I discovered two different areas of the genre while working on this piece. While I knew the concept of jumping right into the fire I didn't understand how powerful it was until I heard it. The vocal element adds even more emotional punch to strong first lines. As I read it I found myself stumbling over formal words and slipping into more contractions and slang. I edited as I was reading it to make it flow more naturally. Fragments can work in your favor here as there is no long written twisting sentence for the reader to get lost in and instead a natural way of speaking.

Comments

  1. BballengerFebruary 2, 2018 at 10:39 AM

    I would love to see specific examples of these editing decisions! Can you collect a few?

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownFebruary 2, 2018 at 2:40 PM

    Y'know Sam, I think it's kind of interesting--we've been talking a lot about how radio essays are different than other kinds of writing (and yes, I think that informality is key), but the idea of jumping right into the fire is key to all kinds of flash/micro writing.

    I've been doing a lot of microfiction the last two years or so, and there really isn't time to waste establishing things. Better to start mid action, and maybe use a sentence or two to reflect backwards, but if you don't have time to craft a beginning, middle, end, it's really the beginning we can spare.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousFebruary 4, 2018 at 12:45 PM

    Hey Sam,
    This is so funny because its so true. I think that was one of the biggest challenges I had as well, as a writer I like to focus so much on sensory detail and with these pieces we really didn't have time for that, because quite frankly that's just not how people talk. The only time I really go into detail that involves all the senses is when I am talking about food haha. Good luck on your future writing in this class I look forward to it!

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousFebruary 12, 2018 at 12:41 PM

    Hi Sam. I agree with you. Fragments definitely help me understand how to actually read my writing aloud. I've actually found that I use more commas, indentations, and em dashes to help me remember how I want to pronounce words as I speak them.
    Have you done this at all, too?

    ReplyDelete

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