Good news: The narrative style is working. It lets me channel the research such that Emmett is narrating his story (with a little bit of help from me in the background)!

When I started writing about 10 days ago, I used a standard, very structured, academic, follow-the-outline writing method, and frankly, it didn’t work. My words sounded like a stiff, not-fun-to-read history tome, and I KNOW Emmett would not have appreciated that.

Thank God, here’s our exit. Source: newsfeed.time.com

If Emmett weren’t already dead, he’d have died of boredom reading it.

That academic style was enthusiasm-sucking, and frankly, not my preferred way of writing, which is to jump right into a topic, usually somewhere in middle, and start writing.

I’ve been living with Emmett and his research for over a year now; I believe that’s what he’d want anyway, because now the story just feels natural in its telling. It is Emmett’s voice coming through, maybe not loud, but definitely clear.

===

The rest of my day will be dedicated to more writing, because tomorrow is set aside for my beloved MSU Bulldogs:

MSU vs Auburn on CBS
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Y0RO5mja5qc

So, for now, back to the manuscript.

More later!

Categories: Book Research Status

Tagged as: Hail State Mississippi State Bulldogs writing mojo

jsmith532

Professor,
Communication, Arts, and the Humanities
The University of Maryland Global Campus