Writing knowledge

[magid]

Queue mentioned a writing class assignment for students to identify five things they know well, enough so that they could write an article about them.

I started thinking about that today. What do I know that well? It took a while before anything came to mind; I tend to think that there's more I don't know than I do about most topics. Eventually I came up with Judaism (though I think Cellio is a much much better writer than I am about pretty much every topic I've read her writings on, and though I know about a drop in the sea of Torah), home cooking, and children's books. Oh, yeah, high school math textbooks (as if anyone would want to know much about them; so many people run the other way when faced with them...). Somehow it seems that after all the fancy education, I should know a bit more than this.

Current Food: roasted onions, red peppers, potatoes, and sweet potatoes

Comments

[cellio]

The target is an article, not a textbook. I'm sure there are lots of things you know well enough to cover in a few thousand words. And some topics you listed are too big for that and should be sub-divided; for example, you could easily write an article, or even a series of articles, on a single Jewish holiday or a single style of cooking.

The task, as you described it, also isn't to be the best candidate for writing any particular article. Ok, someone else knows more about Judaism or cooking or whatever than you do; big deal. That doesn't mean you aren't also qualified to write about the topic. I've been where you are, and finally decided that if I knew enough and was willing to actually write the article, that made me better-qualified than the person who knows way more than enough who doesn't actually write it.

though I think Cellio is a much much better writer than I am about pretty much every topic I've read her writings on

Thanks for the compliment, but you do realize it's an unfair comparison, right? You only see the stuff of mine that I decide can see the light of day; you see all of your own false starts and abandoned projects and the like. I've got plenty of those too.

And I know precious little about children's books and home cooking, so I'd say it all balances out in the end. :-)

and though I know about a drop in the sea of Torah

We all do; it's the nature of the beast. If you think you know a lot, look again and see the next layer.

[queue.livejournal.com]

There is a difference between an article and an essay. For articles, it is generally expected that you go out and talk to other people about subjects. Essays are generally completely from your own experience.

Article vs. essay

[magid.livejournal.com]

I never verbalized the distinction before. I assumed that one might write an article based on research, not necessarily involving other people (just their works).

Re: Article vs. essay

[queue.livejournal.com]

I think that most articles involve talking to people, even if it's just talking to people about research they've done. Still, the distinction is that articles are researched, whereas essays can be solely from personal experience.

And, the class I'm taking is about freelance writing, which is articles, not essays.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the encouragement (though I have to say, I wrote the post more as a thought than as a plan for actually writing an article. Perhaps that should change...).

It's true that it's a lot easier to see one's own imperfections than others: lack of complete knowledge, the fits and starts that just don't go anywhere, all that stuff. In some moods it's harder to remember that than it should be.

When I was in school, I tended to write the shortest papers; I couldn't seem to see what I should explain further. I think I'm a bit better about that now, but not as much as I could be.
Hrm. Maybe I should write an article or full-fledged essay of some sort, just to see if I can (and like what I write, after).

[cellio]

When I was in school, I tended to write the shortest papers;

Heh. Whereas I tended to be the student who was responsible for assignments like this: "5-page paper, 8.5x11-inch paper, font no smaller than 10pt, margins no smaller than 1 inch all around, single-spaced (not 0.9-spaced), standard kerning between letters". I had, shall we say, difficulty covering a topic in a limited space, because there was always some exception to the generalization that had to be noted for the sake of correctness. :-) (I got better, in case you're wondering.)

[teddywolf.livejournal.com]

You know something else quite well: your own perspective on socializing with friends and family. Some people have made a career out of writing short essays and long books about that, usually with one or two more things added to the mix (like cooking or politics or religion, for example). Don't discount personal experience.

And let's face it, with this family...

[magid.livejournal.com]

Heh. I'm impressed that whoever had to mention standard kerning...

I think it was easy for me to avoid dealing with exceptions when writing somewhat focused liberal arts papers. I'd think it would be different in science.

My mom is a twin; apparently my aunt was able to expand pieces, my mom was able to edit them down, and between them, they got it just right. (Somehow, when this piece of family history is mentioned, no one talks about how two people could turn in one paper. Unless they just helped each other with their papers. Dicey, either way.)
I inherited my mom's talent only...

[teddywolf.livejournal.com]

If you'd like help I have it on good authority that your little brother can do both at the same time.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Thanks.
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[cellio]

Heh. I'm impressed that whoever had to mention standard kerning...

I had word-processing tools, and I knew how to use them. Scribe and (later) LaTex: by geeks, for geeks. :-)

To be fair, though, that was one particular professor, whose lack of specificity had been noted early on in the semester, so he and I made sort of a game of me exploiting one loophole at a time and him closing it to see what I'd do next. I had actually used the kerning trick a couple of times outside of that class, but mostly didn't need to go that far to meet length requirements.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Glad you didn't have to kern toooo much to keep in length requirements! I didn't know what kerning was until after grad school, when I started working in grad school. (And didn't even have a computer of my own to write papers on until halfway through college.)
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