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anyone want to help me with my homework?
ha. i doubt many people are going to click on a discussion with a title like that!
here's the deal. i'm taking a graduate nonfiction writing class this semester. its my first class since i graduated a few years ago, so needless to say, i'm a bit rusty!!
i have a paper due on tuesday. average about 20 pages.
i have to write about myself!!!!
if you asked anyone i know, they'd say "whats the problem- you've got a thousand stories"
which is true, but i've got the most severe case of writers block ever. i think i'm just too scared to get started!!!
here is my quesiton: if you had to write 20 nonfiction pages as a 20something. what would you write about? college? debt? growing up? etc.
originally, i was going to write about growing up with a parent who was an alcoholic and the lessons i learned from her drinking and sobriety. but i cant seem to find a focus. i just keep writing stories that don't fit together.
so give me ideas. i know y'all don't know me personally, but make something up. answer me this: what would you write about for your own 20 pages, or what would you write for my 20pages!!
here's the deal. i'm taking a graduate nonfiction writing class this semester. its my first class since i graduated a few years ago, so needless to say, i'm a bit rusty!!
i have a paper due on tuesday. average about 20 pages.
i have to write about myself!!!!
if you asked anyone i know, they'd say "whats the problem- you've got a thousand stories"
which is true, but i've got the most severe case of writers block ever. i think i'm just too scared to get started!!!
here is my quesiton: if you had to write 20 nonfiction pages as a 20something. what would you write about? college? debt? growing up? etc.
originally, i was going to write about growing up with a parent who was an alcoholic and the lessons i learned from her drinking and sobriety. but i cant seem to find a focus. i just keep writing stories that don't fit together.
so give me ideas. i know y'all don't know me personally, but make something up. answer me this: what would you write about for your own 20 pages, or what would you write for my 20pages!!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Nick Tabick on -
In fact, your title baited me. :P
I kind of like the alcoholic parent spin. It would definitely make for an original paper, and you might be able to touch on how you're ensuring you don't follow in those footsteps. You could always write about how you wound up choosing your current career path and what experiences led to you getting your BA/BS.
I can't think of anything I would write about, except maybe my personal distaste for the holidays. :/
As an alternative, and if it fits the assignment, what about writing your paper as an anthology of shorter stories rather than one longer narrative? If you seem to be unable to weave together anything intricate at the moment, why not attempt to use a style that better fits the work you're outputting?
I don't mind proofreading, so if you feel like sending your stuff my way, feel free to get in touch with me.
Good luck with your class! :)
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Permalink Reply by Nick Tabick on
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Twenty pages about writer's block? I like it...
...Err, where would you start when writing about something like that? Hmm...
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Permalink Reply by little erin on -
no not lame at all! i actually started writing about being stuck. too many ideas, two little ideas, etc. but then i realized i probably couldn't get it past one or two pages!
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Permalink Reply by JJ on -
Some of the best stories are told in non-sequential order...just ask Tarantino!
Why don't you start with what you wish your ending of life to be and then jump to the beginning.
Then jump from random story to random story, as long as the stories have something to do with the skills you posses/wish you possesed at the end of your life/beginning of story.
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Permalink Reply by Oats on -
This sounds like an interesting assignment. If it were me, I would write each new topic that comes to mind as a new document, switching back and forth between each of the documents and adding to them. Then identify the parallels - parallels from growing up with an alcoholic to how you've lived your life/crazy stories, integrate them in a meaningful way - either chronological looking back, or non-sequentially with a very solid maintained focus which you can use to sew together the parts. If there's a gap, think of a story that can fill that gap, write it down, stitch it together. Soon enough you'll have more than enough material for a 30-40 page paper (which would be a decent start for 20 resulting pages), then condense, re-evaluate, edit, submit! Voila.
:)
Makes it sound so easy right?
Best of Luck Erin.
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Permalink Reply by David Stehle on -
"originally, i was going to write about growing up with a parent who was an alcoholic and the lessons i learned from her drinking and sobriety. but i cant seem to find a focus. i just keep writing stories that don't fit together."
I think you already answered your own question - you should write about that topic! That's a great topic because it can open your writing up on so many different angles. You can express love, anger, sadness, frustration, lessons learned, the list goes on and on. That's a powerful topic, both honest and moving. And one in which I think your writing could speak volumes. Plus, it will hold your reader's attention.
Try brainstorming on a sheet of paper. You know how they teach you to draw that "focus cloud" and then lightning bolts coming out of it with details that you would like to include along the way. Or is that just something my high school comp teacher taught me?
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Permalink Reply by little erin on
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i know, i would like to continue to write on that topic...but i don't know what angle to express. this is pretty frusterating. doesn't help much that i need to have this complete by tuesday.
oh, and your high school comp. teacher probably taught you that, but it does work!
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Permalink Reply by little erin on
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OKAY SO LET ME CHANGE THIS QUESTION A BIT. IF YOU WERE TO READ A SHORT STORY MEMOIR WRITTEN BY A 20SOMETHING ABOUT HAVING A MOTHER WHO WAS AN ALCOHOLIC... WHAT WOULD WANT TO HEAR FROM THAT STORY? WHAT ASPECTS OF THE STORY WOULD INTEREST YOU? YOU DON'T NEED TO KNOW ANY OF MY HISTORY TO ANSWER THIS, YOU JUST NEED TO THINK ABOUT WHAT WOULD INTEREST YOU IN A STORY LIKE THIS.... ANY HELP WOULD BE HUGE! Y'ALL ARE THE BEST!
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Permalink Reply by Nick Tabick on
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(The caps lock is a little excessive...)
Are there any memorable incidents or encounters with your mother that happened while she was drunk, especially any involving you? Do these memories come to mind on a regular occasion, and how do they make you feel?
You could also go over how the experiences with your mother growing up have impacted your use of alcohol. (*nudge* *nudge*) Do you keep your use in check, or do you feel that you could be walking the same line?
(And on an unrelated note, if you end up writing about your writer's block instead, you could go over this thread and the suggestions other people had for you.)
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Permalink Reply by JJ on
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Since I've never experienced anything like that, the entire story would be interesting to me. But mostly, I wish to learn about what actions you have subconsciously & consciously taken to avoid becoming like your mother.
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Permalink Reply by Single Girl on -
I (unknowingly) dated a married man and ruined his marriage. I am pretty sure I would write about that.
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