Person on the Page

I’ve always thought that I would like to have a writing partner. I envision a co-writer, someone to share a writing project with me, someone with whom I could collaborate. Or perhaps just another writer with whom I could cultivate a relationship of mutual support and encouragement.

Most of us write alone. We may or may not receive encouragement from others. The decisions that we make about what we place on the page are solely our own. We may or may not receive feedback on our work from others as we write and revise. Our writing is largely a product of our own minds, working in solitude. 

Recently, I instructed my creative nonfiction writing students to bring the first draft of their writing assignment to class. During our class session, I instructed them to count the number of words in each of their sentences.  Then I asked them to think about what they discovered. Were most of their sentences similar in length?  Had they included very long meditative sentences or very short emphatic sentences in their draft? Had they varied the lengths of their sentences?

Then I instructed them to identify the kinds of sentences they had written. Were they mostly simple sentences, a subject and a predicate?  Did they write a series of compound sentences, in which they repeated the same conjunction from one sentence to the next? Or did they write a series of complex sentences, with introductory dependent clauses followed by a main clause? Had they devoted attention to constructing their sentences in various ways? 

After they examined their sentence lengths and types, I asked my students to consider the potential effect of their writing on readers.  If they wrote sentences of the same length over and over, or if their sentences were structured similarly throughout their draft, might their writing have a hypnotic effect on readers?  Might readers’ attention wander, lulled by the rhythm of all the sameness on the page?

One way that we can push ourselves to break out of any writing patterns that we may have developed, habits that may be making our work less appealing to readers than it could be, is to adopt a formula when we write. We can try writing according to a pre-determined set of rules that will automatically break the patterns we may have unconsciously developed. The formula serves as a writing partner of sorts, in that it influences what we must do as we write.  It prompts us to try something new. 

Here are some examples of formulas that will push you to be adventurous as you place your words on the page.

The Abecedarian Form

This formula requires that you use the alphabet as an organizational principle to structure your creative nonfiction nessay. Tammy Delatorre’s “Souvenirs: An Abecedarian Essay” is an example of the use of this technique.

Try writing an essay that consists of 26 sentences. The first words of each of the sentences must begin with successive letters of the alphabet, from A to Z. You might arrange the essay in paragraphs or present each sentence as its own paragraph, as long as the first word of each consecutive sentence in the series begins with the next letter of the alphabet. The sentences that begin with words starting with X and Z may be the most challenging, so it might be wise to plan ahead for those, making sure that your subject will allow you to choose relevant words that begin with X and Z.

Depending on how you arrange the sentences in your essay, readers may or may not notice the alphabetical design of the text. That’s not the point of using this formula. The object is to push yourself to construct sentences consciously that start with words that begin with the right letter.  Doing so may require you to construct sentence types that you wouldn’t normally write. The rule of using the alphabet to write the sentences of an essay serves as your writing partner.  The formula regulates, to some degree, the style and content of the work.  It contributes to your product.

The Sestina-Inspired Form

A centuries-old Italian poetic form, the sestina is a seven-stanza, 39-line poem that includes a pattern of end words in each stanza. For an example of a poetic sestina, see Camille Guthrie’s, “Beautiful Poetry.”

This form can be adapted to creative nonfiction to create a seven-paragraph essay that employs the end-word pattern. Follow the instructions below to experiment with the form:

Write a series of six paragraphs, each with six sentences, followed by a three-sentence concluding paragraph. Beginning with the last word in each of the six sentences in the first paragraph, create a pattern that repeats the end words in different orders in the subsequent paragraphs. The final three-sentence paragraph includes the original end words placed in the middle and at the end of each sentence. 

To create a sestina essay, write the first paragraph and label the six end words alphabetically:

A  B  C  D  E  F

Now write the remaining five six-sentence paragraphs, using the following pattern of end words.

Paragraph 2:  F  A  E  B  D  C

Paragraph 3:  C  F  D  A  B  E

Paragraph 4:  E  C  B  F  A  D

Paragraph 5:  D  E  A  C  F  B

Paragraph 6:  B  D  F  E  C  A

Finally, write a three-sentence paragraph in which the end words appear in the middle and ends of the sentences, using this pattern:

Sentence 1:  F, B

Sentence 2:  A, D

Sentence 3:  E, C

Like the abecedarian form, the sestina essay form acts as your writing partner, exerting some control over the sentences that you write and requiring you to construct your sentences in ways you might not otherwise employ. It also allows you to take advantage of the way that the meanings of the end words take on nuances as they appear with different word combinations in the series of sentences

Readers may notice the repetition of words in the essay without actually deciphering the pattern.  The repetition gives the sestina essay a poetic quality that readers may find appealing.  Readers may notice and enjoy the nuances of meaning that the end words acquire in each new context in the series of sentences.

Found Essay

Another poetic technique, the found poem can also be adapted for creative nonfiction. A found poem consists of a poet’s borrowings from an existing text or texts to create the poet’s own original message. Kenneth Goldsmith’s “Day” is an example of a found poem. 

Try designing a short essay that is composed partly of found elements. These may be excerpts from various existing texts, or they be song lyrics, or you might use bits of overheard conversations or dialogue from a film or TV show. Piece together these elements to create a new message that is entirely your own. Or synthesize some of these found elements into your own writing to create a message that could not be expressed adequately without them.

To a greater extent than the abecedarian and sestina forms, the found essay form provides you with one or more virtual writing partners whose message serves to influence and shape your own. If you synthesize the messages of others into your own, you may be challenged to construct your message in a way that differs from the structure of your usual writing. 

Using found elements in your writing is not considered plagiarism. Rather, the technique takes textual elements that have a meaning in one context and gives them new meaning in another.  Depending upon the found elements you choose, readers may recognize them and consider their original context as they discover a new meaning within the context of your message. 

If you feel that your writing is in a rut, or if you simply want to try something new, consider how you might use these formulas to break out of your old writing habits and discover new ways to express yourself and engage your readers.