A Defense of Breaks or How To Alleviate Writer's Guilt

Sometimes I just don't feel like writing. At all. This might sound like writer’s block to you. It isn’t. This is when there’s nothing wrong with the words. They’re sitting there in whatever metaphorical place we like to use when thinking about our words and writing. They’re in my brain ready to go, and there’s nothing stopping me from reaching for them with my writerly hand. Nothing except my motivation, (or lack thereof) that is.

Why do I feel like this? This feeling, which right now is a nearly irresistible pull to my couch, occurs every few months or so. I’ve decided it’s simply my body and mind’s way of telling me I’m working them too hard. Right now, I’m coming off of two or three “good writing weeks,” during which I probably wrote over 7k words a week, so maybe I’ve earned the right to take a break. Breaks are good, right? They give us a chance to recharge, rejuvenate our energy and motivation levels, and ultimately make us “fall in love” with writing all over again.

I know this about breaks. I use them for that purpose--and also because I really can’t resist the couch’s pull. This doesn’t stop me from feeling guilty about losing a “writing day,” however. There are a few ways to remedy this, though.

Sometimes non-writing days can be great research days. On any given day, there are over fifty books on my kindle in the collection labeled “research.” There are also two or three piles of books strewn around my room that are designated research for various projects.

Of course, sometimes the writer’s fatigue is really word fatigue, so reading is out of the question as well. Then what? Reading and writing practices make up over 90% of my waking hours. At that point, a nap is looking pretty good. Also, it may be a nice time to go for a walk.

Another option is visual research. Maybe there’s a tv show or movie with intelligent dialogue you’d like to emulate, or a particular subject matter you’d like to explore in a writing. Watching these may help move some words along--whenever the writerly urge returns.

This helps alleviate my guilt, making me feel like I haven’t completely lost a day. Also, when I’m really exhausted, it’s pretty hard to care enough about anything to feel guilty. The guilt comes later, and I tell myself I spent the day rejuvenating my writerly muscles and researching--adding scope and strength for later. My characters (or projects) will be grateful.

Writing Tip: Coming up with Titles

While this is true of all of my posts, it’s especially true of this one, the ideas/methods I discuss here are simply the ones that work for me. 

Creating a title is hard. The other day, I struggled to think of a title for a piece I’d been working on and/or thinking about for months.  I got so frustrated I wrote a tweet about how the title is the hardest part of writing. Someone else responded that it was her nemesis.

Now, I’m not sure if the title is really the hardest part of writing. I think what I call the ‘hardest part’ probably changes depending on what part I’m working with. In other words, I think it’s all pretty hard. My reasons for writing and my motivations/drive to do it daily are a story for another post, but I never want anyone to think writing is easy or that I find it so.

Whatever skill I have (and I’m continuously learning new skills and methods) is due to hard work, determination, and perhaps a modicum of natural ability. But somehow, all of that seems to fall apart with my titles.

I write in multiple genres and forms including short fiction, a novel, some poetry, various essays/articles, and academia. All of these works require a title, and the “rules” for titles are similar for each genre.

When I write to publish something online, my titles are supposed to be unique, searchable, and clear (in terms of the topic). It’s not the time to use some metaphor or literary reference that only a handful of the population would understand. I generally don’t have a problem writing titles for online publication. I ask myself what the major point of the piece is and form my title around that. As a general rule, this is what I try to do with all my titles.

The problem arises when the piece is many pages long or deals with many themes. In those cases, there should still be one central theme, and if it’s an article or academic work this is essential to the overall coherence of the work (more on this in a future post). Fiction and poetry is trickier.

Often times with fiction I don’t have a clear theme in mind. I’m a very character driven writer. The plot and themes are revealed through the characters, and sometimes--most times--I don’t know exactly where the story will go until the characters “tell” me where they want it to go (again, more on this in a future post). For that reason, I typically don’t give my work titles until they’re finished.

Then I have the task of reading through what I’d written. I do this many times throughout the writing process, in fact (a future post). In this instance, I’m not looking at the piece as a writer (that’s for editing/revising). I can’t really say I’m looking at it as a reader either, though. Readers are generally unconcerned about the title of a piece or how it fits into the work as a whole. That’s more of a writer’s concern. I guess I read my work as a reader/writer hybrid. I look through my prose (or verse) searching for a central theme, something that appears again and again and somehow holds the whole piece together.

Once I find this central theme, I try to think of the best way to express it in as few words as possible. For creative works, (fiction, poetry) I try to make interesting titles. I want them to be thought provoking in some way. I probably fail at this quite a bit, though.

Also, I prefer not to use ornate language in my writing in general. That’s a stylistic choice on my part, so my titles tend to be pretty simplistic. They may have a double meaning, or something, but they don’t sound “fancy.”

