Tuesday night you will let the class know what you are thinking about doing for your 800-word final project in this class. Don't charge into selecting your project without taking some time to review Chapter 6 in "On Writing Well."Let me start my highlighting of that chapter by turning to the back of it where we find this not-to-be-ignored advice:
"Every writing project must be reduced before you start to write.
"Therefore think small. Decide what corner of your subject you're going to bite off, and be content to cover it well and stop. . .
"As for what point you want to make, every successful piece of nonfiction should leave the reader with one provocative thought that he or she didn't have before."
Remember the information I passed along in the first class from Jim Simon, the Metro editor at The Seattle Times:
"Find a story, not an issue. Use small, personal stories to illustrate a big problem or issue."
Don't try to explain the world's present financial situation in 800 words. You might tell your readers what has happened to one investor who had money tied up in overseas markets and what effect that has had on his life.
Don't take on the pros and/or cons of big agribusiness vs. local food sources in 800 words. Find a local grower who is farming next to a corporate farm and tell what's alike and what's different between the operations.
Look at the questions Zinsser says to ask yourself before you start:
"In what capacity am I going to address the reader? (Reporter? Provider of information? Average man or woman?) What pronoun and tense am I going to use? What style (Impersonal reportorial? Personal but formal? Personal and casual?) What attitude am I going to take toward the material? (Involved? Detached? Judgmental? Ironic? Amused?) How much do I want to cover? What one point do I want to make?"
Remember what I said: Less is more. Build a piece of writing that doesn't wander, that has a beginning, a middle and an end, and above all has a discernible point.
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