Archive for 'Writing' Category
All In - Risk In Writing
30 June 2008This posting is a guest post by Gina Cacace. Her writings, artwork, and musings on life can be found at GinaCacace.com.
I’ve been reading Laraine Herring’s Writing Begins With the Breath (Shambhala Publications*). It has a really interesting approach to creating an authentic writing voice. Herring uses yoga postures and an awareness of the breath to help the writer access the part of the self that is usually guarded by our inner critic. Her first chapter is on risk in writing. She explains that most writers guard themselves in their works, “The writer tries to play it safe, tries to couch what he’s doing in layers of deep, and often beautifully phrased crap. The reader spots this right away…” But that through surrendering ourselves to our experiences, we can become more honest and compelling writers.
I very rarely take any risk in my writing. My memoirs normally adopt a sarcastic tone in order to downplay the importance of events. In fiction, I have created numerous middle aged male narrators, whose voices are usually comedic but distant. In an effort to tap into a more authentic voice, I created a female narrator in her twenties who was struggling to write a story (very much like myself). The result is the short fiction piece All In.
Any writer that shares their work understands that most people will confuse the narrator with the author. This can be frustrating, especially when we’ve worked so hard to create an interesting and complex character. But we can’t deny the little bits of ourselves that we invest into our characters (and that is where risk comes in–the more you are willing to invest, the more alive your story becomes, but also the more susceptible you are to be judged). Most readers will understand that if the story was purely autobiographical, the writer would have labeled it a memoir (as a side note, what is wrong with people who keep releasing fabricated memoirs? Why don’t they just call it fiction and avoid all of this?).
This is not to say that we can only write narrators that share our same demographic information. We all know that there is something that resonates beyond age/sex/location in a story. But to get to that point, we have to admit that if the story we write is our story then we’ll be closer to the characters and the result will be more powerful.
My hope is that the parts of myself I invested into my narrator, Rea, will make her believable. I also hope that readers will understand that she has certain exaggerated traits that make her distinct from me. It is a relatively simple story about self-realization and the confusion of college. Sharing this story is the most important part of the process (although believe me, writing it was difficult enough) so I’d love to have some feedback.
Thanks!
Gina
*For anyone who isn’t familiar with Shambhala Publications, they’re the ones that published Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones, another essential tool for supporting your creativity.
Did my post help you? Buy me a coffee?Writing (good) unique content
21 February 2007Every person capable of writing coherent sentences is also capable of writing truly unique content. The problem lies in writing content that is not only unique, but (as to close) universally found interesting, timeless, and informational/educational/comedic. Those are not the problems we will be conquering in this article, however, so on to the uniquities!
To thy own self be true
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. You have to truly believe the things you write to be found anyway interesting or a worthwhile read. You cannot be ‘playing a character’ in your writing, and expect success. Fakeness bleeds through the pages, and your readers will very quickly (either consciously or subconsciously) realize you are merely writing material to attract attention or get paid.
Don’t water it down
I’ve seen so many articles and entries that were 10-15 truly interesting paragraphs. The only problem was the writer had stretched it to 25-30 watered-down, bloated ones. I know you think writing more means you know more, or are informing the readers of more. You also would like to believe that the average reader is so genuinly interested in what you’re writing about, he or she would be more than happy to read 10 pages. They aren’t. Most people just skim long articles. If you want your readers to actually read your content, keep the word count down. Write it in 2 parts, if you have to.
Talk about personal experiences
Nothing screams unique and genuine quite like a few personal experiences peppered through your material. You not only assure the reader that you are genuine, and are interested in what you’re writing about, you instantly give them a “I’ve been there too” sense.
Would you take dog training advice from someone who never owned a dog?
Would you care what someone who never had surgery thought about the recovery process?
No, of course you wouldn’t. The same goes for any subject. The reader wants a certain level of expertise or experience in your writing. They expect you to have firsthand knowledge of what you are writing about, or at least portions of what you’re writing about. If they just wanted pure facts, with no opinions or personal experiences, they would look in an encyclopedia. You’re not that, you’re supposed to bring a personal touch.
Don’t read the competition
I know I’ve said before that reading other blogs or articles on content similar to your own is a good idea. I take it back. It’s not. You will instantly flood your brain with all sorts of ideas for new articles that are basically, at best, rehashed ones. You can read the competition, but don’t do so when you are actively trying to think of a new topic. If you write every other day, use the days off to read the other articles, that way they will (hopefully) not be as fresh in your mind when it comes time to sit down and write.
Conclusion
In conclusion, writing unique content and interesting articles is not rocket science. Almost anything you write will be interesting to someone. The number will go up if you have even the slightest amount of skill in delivery. Write about what you believe in, and don’t try to make every visitor happy. Keep it simple, stupid.
Did my post help you? Buy me a coffee?New Ventures: Why we fail
1 October 2006We fail because we choose our ventures poorly. We let outside influences (family, friends, monetary lure) do our decision making for us. We should instead be analyzing our strengths and choosing our projects accordingly.
For instance. A new blogger decides to start writing. He is an avid baseball fan, he watches a game, sometimes 2 or 3 every single day. Instead of following the logical path, and blogging about baseball, he blogs about home improvement. Why? Because he heard there is more money in advertising on home improvement blogs.
He is destined to fail. He has set himself up, right from the very start, to write about a topic he has no real interest in. Passion shines through a passionate writers words, as does disinterest.
So, in conclusion and to make a long story short, next time you are considering a new venture…be it a blog, a job, a book or a project, choose wisely. Pick something you are passionate about, and would enjoy doing even if you made NO MONEY doing it. Get to work and before you know it, you’ll have a profitable project on your hands.
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