The working title to my first novel (still a WIP) falls under that category. “Stop-Loss” has a very specific meaning, which I’m not really using at all in my work. Instead, I’m working with the literal meaning of the two words. Each of the characters deal with profound loss. It’s only natural they seek to stop it in various ways.

Your turn:

How do you create your titles? Do they come naturally to you, or do you have to work at them? Is there a particular technique you use? What kind of writing do you do? Perhaps some genres are easier to title than others.

I’d be interested in reading anything related to the topic.

Writing Tip: Analysis vs. Summary

One of the pitfalls a lot of students encounter in their writing, especially with literary analysis, boils down to the phrase ‘too much summary.’ When I write this in the marginal comments of student papers, I mean the student has provided too much plot summary without enough analysis. 

The best papers provide new insights into their topics. In these papers, (the “A” papers) the students make a claim or an argument, and they prove their argument. They do this through their analysis of the texts. They use portions of the texts that best support their claims, quote or paraphrase them, and then they analyze them. In other words, they make a claim, provide evidence for the claim, and then explain how the evidence works in their favor. This is analysis at its best, and it simply can’t be done if the student is caught up in the plot summary.

When I speak to students about their excessive summarizations, they usually say they thought everything was important. Often, it seems, students get caught up in the plot of the story, and they use the story’s structure as the structure of the paper. They begin their paper with the first actions of the story, and their conclusion describes the end of the story. Now, it’s perfectly fine to work in chronological order, but there must be more to the paper than summary. This is what I often tell my students: “If all I want is to know what happens in the story, I’d read the story. I want to know what you’re going to prove about the story. I want to read something I’ve never read before. I want to be wowed.”

If you’re not sure if you’re falling into the summary trap, here are a few things you can do. First of all, make sure you’re only using the pieces of the story (or movie, poem, song, etc) that best pertain to your claim. Then, you need to provide several sentences that explain those pieces. 

Another trick could be to purposely work out of chronological order because it’s much harder to summarize something that is out of order. 

Finally, I’m not saying don’t summarize. Analysis needs summary. You must provide context from the story before you can provide the evidence and the analysis. The problem arises when nothing follows the context. 

As always, if you’re worried you might be falling into this trap, (or any trap) you’re more than welcome to send your paper to me, and I’ll be happy to point you in the right direction. 

Writing Discussion: Good Writing Habits

Today, I was asked what my best writing habit is. I had to think about it for a moment before answering. Eventually, I decided my best writing habit is that I keep doing it. I write something every day. I may write part of a paper for my class, a report for my job, a work of fiction, a post for this blog, etc, but the point is I write at least something every day. 

Now, not everything I write is wonderful. Some of the words I write one day, don’t make the cut in the next draft. There are a few reasons for this. Sometimes I write things that just don’t make any sense. Obviously, they need to go. More often, though, there’s nothing actually wrong with what I’ve written, I’ve just thought of a better, more effective way to say it. But that’s the beauty of writing every day. It keeps me sharp and focused, and it provides me with drafts to continuously improve before I turn in the final product. 

Most of my writing life revolves around deadlines. I had due dates for papers when I was a student (I still do; although I’m primarily taking my course for fun). Now, I have deadlines for articles when I take freelance assignments. I also have personal goals to keep me from getting stagnant in my progress with various projects. 

My total word count per day varies. On average, I probably write around 1,000 words a day. Most days, those words are spread between multiple projects and genres. 

Now it’s your turn. What are your writing habits? What habits would you like to build? 

Writing Tip: The "So What?" Problem

Have you ever received a graded paper with the question “so what?” as a comment? This is a common problem when writing papers. I’ve run into the “so what?” problem a few times myself.

Here’s what instructors (and I) mean when we ask “so what?”: Basically, we mean the paper points out information (possibly very interesting and well written information) but it doesn’t “do” anything beyond that. It doesn’t prove or argue anything, and it doesn’t tell us why we should care. In other words, the paper really isn’t a paper: It’s an information dump or a summary.

To combat this, you need to make sure you address the questions how and why. These are questions of analysis. If you address these and have a clear,
debatable thesis, which you argue throughout your paper, you’ll never run into the “So what?” problem.

Analysis Tip: The Magic Triangle

Do you have to analyze a literary work for a paper? Or maybe you’re going to the art museum and want to impress your date. Perhaps you want to say something more about the movie you watched last night than simply saying you enjoyed it. The magic triangle works in all of these instances.

The triangle is equiangular, and each angle is assigned a letter:  A, R, T, which forms ART.  The “A” stands for “Author” or artist.  “R” stands for “Reader” but can also mean audience, and “T” stands for “Text.”  These are the three aspects of textual analysis: the work, artist, and audience. The triangle demonstrates the relationship between these aspects. 

Let’s say your assignment is to analyze a poem. Your first step is to read the poem. What do you notice about it? Remember: You know more than you think you do. Write down everything you see. 

