At the beginning of this mornings seminar with James, we looked into concise writing, writing that is well considered and has precise content. There must always be a clear purpose and direction, and starting the sentence with the subject is always a good start. Explaining one idea at a time, and not using extraneous ideas is also classed as concise writing, as well as using the shortest form of phrases and words. When writing my essay, I must ask the correct questions for the reader, such as why am I writing about the subject I am, who else has had a say on the topic I am looking into etc.
The main task of today's seminar was focusing on a piece of work we had all brought in. We brought a draft of the first paragraph to our essays, this was to be handed to the person next to us, for them to read through, make suggestions for improvement, and write down what is good and effective in the paragraph. We kept pointers in mind such as: clipped writing, factual, informed, guiding, and referencing.
I got my piece of writing back with a range of ideas and improvements to make, such as how I could link my writing directly to graphic designers, or where, why, and who are ion the community I was talking about in my paragraph. I also need to back up my work with a quote or where I got the information from. Following the editors guidance, I was to rewrite my sentences, making sure my opening was very strong.
To help with our strong openings, we looked at a few examples:
- I am always drawn back to the places I have lived, the houses their neighbourhoods. - Truman Capote, Breakfast at Tiffany's (1958)
- Lolita, light of my life, fire of my lions. - Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita (1955)
- Someone must have slandered Josef K., for one morning, without having done anything truly wrong, he was arrested. - Franz Kafika, The Trial (1925)
- Mother died today. - Albert Camus, The Outsider (1942)
All strong, engaging opening sentences that make the reader carry on reading.
