Unleash Your Creativity in Food Writing

transcript

INTENSIVE:Unleash Your Creativity

in Food Writing

Julie Ross GodarExecutive Editor, BlogHer@Honeybeast

Why to Try to Write More Creatively

Food blogs are not just about the lasagna!

The recipe space is very full

Readers are staying with blogs for stories and voice

You have to decide who you want to be and what kind of creativity you want

Working on Creativity Does Not Equal Writing For Your Blog

No edits, no audience: You are developing a skill.

Not final: Creativity is ONE tool among many.

You will need to make time to do this, since it’s not replacing your blog writing.

Working on Creativity Does Not Equal “Creative Writing”

JAMES BEARD AWARD NOMINEESIndividual Blog – 2014

Lisa Fain - Homesick TexanElissa Altman - Poor Man's FeastMichael Procopio - Food For The Thoughtless

To Be a Great Cook …

You Have to Eat

To Be a Great Writer …

You Have to Read

Stimulating Creativity Does Not Equal Writing AMAZING Stuff All

the TimeIt’s not about the pearls;It’s about the process.

Once you make it a habit, you might use maybe 25% of what you write this way.

(Maybe.)

How to Make It Happen

• Get over “being in the mood”• Consider it a writing fitness routine• Morning pages• Force a perspective shift

EXERCISES TO DEVELOP CREATIVE THINKING (AND GOOD

WRITING)

Don’t edit or write for an audience; just do!

Writing With Constraints

Resourceful puzzle-solving

Helps make writing better, more unique and more specific.

Try to evoke, rather than describe.

EXERCISE:

Using no adjectives, describe (evoke) this pineapple.

Use verbs, comparisons; tell how you feel about it.

HOMEWORK:

Describe your favorite food using all five senses. Use adjectives you’ve never used

for food before. Is it modest? Is it headstrong? Try out some active verbs. Use

simile and metaphor (comparisons).

Explore the Music of Language

Helps the reader hear the writing

Helps you make new language associations

Write dialogue: It helps you contrast your own voice against others’ and moves a

story forward by showing conflict.

EXERCISE:

Word association for sounds: in 60 seconds, write down words that sound

like PARSNIP.

HOMEWORK:

Write about a time you conflicted with someone over food, using dialogue.

- Try to capture the voice of the other person as simply as possible.

- Try to use dialogue to move the story along.

Emotion and Story

“Show, don’t tell”

Emotion is the key to storytelling: Humor, conflict, embarrassment, wonder.

Finding emotion in your stories helps you find your own voice and purpose, and possibly even drill down into a niche.

What makes you feel the most?

HOMEWORK:

Recall the last thing you cooked with pleasure. How does that food make you

feel? Why? Show your emotion by describing your reaction to it or how you interact with it specifically, rather than

saying “I love it.” Be specific.

Surprise and the Start of the Story

Grab the reader’s curiosity up front: “She WHAT? What happened next?”

Helps you look at the story with a different perspective and see what’s

important.

HOMEWORK:

Take a story you told on your blog. Rewrite it:

- Starting in the middle. - Starting with dialogue.

- Starting with an unusual situation, observation, or turn of phrase.

HOW CAN ALL OF THIS HELP YOUR BLOG?

Again: Maybe 25% will be usable.SAVE IT ALL.

Take Notes EVERYWHEREMakes you feel writerly and creative.

Captures sudden ideas, even if they suck. You never know.

Note overheard dialogue you like. You'll start getting an ear for different voices, find great turns of phrases to steal, and also develop a rhythm for

"beats" in dialogue, the natural pauses in a conversation and what their timing might mean,

which will start helping you craft your own dialogue.

Consider Notes and Exercises a “Swipe File”

Search it for ideas later on.

Find patterns in your writing, to develop and to break out of

Creativity Begets Creativity

In time, this muscle will grow stronger, and you will be able to use it more easily in your regular

writing – both for style, and to think of recipes and topics.

RESOURCES

Writing BooksWill Write for Food by Dianne Jacob (book, and at diannejacob.com)

On Writing by Stephen KingBird by Bird by Anne Lamott

Elements of Style by Strunk and White

Morning PagesThe Artist's Way by Julia Cameron (good on process, though a little woo-woo)

750Words.com – morning pages tracking site

Writing PromptsNaBloPoMo: www.blogher.com/nablopomo

The Daily Post: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/

Great WritingBest Food Writing anthologies

BlogHer Voices of the Year: http://www.blogher.com/announcing-2014-blogher-voices-photos-yearRoots: Where Food Comes From And Where It’s Going

Grab This Presentation

BlogHer.com/conferences“Hot from the Conference” liveblogs

Or Julie.Godar@BlogHer.com