Tip: In poetry, every single word is important. Each word represents is the poet’s choice. This applies to the structure, rhyme scheme, rhythm, and every other element present in the poem. 

So, when I say write everything down that you see in the poem, I really mean it. Write the rhyme scheme (if there is one; if there isn’t one, write that). Describe the structure. Are there particular images that strike you? Write them down. What do you think is going on in the poem? Describe the “story” of the poem in your own words. 

Are there words you’re unfamiliar with? Look them up:  Like I said, every word is important in a poem, so when there’s a word you don’t know, it’s blocking you’re entry into the poem. I promise you, I’ve had entire poems become clear to me after spending a few moments with a good dictionary. (I recommend the Oxford English Dictionary, OED, but any reliable dictionary is fine). 

Are there references to history, other works of art, etc? You can usually tell these when the poet uses italics or quotation marks. When these aren’t clear, don’t despair. Part of writing everything you notice is including the aspects of the poem you don’t understand. Knowing what you don’t know is a very important part of learning. My professor once said to treat each word like a hyperlink. Don’t be afraid to do a google search.

Once you’ve written everything down, think about what interests you the most. Your analysis is as much about you as it is about the poem itself. This is when the “magic triangle” comes in. Pick an element and think about how that element functions in the work: “What does X do?” “What if it were Y instead of X?” In that second question, substitute another element for the one you’ve chosen and think about how that would change the overall work. 

Now, that you’ve analyzed the work and its impact on you as the audience, think about the author. I talked about how the author specifically chooses every element in a work. The next step is to consider why. Thinking about how different the work would be if different choices were made can help with this. 

You can use the same steps I discussed above for any work of art: music, visual arts, films, literature, etc. 

Writing Tip: Literary Analysis

Literary analysis is a genre of essays that involve multiple skills, which go beyond the act of writing.  When you're tasked to analyze a work of literature, you're required to read and think critically before you can even think about writing.  You want to ask questions about the material and try to answer them, but don't stop at basic plot type questions.  As, I'll explain, the plot is just the beginning.

If it helps to think of yourself as a journalist investigating the story, do so.  Begin with the classic journalism questions:  Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How.  Look at the plot and characters, first.  What's actually going on in the story?  Then, think about the setting.  Is the setting important?  If you're unsure, ask yourself how the story would be different if it were set in another place or time.

What about themes?  Are there any obvious themes in the work?  Remember:  Themes are not morals.  Themes can be simple words or phrases like love, death, time, childhood, or parenthood.  It is your job to figure out which themes are present in the work and analyze them.

When I read, I have a pen in my hand.  I make marginal notes of important details.  I underline key passages.  This makes my job a lot easier when it comes time to pull quotes from the text into my paper.  Now when I underline things, I underline what seems important to me. I have my own slant, my own ways of viewing the world, and they impact the way I read literature too.  This is where working with literature becomes fun.

In many cases, the assignment you'll have will be relatively open-ended.  Professors will ask you to "trace" a theme throughout a text or multiple texts, for example.  It's up to you to figure out what's important to you, ask yourself why it's important to the text(s) and in what way.  Once you figure out your angle, it's a matter of putting it into words.

At this point, it's much like any other writing assignment.  You have a question you're supposed to address and other requirements.  You take your angle and start thinking about how to organize your paper.  An outline is a great tool for this.  You want to take your focus and turn it into a thesis.  Once you have a thesis, it's all about proving the thesis.  This should be your primary concern in organizing your paper.

Like in any genre of writing, there are several pitfalls in literary analysis.

This first one is my biggest pet peeve:  Avoid plot summary.  Now this is a very tricky topic of discussion because you do need to summarize.  You need to provide context in your writing.  However, you don't want to give us the blow by blow plot summary.  Remember:  If I wanted to read the story, I'd read the story.  The trick is to provide only the most crucial context, and follow it up with analysis.  In other words, tell us what happened, but then tell us why it happened, why it's important, why the author wrote it that way, etc.  Ultimately, we care about what you think about the story more than your ability to summarize it.

Along the same lines:  Don't overuse direct quotations.  Quotations signal to your reader that what you're quoting is really important.  Quotes are the evidence with which you support your claims.  You want to be very choosy about which quotes use and only use the parts that specifically pertain to your argument.  Your goal is to make the quote fit your usual writing style as closely as possible.  For all of these reasons, you don't want to use too many quotes in your paper.

These are some things to keep in mind when writing a literary analysis essay.

Writing Tip: Cause and Effect Essays

When writing cause and effect essays, there are several things to keep in mind.  First of all, you need to know whether you have the "cause," or the "effect."  For example, is your assignment to examine the causes of global warming, (effect) or the effects global warming will have on the world (cause)?  That's right, sometimes a single concept can be both a cause and effect, depending on how you look at it.  Your job is to know what the assignment requires of you, and fulfill the requirements.  Remember:  When in doubt, ask your instructor.

