Writing
Reflection
s
Consulting the experts
Here are words of wisdom from some famous writers:
“If you don’t have the time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write.”
Stephen King
Why does King regard reading as an essential aspect of writing?
“Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.”
Anton Chekhov
What is Chekhov implying about writing technique?
Complete your own “Don’t tell me…” sentence
“All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you
know.”
Ernest Hemingway
Write the truest sentence that you know.
“I hate writing, I love having written.” Dorothy Parker
Can you relate to Parker’s statement? Explain your response
“I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what
it means. What I want and what I fear.” Joan Didion
What does Didion suggest we draw on as stimuli for our writing?
“Dispense with safety nets. Be bloody-minded. Argue with the world. And never
forget that writing is as close as we get to keeping a hold on the thousand and one
things--childhood, certainties, cities, doubts, dreams, instants, phrases, parents,
loves--that go on slipping , like sand, through our fingers.” Salman Rushdie,
Imaginary Homelands: Essays and Criticism 1981-1991
What does Rushdie see as the fundamental reasons for writing?
The Writing Process
Read the excerpt below from the script of Woody Allen’s Manhattan
Why does Allen make this change?
Chapter 1.
He adored New York City. He idolized it all out of
proportion...no, make that: he - he romanticized it
all out of proportion. Yes. To him, no matter what
the season was, this was still a town that existed in
black and white and pulsated to the great tunes of
George Gershwin.'
Uh, no let me start this over.
How does Allen shift the focus with this change?
Chapter 1.
He was too romantic about Manhattan, as he
was about everything else. He thrived on the hustle
bustle of the crowds and the traffic. To him, New
York meant beautiful women and street-smart guys
who seemed to know all the angles...’
Ah, corny, too corny for my taste. Can we ... can we try and make it more profound?
How does the metaphor alter the tone of
the opening?
'Chapter 1.
He adored New York City. For him, it was a metaphor for the decay of contemporary
culture. The same lack of individual integrity that caused so many people to take the
easy way out was rapidly turning the town of his dreams in...'
No, that's a little bit too preachy. I mean, you know, let's face it, I want to sell some
books here.
How has Allen shifted the
style of the opening?
'Chapter 1.
He was as tough and romantic as the city he loved. Behind his black-rimmed glasses
was the coiled sexual power of a jungle cat.'
I love this. Why is this Allen’s final version?
'New York was his town, and it always would be.”
Examining imagery and diction
BAKING BREAD IS THE BEST SMELL
From INTELLIGENT LIFE magazine, March/April 2013
From sweet peas to sour milk, every smell is a combination of synapses and electricity.
Molecules fire up receptors in the membranes of your nose and signals stream through a
delta of neurons into the dark recesses of your brain. By some alchemy, action potentials
and dopamine can render an entire world.
There’s one smell that casts the same spell in the physical world. Flour and water incarnate
blankness. They are empty sheets of lined paper. But mix them with yeast and knead them
and heat them hard and they are filled with sublime verse. The object starts with flour and
water and the mind with chemicals and electricity, but at the apex of both is the poetry of
bread, baking in the hearth.
Advertising planners and estate agents, who know how our minds work, have staked a claim
over bread. Supermarkets pipe the aroma of baguettes and split tins into their shops to whip
up trade. One British company will sell you a spray that distils the welcome of baking
bread—it was the first smell they put in a can. If you have a house to flog, you can buy a
twin-pack: coffee for upstairs, they say, where people wake, and bread for down, where they
eat.
But I want you to shut out the marketing men. Bar the door, draw the curtains and gather
round the fire. And imagine the house plump with the smell of rising dough, tingling with the
first hint of crust, and then a crescendo of deep, toasty notes filling the air as the loaf
browns. Listen to the snap and crackle of the bread as it cools, and imagine the anticipation
of sawing off a doorstep and smothering it in butter—if you’re lucky the bread will still be
warm and the salty butter will soften and melt in your mouth.
The smell of bread is the smell of home and of motherhood. In a cynical world, those things
are scorned as sentimental. But when your head is full of baking bread, you are hungry to
believe that everything will turn out right. Psychologists have found that we are more likely to
help a stranger when we are outside a bakery. I have found that bread in the oven fills me
with hope. When we speak the Lord’s Prayer, the first thing we ask for is bread. And when a
l f i b ki li i "h f b d" B th l h
BAKING BREAD IS THE BEST SMELL
1. Analyse the writer’s skilful use of extended metaphor in the second paragraph.
2. How does the register of the article shift from the second to the third paragraph?
3. What techniques are used to create such effective writing in paragraph 4?
4. How does the writer utilise a range of authorities to conclude strongly?
Write your own paragraph of about 150 marks titled “The best smell is ..” or
“The best taste is… “ using creative images and effective diction and register.
(10)
Examining structure
Read the three opening paragraphs below:
My name is Katelyn Pye, or more commonly referred to as prisoner number 9711. I am
currently serving my eleventh year in the St Mary’s Prison for an unknown offence. After
twelve years I will have finally completed my sentence and be liberated into the outside
world. Until then, I am trapped in a seemingly impenetrable fortress where cameras watch
my every move and prison guards, otherwise known as teachers, lurk the hallways. The
heavily guarded gates and emergency sirens are said to keep intruders from getting in but
are really to sound the alarm in case one of us gets out. (Katy Pye)
Genre: ____________________
Strengths:_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
________________
It is 05:30. The morning air is fair and crisp.
Genre: ____________________
As Anthony keeps vigil over his young family, he watches the mist rising from the surface of his pool.
The grass is coated in silky dew. It is perfectly silent and serene, apart from a few chirping birds. With
Strengths:_________________________________________________
pleasure and pride, Anthony gazes at his beautiful mate, Cleopatra, still fast asleep and dreaming.
_________________________________________________________
Her caramel neck is neatly folded back, head resting on soft feathers, with a pair of fluffy goslings
nestled beside her. (Jessie Moore)
__________________
Genre:
Strengths:_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
__________________
The written word is renowned for its incredible power of immortalising information,
experiences and general creative ramblings. Each loop of a quill, flick of a pen or stroke of
a key over the centuries has had the potential to permanently record something
astounding. These curious combinations of letters are at the disposal of each thirsty mind
to take a swig of their quiet knowledge. Words impact different people in different ways:
depending on unique experiences, words can penetrate deep to the very core of a
person’s psyche. It is no surprise, then, that reading can become a way of life, a kind of
extraneous need, a psychological drug. Reading can stretch the brain into thought
patterns previously not ventured into. It can quite literally change how the mind works.
(Jenna Krause)
Genre: ____________________
Strengths:_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
__________________
Time to reflect
Produce a brief presentation of no more than five slides which represents the
best responses and insights that your group generated when thinking about
the concepts above. Every member of the group should be represented but
you do not need to include all your answers and ideas. Group your responses
and analysis in any way which makes sense to you and include any other
ideas which reflect your group’s ideas about the craft and impact of good
writing.