Echoing what Jennie said in the preceding comment about advice coming at the perfect moment. I'm writing a memoir and am struggling with ennui around some of the narrative of events I know are quite important. It's probably more interesting to explore why my current self feels that way now, when I didn't ten or twenty years ago. What has changed that makes me question revisiting some of these events? There's an element of self-psychoanalysis that can be introduced that helps me develop the thought arc.
I love this, though your posts sometimes make me feel like I just started learning about writing -- but it's exciting, too. Techniques 4 and 5 were some that I used in my memoir. Curating research I think could have a post all its own. About why it's necessary, ways to do it, where to start and where to stop. I think my last book taught me a lot about this. By the way, I think you had a good formulation with this line, "in a society that was pathologically uninterested in my experience."
Thank you so much for this! I’m struggling to decide which thought arc to go with at the moment, I have too many it’s messing up my motivation for writing.
Is there a way to use chapters to allow for eddies of thought that go in different directions? One of the reasons I love chapters is that they are like mini books within a book. Or, if you’re working on an essay, maybe you have two essays…. Or can make a sub point more quickly but still have it in there.
Ooh I didn’t really think of that, I was so focused on finding a straight line through my book. Good idea! I think I need to change my thinking a bit in order to move on. Thank you!
Wow. Just great. So useful and recognizable. too. Thanks a mill.
I do think of thought arcs when writing fiction—but it is subtext rather than text, what the sleight of hand storyline disguises but which nevertheless gets through to the reader (one intends.) It's not exactly the same, but there is a way a novel or story needs an explicit and conscious thought arc, too...I think.
It’s almost spooky how your craft essays seem to deliver the advice I need at that exact moment. I have been struggling with both the thought arc and how to help the reader feel it along with me. I’m looking forward to the palimpsest essay!
Echoing what Jennie said in the preceding comment about advice coming at the perfect moment. I'm writing a memoir and am struggling with ennui around some of the narrative of events I know are quite important. It's probably more interesting to explore why my current self feels that way now, when I didn't ten or twenty years ago. What has changed that makes me question revisiting some of these events? There's an element of self-psychoanalysis that can be introduced that helps me develop the thought arc.
Stay tuned for the next post! It’s about exactly this issue …
I love this, though your posts sometimes make me feel like I just started learning about writing -- but it's exciting, too. Techniques 4 and 5 were some that I used in my memoir. Curating research I think could have a post all its own. About why it's necessary, ways to do it, where to start and where to stop. I think my last book taught me a lot about this. By the way, I think you had a good formulation with this line, "in a society that was pathologically uninterested in my experience."
Thanks so much, Jeffrey! Ha, you're right about that 'formulation.' There is a similar sentence in my book, so it came pre-compressed, I guess.
Anytime I think about writing, I realize how much I don't know (and how many exceptions there are to anything I can say about it.
I'll do a post about curating research--or probably several!--soon.
Thanks for reading.
A "thought arc" is a new concept to me. I like the physicality it gives to thought, I'm going to enjoy playing with this. Thanks.
Thank you so much for this! I’m struggling to decide which thought arc to go with at the moment, I have too many it’s messing up my motivation for writing.
Is there a way to use chapters to allow for eddies of thought that go in different directions? One of the reasons I love chapters is that they are like mini books within a book. Or, if you’re working on an essay, maybe you have two essays…. Or can make a sub point more quickly but still have it in there.
Ooh I didn’t really think of that, I was so focused on finding a straight line through my book. Good idea! I think I need to change my thinking a bit in order to move on. Thank you!
Wow. Just great. So useful and recognizable. too. Thanks a mill.
I do think of thought arcs when writing fiction—but it is subtext rather than text, what the sleight of hand storyline disguises but which nevertheless gets through to the reader (one intends.) It's not exactly the same, but there is a way a novel or story needs an explicit and conscious thought arc, too...I think.
It’s almost spooky how your craft essays seem to deliver the advice I need at that exact moment. I have been struggling with both the thought arc and how to help the reader feel it along with me. I’m looking forward to the palimpsest essay!