Another thing to keep in mind is cause and effect essays address why something occurred.  You're not interested in how.  You're not meant to evaluate the end results (the effects).  You're explaining why.  You're either beginning with the effect, (global warming) and writing about the causes, or you're beginning with the cause, (global warming) and writing about the effect(s).  Either way, your primary concern is why.  

The next thing is very important:  Be careful about causality.  Your textbook probably mentions the post hoc fallacy.  I know the one I'm referring to does.  Basically, you don't want to make the mistake of assuming that because one event follows another event, the first event caused the second event.  Just because the moon comes out after the sun goes down, doesn't mean the sun setting causes the moon to rise (and in fact, the two can be out at the same time).

Also, don't oversimplify your causes and/or effects.  You want to be realistic and accurate in your essay.

Finally, like in any essay, you want to follow an organized pattern.  I would peruse your textbook for examples if you need further help with this.  In general, you know you want to begin with an introduction that briefly explains the cause(s) and effect(s) you'll be addressing.  You'll write a thesis in that paragraph.

After that, you'll want to devote one (or more) body paragraph(s) to each cause or effect, depending on which pattern you're following.

Be sure to transition between each new idea.  Cite any sources you use.

Finally, you're ready to write your conclusion.  Restate your thesis and major points.  And tie it up with something you've learned from writing the paper that you want your audience to remember the clearest.

And that's a cause and effect paper in a nutshell.  Remember those key items--and seek help if you need it.

Writing Discussion: The Power of our Words

Something we should think about is the power our rhetorical acts have.  Our rhetorical acts define us, affect others, and can contribute to the common good.

When we write or speak, what are we really doing?  What impact will that email I wrote after midnight the other night have on its audience?

What about the various situations and locations surrounding our rhetorical acts?  Do they define us in different ways?  Are there some acts that contribute to the common good, while others don't?

When I'm in "tutor" mode, I'd like to think my actions define me as someone who is educated and helpful.  I aim to affect others' moods in positive ways:  I want people to "feel better" by the time they're done with me.  Those actions may contribute to the common good in a small way.

I guess my point in all of this is to encourage us to think about what our words really do.  Our words are a major part of how we get along in the world:  We use them to create and communicate meaning.  We could never function without them.  That's why it's so important to learn how to speak and write effectively.  It makes existence in this great big interconnected web much easier.

I'm glad to be part of this world with all of you.

Writing Tip: Break it Up!

This concept applies to much of life, but it certainly applies to writing.  Whenever you have a large project like a term paper, you want to break it up into manageable chunks.  Now I like to take each clump and write it on a to-do list, so I commit myself to following through with each step of the process.  This is good for time management and organization.

The following "clumps" are the steps I've taken when writing term papers.

When I had a research project, my first step was to choose a general topic I wanted to study further.  Then I gathered all of the resources I could find:  Google or Google Scholar, my school's online library resources, and Amazon are all great ways to see what's out there.

Before I could write a word, I needed to see what was already written.  Remember:  good papers are like conversations.  You want to learn about what's being said and prepare to enter the conversation with your own ideas and perspectives.  Research is the essential first step of that process.

I should add a few things about research here:  Expect to do more research later.  You'll get to a point while you're writing where you'll realize you don't know as much about a topic as you should.  The flipside of this is that you can't possibly read everything that's ever been written on a subject.  Eventually, you'll have to stop reading and start writing.  This is the part I've always struggled with the most--and continue to do so.

After I concluded my research, I looked for "a way in."  I looked for an angle that's never been taken before.  A "new"way of looking at a work of literature (or whatever I'm researching).  This is what scholarship is all about.  This is how we add to the "conversation."

Once I figured out my angle, I built off of the previous "conversations."  Those made up my citations and paraphrases.  The rest of the paper essentially "wrote itself."  I had a foundation and a direction in which I wanted the paper to go.  It was just a matter of getting it there.

In short, manageable clumps make large projects much less painful.

Writing Tip: Keep Going

Students and writers (myself included) like to have a nearly perfect first draft that doesn't need much revision and/or editing in the final draft.  Now maybe there are people who can pull this off, but I'm certainly not one of them.

What I do, and tell the students I sit with to do, is remember the first draft is the "vomit draft" that no one will see but you (and maybe a tutor who won't judge you).  This is your place to put everything you can possibly imagine would go in your essay.  It's your "test zone." Use it to help you decide what works and what doesn't work.  

Maybe you spend half the paper writing with one working thesis, decide it doesn't hold up, and change thesis mid-paper.  No problem, as long as you make it cohesive in the second and subsequent drafts.

The bottom line is Keep Going because you don't know what doesn't work until you try to make it work.