Considerations for Writing

What is it? (Your own; unique; unlike any other’s)

What affects it? Your own personality Your own experiences Your own perspective

What is it? (Ours, shared, over-reaching all)

What affects it? The human condition The human experience Shared commonalities

It’s all about love. It’s all about death.

Uses the individual… To comment on the universal.

By taking one’s own experiences, view, perspective and sharing it—

With an eye/ear to the larger human experience.

Cold hard truth: The reader doesn’t care about you.

The reader cares about himself. If your writing is only individual navel

gazing, it is not good writing. BUT… If your you can share your own

experience to help others see their own lives more clearly, you have accomplished a good and worthy thing.

Learn to capture your individual experience

With an eye to the universal.

Need some examples? Of course!

Individual I couldn’t find my daughter’s shoe before

her Christmas concert. Universal

We all fall short We all need forgiveness

Individual – making a prank phone call to my parents’ home when I was in junior high

Universal – feeling ashamed

Individual – A student looked like she was paying attention when in fact she wasn’t.

Universal – We think we’re a little better than we are, then realize we’re not.

Individual – Helped my husband fix the crossing over a creek (connecting two fields).

Universal – Staying connected in a relationship takes work.

Universal – Life lurches forward. Individual – Someone asked me if I had

grandchildren.

Universal – renewal in nature Individual – tending a baby fawn

Universal - Satisfaction follows effort Individual - Running Dam-2-Dam

Universal – Disappointment follows effort

Individual – Not making All-State

Universal – Choose 3 of the 5 following “universals” and think of individual experiences (your own) that express the theme.

Sometimes we hurt those we love. A small act of kindness can turn a day

around. Overcoming fear can be

satisfying/exhilarating. Regret lingers. Embarrassment is a part of living.

Think of three strong memories. Identify two “universals” that might come from those memories.

Ex: I was called “String Bean” at Girl Scout camp. Embracing a “new” identity Worries about acceptance Value of a close childhood friendship

Part I: Choose 3 of the 5 “universals”; for each, write 3-4 sentences about an experience that speaks to that theme.

Part II: Think of 3 strong memories. Write two “universal themes” that are connected to the memory/experience.

DUE: Before class Tuesday, Sept. 2)