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Slide Notes
The tyrrany of the final product. What does this mean to you?
Don't look so hard for the finish line that you forget to run the race.
Remember the first 4 phases of the writing process are conceive, collect, focus and organize. Do these 4 before trying to draft and revise or you will get ahead of yourself.
You can put the shingles on the roof until there's a roof to put the shingles on.
Don't look so hard for the finish line that you forget to run the race.
Remember the first 4 phases of the writing process are conceive, collect, focus and organize. Do these 4 before trying to draft and revise or you will get ahead of yourself.
You can put the shingles on the roof until there's a roof to put the shingles on.
"On Writing Well" Chapters 22-23, 25
Published on Nov 18, 2015
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MORE DECKS TO EXPLORE
PRESENTATION OUTLINE
CHAPTER 22
A SOUND PROCESS
The tyrrany of the final product. What does this mean to you?
Don't look so hard for the finish line that you forget to run the race.
Remember the first 4 phases of the writing process are conceive, collect, focus and organize. Do these 4 before trying to draft and revise or you will get ahead of yourself.
You can put the shingles on the roof until there's a roof to put the shingles on.
Don't look so hard for the finish line that you forget to run the race.
Remember the first 4 phases of the writing process are conceive, collect, focus and organize. Do these 4 before trying to draft and revise or you will get ahead of yourself.
You can put the shingles on the roof until there's a roof to put the shingles on.
Photo by Fey Ilyas
ORGANIZATION
Dig deep.
Don't settle for the surface, easty-to-tell stuff.
And think about focus all along the way.
Don't settle for the surface, easty-to-tell stuff.
And think about focus all along the way.
Photo by Chiot's Run
COMPRESSION
Page 256: How to distill a coherent narrative from a huge and tangled mass of experiences and feelings and memories.
Do you struggle with this? Examples?
I once had to write a 50-word autobiography as part of a job application. I did and got the job. The reason for it was could I follow directions and could I compress my life into 50 words that said something true and deep about myself. Doing these two things said I could do the job.
Those who didn't get hired were often guilty of writing page after page and breaking the 50-word rule.
Do you struggle with this? Examples?
I once had to write a 50-word autobiography as part of a job application. I did and got the job. The reason for it was could I follow directions and could I compress my life into 50 words that said something true and deep about myself. Doing these two things said I could do the job.
Those who didn't get hired were often guilty of writing page after page and breaking the 50-word rule.
THE CHURCH EXAMPLE, PAGE 255-56
Anyone from Iowa?
What would an article about the disappearance of small towns in Iowa look like if it was boring?
What would it look like if it was compelling?
Use the focus structure to drill down from all Iowa small towns, to one town, to one entity in that town. Tell the story through their eyes to bring humanity to the story instead of generalizations. This technique will also tell the larger story.
What would an article about the disappearance of small towns in Iowa look like if it was boring?
What would it look like if it was compelling?
Use the focus structure to drill down from all Iowa small towns, to one town, to one entity in that town. Tell the story through their eyes to bring humanity to the story instead of generalizations. This technique will also tell the larger story.
Photo by Pablo García Saldaña
THE IOWA EXAMPLE, PAGE 256
Anyone from Iowa?
What would an article about the disappearance of small towns in Iowa look like if it was boring?
What would it look like if it was compelling?
Use the focus structure to drill down from all Iowa small towns, to one town, to one entity in that town. Tell the story through their eyes to bring humanity to the story instead of generalizations. This technique will also tell the larger story.
What would an article about the disappearance of small towns in Iowa look like if it was boring?
What would it look like if it was compelling?
Use the focus structure to drill down from all Iowa small towns, to one town, to one entity in that town. Tell the story through their eyes to bring humanity to the story instead of generalizations. This technique will also tell the larger story.
Photo by Jettpakk1
CHAPTER 23
WRITING HAS A LOGIC TO IT
This chapter goes deeper into organizing a long piece and making it flow from one sentence to the next, one paragraph to the next, one section to the next.
There is a logic to any good piece that is the glue that holds it together. If you have a good focus, then this becomes easier because you know what the story is always about.
When you drift from your focus, you will see parts of a story that don't fit, that make the story drag. It kills momentum and makes it easy for people to stop reading.
Read the last paragraph on page 262.
Read first paragraph on page 264.
There is a logic to any good piece that is the glue that holds it together. If you have a good focus, then this becomes easier because you know what the story is always about.
When you drift from your focus, you will see parts of a story that don't fit, that make the story drag. It kills momentum and makes it easy for people to stop reading.
Read the last paragraph on page 262.
Read first paragraph on page 264.
Photo by Chuckumentary
CHAPTER 23
IT IS LINEAR AND SEQUENTIAL
This chapter goes deeper into organizing a long piece and making it flow from one sentence to the next, one paragraph to the next, one section to the next.
There is a logic to any good piece that is the glue that holds it together. If you have a good focus, then this becomes easier because you know what the story is always about.
When you drift from your focus, you will see parts of a story that don't fit, that make the story drag. It kills momentum and makes it easy for people to stop reading.
Read the last paragraph on page 262.
Read first paragraph on page 264.
There is a logic to any good piece that is the glue that holds it together. If you have a good focus, then this becomes easier because you know what the story is always about.
When you drift from your focus, you will see parts of a story that don't fit, that make the story drag. It kills momentum and makes it easy for people to stop reading.
Read the last paragraph on page 262.
Read first paragraph on page 264.
Photo by kevin dooley
CHAPTER 25
YOU WILL ONLY WRITE AS WELL AS YOU MAKE YOURSELF WRITE
Read 2nd paragraph page 297.
We know that we should prefer verbs over nouns, active verbs over passive verbs, short words and sentences over long ones and concrete details over vague abstractions.
Someone tell me about something they did this weekend.
Joe DiMaggio's definition of being a careful writer, though he didn't know that's what he was defining:
We know that we should prefer verbs over nouns, active verbs over passive verbs, short words and sentences over long ones and concrete details over vague abstractions.
Someone tell me about something they did this weekend.
Joe DiMaggio's definition of being a careful writer, though he didn't know that's what he was defining:
Photo by bump
"I always thought that there was at least one person in the stands who had never seen me play, and I didn't want to let him down."
Read 2nd paragraph page 297.
We know that we should prefer verbs over nouns, active verbs over passive verbs, short words and sentences over long ones and concrete details over vague abstractions.
Someone tell me about something they did this weekend.
Joe DiMaggio's definition of being a careful writer, though he didn't know that's what he was defining:
We know that we should prefer verbs over nouns, active verbs over passive verbs, short words and sentences over long ones and concrete details over vague abstractions.
Someone tell me about something they did this weekend.
Joe DiMaggio's definition of being a careful writer, though he didn't know that's what he was defining:
Photo by bump
