In the Bleak Midwinter

In the bleak midwinter
Frosty wind made moan.
Earth stood hard as iron
Water like a stone.

Snow had fallen
Snow on snow
Snow on snow.
In the bleak midwinter
Long, long, ago.

Angels and archangels
May have gathered there.
Cherubim and Seraphim
Frozen in the air.

But His mother only
In her maiden bliss
Worshipped the beloved
With a tender kiss.

What can I give him
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd
I would bring a lamb.

If I were a wise man
I would do my part
Yet what I can I give him
Give him my heart.

I think Manton called it "writing on the nose?"

"What I like in a good author is not what he says, but what he whispers."

Nothing is more boring to read than a list. If an entire book were nothing but "Then I woke up. I had a dream. It was scary. I was scared," you wouldn't be very engaged, would you? Good writing is not about telling people about the events, it's about showing them without saying very much at all. For example, telling people how you felt word for word after waking up from your nightmare may not be as interesting as describing the tone of the nightmare. That way the reader feels uneasy as well, and there's no point telling them what they're feeling.

In other words, the reader doesn't care all that much about how you felt at a certain moment in time. They want to feel it too, or else they're liable to get bored and will care even less about your experience, no matter how thrilling or terrifying that experience was to you. If your heart was pounding, make their hearts pound. If your head was reeling, make their heads reel. It's not in the components of the story, but in the way you tell the reader about those events, and, believe it or not, the way you say it is most effective when it's subtle and not completely in-your-face.


Don't write on the nose!!


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Who Took my Moss-Covered Three-Handled Family Gredunza?

Although I know a couple key people in our English class who may look down on me for saying this, my favorite short story has to be The Cat in the Hat. It was my first book, and when I was little, I had memorized the whole thing and could recite it offhand, word for word. Sure, the vocabulary was limited at best, and the book probably did not consist of more than one-hundred different words, but The Cat in the Hat was an extremely important part of my formative years, and the story was charming and entertaining enough to survive the simplistic phrasing. It is a children's classic that has stood the test of time not only for me, but for children through all generations and countries.


Look at him, he's adorable. How can you not love him?

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We Don't Need No Education

When one compares Sara to modern students, it becomes extremely clear how little today's generation values education. After all, everyone gets to go to school, so it isn't very outstanding when a young person gets to go to high school or college. Little things stifle the enjoyment as well; uninteresting subjects, irritating classmates, apathy for doing homework, stress. All of these things lead to complaints about school life. On might say, "Well, if education were not readily available for every child in America, they would certainly wish they were in school rather than at home."

Would they, though? If our generation knew only hunger, labor, and poverty, would they really be thinking about education? I personally doubt it. I think conditioning is what makes people care about things like art, music, and education. Kids in poverty and families ravaged by war certainly have immediately pressing things to put before education: feeding their families, and getting enough money to pay the rent. Making sure their children don't freeze during the winter. When looking from this perspective it is easy to see why Sara's family cared so little for her ambition of becoming a teacher.

When introduced to education after having such a life, however, would be instantly addictive. After knowing nothing but poverty and hunger, the thirst for a higher knowledge would be almost uncontrollable. Evidenced by Sara, education can be used for some as an escape from a cold world, or a way out of a cold, tiny apartment and a diet of stale bread.

This is why our generation does not appreciate education as much as generations past. Within the past century, children younger than me have worked in factories and begged in the streets to help keep their families alive, with barely a passing thought about English or Arithmetic. Many of these children grew up into uneducated adults who never got out of their impoverished situations, even after the depression was over. Here I am, with a bed to sleep in every night, with food in my mouth every day, and with a full six hours of school every single day of every week. I have never known hunger or sadness, at least, not compared to the children of yesteryear. This comparison alone is what makes me care so much about going in to classes every day.

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WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW

THERE'S NOTHING HARD ABOUT WRITING. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS SIT DOWN AND OPEN UP A VEIN.
Walter "Red" Smith

What I find to be the most common and glaring fault in writing is the lack of a genuine viewpoint. No matter how fascinating or well-written the story is, I will not enjoy it, because it is evident to me that the author did not actually believe the story he was telling was important.

In every creative writing class at every high school or college, one golden law is upheld with the utmost seriousness: "Write what you know." If you are a wealthy suburban teenager who has never set foot outside your tri-state area and you decide to write about the miserable slums of a dead-end street you've never seen, it will show in your writing. No matter how much the subject matters to you, no matter how much you care about real people suffering from poverty or hunger, no matter how much the story needs to be told, you will always sound like you do not know what you are talking about, or that the extent of your experience with poverty has been a Google image search of the word.

To write a truly captivating and moving story, you must write about what you yourself have gone through. You want to write about those slums? Sleep there for a few nights. Gone through a true emotional crisis? Fantastic; your story will be sincere and truthful.

Not that writing about these things is easy; the above quote was written with a great deal of sarcasm. Although writing about emotional turmoil or abuse can be extremely therapeutic, it can also cause painful memories to resurface. There are things that are better left simply confided in friends or family for some people. There are other things, however, that scream to be revealed to the waking world, things that people wonder about. Just like yourself, there are numerous people ask every day, "Has anyone else ever gone through this? Are there other people who feel this way?" On the other end of the spectrum there are people who have never known suffering or sadness who will be educated and informed by your writing.

Of course, there are many who would want these things left in the dark, but if you have the ambition to bring them to light, you'll know it from the start.


WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW.

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