Seasoning Life with Language - Blog Post #4

     One of the things that first drew me to the world of creative writing was the power that seemingly simple phrases could have. I remember reading, pausing after sentences that blew me away, and wondering how I could emulate that feeling. The peace of a sunset, the panic of running for your life, or the sadness of losing a loved one felt so intimate coming from my novels. My early drafts lacked that certain spice - the language that flavored the text and gave you a taste of what it meant. 

For instance, here is an excerpt from a narrative I wrote in 8th grade: 

He couldn’t concentrate on anything but the near numbness of winter gales. He hurried along, or at least as much as he could in the snow. He gazed ahead, eyes watering.

I was proud of my work here, but I knew I was not the same kind of writing I had envisioned for myself. My ideas were going somewhere interesting, yet I did not know how to make them even better. I can imagine that other students feel similarly stumped towards their work: Why does this not flow or call up a powerful image like I want it to? I think the answer to this is the plain fact that we are not professionals with a strong grasp on the techniques that produce wonderful language. However, that does not mean we cannot try to improve ourselves! A little sprinkle of word flavor (read: grammar and vocabulary) can make a world of difference. 

For instance, something that Noden mentions in their book Image Grammar is the process of zooming in on certain parts of the sentence to expand meaning and enhance the image it creates. If I do this with my previous writing, focusing on the wind and cold, I can do something like this:

The brutal winds gave no quarter as they buffeted him, and his thoughts scattered into the bitter cold air with every step. Each crunching footfall broke the pattern of endless wailing into moments of grounding, of reality, of hope. What little bare skin was exposed felt the angry cold, yet the man continued through squint-eyed tears. 

Expanding on this transforms the original image into something with more to tell. Using the brushstrokes mentioned in Image Grammar can offer students ways to expand their writing ability with these tools just like I did. This is the spice I wanted in my early writing, and I can share that with them. This is what makes writing fun! I would love to take more quotes from my old texts and see what students can do to enhance them, or even encourage them to bring their own samples to see what we can all come up with. I think this collaboration would show how different takes on one piece of text can inspire people or prompt them to imitate language that they appreciate. 

Similarly, a helpful technique is to take inspiration from another author’s work to make your own. I practiced this in class by referencing a poem called The Red Wheelbarrow by William Carlos Williams:

When I hear those snide comments

about my identity and beliefs,

I want to scream

at your antagonizing.

So much depends

upon a neutral face,

an affected apathy,

and a simple question:

Do you like being an asshole?

This method does wonders, especially for someone who has writer's block or is struggling to even begin. Our creativity should not exist in a vacuum where we only reference ourselves, so why not explore what others do? I think the strength in this method is its ability to open up questions about the ‘how's and why's’ of the author’s process. Why did they space the poem like that? How does this technique affect the meaning? When it comes to language instruction, I think allowing students the opportunity to find what is useful and powerful to them makes all the difference. Let them find their favorite flavors through studying craft and discovering new grammar structures. After all, variety is the spice of life.