How to create interesting stories about ourselves
December 4th 2008 09:19
I have just finished teaching an 8 week course of Life-writing through the Eastern Suburbs Community College. Last night, in our final class one of my students asked a great question: how do we know whether anyone else will be interested in what we’ve written?
Just asking that question alone is a good start.
One of the worst mistakes we make as writers, is thinking that everything that happens to us is of interest to other people. It isn’t. When we write in journals with no intention of anyone else reading what we’ve written, there are no boundaries, and neither should there be, on self-indulgence, sloppy emotion and half-processed thoughts. In fact that initial uncensored slobbering onto the page is a necessary step in taking our writing to the next level when we’re writing for audience of more than one.
Before I start to write anything, I find it useful to set an intention and ask: who is this for? Who is my audience? When we write, I think it helps keeps us focused if we know that we are writing towards someone. The energy of that trajectory is very grounding. When we make that mental leap from ‘just for me’ to ‘someone else’ we engage a metacognition, which is not only engaging with our writing but is objectively always interrogating our writing with the question, ‘why will someone else find this interesting?’
Consider the following four sentences:
‘Last night I watched Survivor.’
‘Last night I masturbated while I watched Survivor.’
‘Last night I deliberately didn’t watch Survivor because I hate skinny girls who can go a whole day with only eating sea lice and tree sap.
‘Last night I pretended I was on Survivor, stripped down to my underwear and thought of all the ways in which I could double-cross the people who trust me.’
What is the difference between the first statement and the others?
The first will in all likelihood evoke the response : So what? Who cares? It is unlikely that anyone will find it of any interest whatsoever, unless it is a detail in a pattern of building a character who spends all night in front of the tv and whose only excitement comes from watching others on reality tv.
By contrast, the other three statements potentially beg curiosity or create an affinity by either making the reader want to know more about the character who is speaking, or in the recognition of a shared emotion.
When we write biography or memoir, more than ever we need to keep our ‘so-what?’ wits about us. Our dull-ometers need to be highly attuned, given that self-indulgence is really both the cornerstone and impulse of all auto-biography. The difference between what’s readable and what’s not is our own awareness and discernment of facts that evoke a yawn and facts that pique curiosity.
I am offering Lifewriting as a four week course through the Eastern Suburbs College in March 2009. Details and registration are available at www.escc.nsw.edu.au
Lifewriting course at ESCC
www.joannefedler.com.au
Just asking that question alone is a good start.
One of the worst mistakes we make as writers, is thinking that everything that happens to us is of interest to other people. It isn’t. When we write in journals with no intention of anyone else reading what we’ve written, there are no boundaries, and neither should there be, on self-indulgence, sloppy emotion and half-processed thoughts. In fact that initial uncensored slobbering onto the page is a necessary step in taking our writing to the next level when we’re writing for audience of more than one.
Before I start to write anything, I find it useful to set an intention and ask: who is this for? Who is my audience? When we write, I think it helps keeps us focused if we know that we are writing towards someone. The energy of that trajectory is very grounding. When we make that mental leap from ‘just for me’ to ‘someone else’ we engage a metacognition, which is not only engaging with our writing but is objectively always interrogating our writing with the question, ‘why will someone else find this interesting?’
Consider the following four sentences:
‘Last night I watched Survivor.’
‘Last night I masturbated while I watched Survivor.’
‘Last night I pretended I was on Survivor, stripped down to my underwear and thought of all the ways in which I could double-cross the people who trust me.’
What is the difference between the first statement and the others?
The first will in all likelihood evoke the response : So what? Who cares? It is unlikely that anyone will find it of any interest whatsoever, unless it is a detail in a pattern of building a character who spends all night in front of the tv and whose only excitement comes from watching others on reality tv.
By contrast, the other three statements potentially beg curiosity or create an affinity by either making the reader want to know more about the character who is speaking, or in the recognition of a shared emotion.
When we write biography or memoir, more than ever we need to keep our ‘so-what?’ wits about us. Our dull-ometers need to be highly attuned, given that self-indulgence is really both the cornerstone and impulse of all auto-biography. The difference between what’s readable and what’s not is our own awareness and discernment of facts that evoke a yawn and facts that pique curiosity.
I am offering Lifewriting as a four week course through the Eastern Suburbs College in March 2009. Details and registration are available at www.escc.nsw.edu.au
Lifewriting course at ESCC
www.joannefedler.com.au
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Comment by Wilson Pon
Health 2 Know
Techno Stuffs
Comment by Mrs M
Mum's Word
This is great stuff. This is definitely the case with my blog. I try to be universal but you are absolutely right in the 'so what? who cares?' meter.
I know what my kids do amuses me and I know it won't amuse others as much.
I just saw a short video on the smh website and it was an interview with Max Markson. He said that anyone can be famous. It's just a matter of finding the right angle.
We all have a story, it's just a matter of finding the right angle I suppose.
Love & stuff
Mrs M