As a practice, I usually sit down to write out of discipline and not because I have something to say…so I just grab a moment from my notes and walk through the five senses for a specific memory frame of an event. A poetry professor taught me this. I have figured out what I’m trying to say this way, over and over. Great share, Jonathan.
So simple, so powerful! Just really talked with me today as well. It is amazing how you can organise life in a normal way but then something happens and you are back to square one "exercise more" , thanks for those thoughts! And great reminder.
Dude yes. Right now I'm reading Cannery Row and The Wind in The Willows somewhat simultaneously and I'm struck by the visceral details in their prose. It's so good! Obviously I'm not Steinbeck but I've been feeling inspired to be more specific when writing about... things (joke!).
And fwiw in joke writing a specific punchline is always better than a generic one. And you can keep a punchline going by adding modifiers and "expanding the picture".
For example I have a joke where the punchline is "...so that when my wife get home from work, I might get a blowjob. IF nothing bad happened at work that day (generic - it's ok, gets them laughing) at her job as a social worker (specifically hard job makes it funnier)... for Oakland County (oh no!)... Child protective services...".
I'm able to take a premise and escalate it from kinda funny to very funny just by adding layers of specificity. It's currently my closer!
Ooo, love the comedy application! The “expanding the picture” concept makes so much sense. And yeah, this does seem like a very meta recommendation - you see just how true it is that you need specifics when you consider all the specific scenarios where specifics are valuable.
As a practice, I usually sit down to write out of discipline and not because I have something to say…so I just grab a moment from my notes and walk through the five senses for a specific memory frame of an event. A poetry professor taught me this. I have figured out what I’m trying to say this way, over and over. Great share, Jonathan.
That’s amazing. Love the practicality of expanding a moment, one sense at a time. Thank you for that suggestion… and thank your for reading!
So simple, so powerful! Just really talked with me today as well. It is amazing how you can organise life in a normal way but then something happens and you are back to square one "exercise more" , thanks for those thoughts! And great reminder.
Thank you, Eiva! I’m glad it resonated.
Dude yes. Right now I'm reading Cannery Row and The Wind in The Willows somewhat simultaneously and I'm struck by the visceral details in their prose. It's so good! Obviously I'm not Steinbeck but I've been feeling inspired to be more specific when writing about... things (joke!).
And fwiw in joke writing a specific punchline is always better than a generic one. And you can keep a punchline going by adding modifiers and "expanding the picture".
For example I have a joke where the punchline is "...so that when my wife get home from work, I might get a blowjob. IF nothing bad happened at work that day (generic - it's ok, gets them laughing) at her job as a social worker (specifically hard job makes it funnier)... for Oakland County (oh no!)... Child protective services...".
I'm able to take a premise and escalate it from kinda funny to very funny just by adding layers of specificity. It's currently my closer!
Ooo, love the comedy application! The “expanding the picture” concept makes so much sense. And yeah, this does seem like a very meta recommendation - you see just how true it is that you need specifics when you consider all the specific scenarios where specifics are valuable.
Is this the OG essay on the topic?
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/NgtYDP3ZtLJaM248W/sotw-be-specific