember to sound like yourself, but not like a bad recorded version of yourself complete with record skips.
- Don’t edit all the emotion out of your essay, but don’t overwhelm your reader with a constant stream of emotion, either. Balance and impact are two important considerations.
- Foreshadowing is another way to add drama where appropriate. Note that I said “where appropriate” – don’t give us a big buildup to a small event. Subtlety is your friend!
- Pacing and intensity are important! Don’t forget to go back through your work and make sure that it’s not all one speed.
You’re not done yet
Hoooooboy do I wish that when I put the period on the last sentence of my writing it was done. Instead, I’m in second-stage edits of a novel we typed “the end” on well over a year ago. An essay of only a thousand or so words doesn’t take that long to edit, thank goodness, but don’t skip the edits and beta-reads just because it’s short.
Edit your work. Then edit it again. But know that you’re not going to catch everything. How could you possibly? If you knew a thing was a mistake, you wouldn’t have made it.
That’s where having a good friend comes in. Note I said a good friend and not a nice friend. As wonderful as it is to hear that our work is good and loved, it’s more valuable to have someone who can tell us both the good and bad parts, so that even more people will like the end product. Learn how to give and receive constructive criticism, and you’ll become a much better writer, much faster.
kthxbai
Like 2017, this post is over. Thanks again for another great year at YeahWrite, and we’ll see you on the grids when you make that January resolution to write more!
