SiteAre You a Lazy Writer?
I’ve taken up twittering. A few days ago, one of the writers I follow tweeted, “Well, it’s done and sent.” I could practically hear her sigh of relief. It resonated with me. When I’m juggling multiple assignments, my only goal is often just to finish – to cross another article off of my to-do list.
While it may be the businesslike thing to do, writing for quantity’s sake alone is terribly unsatisfying. And in the long run, it’s bad for business, since it’s easy to get lazy about the writing itself when you’re just trying to beat the clock.
As writers, I feel that we owe it to ourselves to take the time to improve our craft, no matter whether we’ve been at it for a year or for 30. Like anything, it can be hard to make the time. But there are plenty of quick ways to notch up your creativity and sophistication – from reading a good article and dissecting it (what did that author do to catch my attention? What makes it so special?) to free writing on something you love to trying out a new form (I’ve always written service pieces, now I’ll try a profile) or a new medium.
Lately, I’ve tried a new medium. I started writing radio pieces a few months ago. I love it – partially because I’m learning wonderful things that I can bring “home” to my article writing. Here are a few:
1. Simplicity comes from discipline.
When you have only three to five minutes to tell an entire story, absolutely every word counts. Each sentence must move the story forward or you must cut it. The form is merciless. And yet a single sentence should contain only one thought, because it’s hard for listeners to understand compound sentences. Those two requirements impose an incredible discipline on the writer. And they make the writing clean and simple – something I’m striving for in everything I write, whether it’s a 200-word short or a 40,000-word book.
2. The verb is radio’s adjective.
Another radio tip that I think transfers beautifully to print comes from David Candow, the guru who coaches NPR reporters and hosts on how to write and speak for the ear. In a Washington Post profile Candow says, “The big adjective is a verb.”
Post reporter Paul Farhi explains:
“What he means is that a single punchy verb can describe someone better than a string of flowery adjectives. For example, Candow recalls a radio story about a 105-year-old woman named Alice. The reporter told her listeners that upon their first encounter, Alice “flits” into the room. “Flits!” repeats Candow. That one verb is more powerful than any description I can make up.’”
I love that advice and that example. Next time I’m tempted to use an adjective to describe someone, I’m going to look for a verb instead and watch how it transforms my copy.
3. Natural sound moves the listener from one place to another.
Next time you find yourself in your driveway listening to a public radio feature, notice the sounds behind the voices – cars idling in traffic, birds singing, rain on a roof. When radio producers edit stories, they use “ambient” or natural sound to take the listener to specific places. And when the story shifts locations – say from a busy road to the beach — a good producer “moves” the listener to that beach by subtly ending the traffic noise and bringing up the sounds of seagulls. As listeners, we hardly notice — but we are transported.
What a wonderful technique! If we can use it in radio to put a listener “there,” we can do the same thing in print with sparing use of sensory details – the smell of salt air, the pattern of sandpiper footsteps in the sand, the raucous squawk of a seagull.
So – have you gotten lazy? Do you think more about word count than the words themselves? And if so, what one thing will you do this week to make your work sing?
15 Responses to “Are You a Lazy Writer?”
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Ami (Write Out Loud)
Said this on September 25th, 2008 at 7:43am:I’ve been evaluating my writing priorities lately and I came to a very similar conclusion. I have to remember that no matter what the deadline, pay grade or topic of an article, I have to give every single one the same attention to detail and quality. Otherwise, there’s no purpose to my writing other than getting paid, and that was never my goal when I started writing.
Thanks for the great tips. I’m definitely going to try incorporating them into my writing projects.
Jamie Simmerman
Said this on September 25th, 2008 at 9:44am:I am working on putting on a clean edge on my writing. At the suggestion of a friend and fellow freelancer, I am going to pick one common writing mistake a week and focus on eliminating it from my writing.
Elaine Appleton Grant
Said this on September 25th, 2008 at 10:55am:Jamie, that’s a really interesting idea. Can you give us an example or two of the common mistakes you’ll be eliminating?
Elaine
DianaBurrell
Said this on September 25th, 2008 at 12:46pm:Beautiful post, Elaine. This weekend, I was transfixed by Ira Glass’s story on This American Life about 419 scammers in Nigeria. Think about how hard that’s to do with a story based on e-mails between scam baiters and crooks who barely speak English. Glass and his producers did one heck of a job balancing interviews with 3 scam baiters, interspersing tapes of phone calls to Nigeria, plus reading comments from bulletin boards to make this a story so alive and gripping.
Angela
Said this on September 25th, 2008 at 1:55pm:Thank you for this post. I’ve felt this too lately. It’s so easy to focus too much on how much $ is coming in and when, and not enough on craft. These are great tips.
Jill Adams
Said this on September 25th, 2008 at 3:15pm:Elaine,
Great post. I, too, sometime fall into the get-it-done trap and end up slogging through an article I’m writing until I’m just throwing words at my assignment to make it go away.
I love the reminder about scene setting, an area I definitely get hung up on. Description poorly done is like a novice writer’s string of flowery adjectives. Because that’s what I notice when I read, I shy away from description in my writing. Perhaps I need to pay better attention to when description is well done: how a single telling detail — whether about a person or a place — can add context and even power to the story.
quinn
Said this on September 25th, 2008 at 7:20pm:Excellent points, Elaine - The first two should be taped to my monitor. thanks for sharing insights from your new endeavor!
A slight twist on the ambient sound idea: I often use a digital voice recorder to collect brief moments of ambient sound when I’m on an assignment or traveling. When I’m back at the laptop, sometimes many months or even years later, I play the little sound clips to get myself back in the experience before writing about it. Sound is so evocative - it really refreshes the memory.
B J Keltz
Said this on September 25th, 2008 at 8:23pm:Thank you for your post, especially the section on using the right verb. I look forward to working on these points in my own writing.
Elaine Appleton Grant
Said this on September 25th, 2008 at 9:53pm:Quinn, what a great idea to tape ambient sound on purpose when writing for print! It reminds me of Dan Baum, a great freelancer for Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, etc. — he shoots a lot of photos when he’s reporting, purely to help him remember details.
Elaine
links for 2008-09-26 « Charlottesville Words
Said this on September 26th, 2008 at 1:03pm:[...] The Renegade Writer Blog » Blog Archive » Are You a Lazy Writer? Not really about laziness, more about how to use a change of form to punch up your writing. Good tips from radio writing — "Lately, I’ve tried a new medium. I started writing radio pieces a few months ago. I love it – partially because I’m learning wonderful things that I can bring “home” to my article writing. Here are a few…" [...]
meghna
Said this on September 26th, 2008 at 1:43pm:A great post and some excellent tips. I’ll try to use all these in my writing. Eliminating writing mistakes comes with practice & experience. Thank you for sharing this awesome post.
Mantecanaut
Said this on September 26th, 2008 at 10:12pm:I’m a lazy everything…mostly bastard.
09/26/2008 Writing Jobs and Links : PoeWar.com Writer’s Resource Center
Said this on September 27th, 2008 at 4:41pm:[...] Are You a Lazy Writer? I’m the hardest working lazy man alive. [...]
Michael
Said this on October 1st, 2008 at 12:08am:Thanks for the article. I like your website too. Smooth. I needs some discipline to re-insert myself into a novel mode and mood. I have written scripts. The processes are similar but the feel is much different.
Roofing Wiz
Said this on October 2nd, 2008 at 10:44pm:Lazy? Mmmmm, in my job lazy isnt a good thing but after a long hard day of work under the sun I can still write in these blogs. Lol! Hope everyone has a great week. Lazy? Who can really afford to be lazy anymore….