Great Beginnings

How to Create a Good Thesis Statement

The thesis statement is the reason for the whole essay.  OK, now that’s additional pressure. Don’t sit in front of a blank screen and think over and over, thesis statement, what is my thesis statement? At this point what will happen is you’ll think, I know I’ll look up the definition of thesis statement online.  Of course you know perfectly well that will lead to another four hours wasted as you wander from finding the definition of thesis statement to looking up the most current discoveries involving corn syrup and chicken beaks and finally ending up on a site that diagrams how to build your own aluminum hat.

That’s why we recommend writing the thesis statement more towards the middle of your essay’s first draft.   It’s easier and you won’t have an excuse to distract yourself.

You need a good idea of course, to even start an essay. But you can get pretty far with I think I’ll write about the latest discoveries in building materials. After some research, some tentatively written paragraphs you will discover that radium, as a binding material is not very stable. No problem, write about that, your thesis is now, “My adventures in building materials, what works, what doesn’t.”  No research is lost, no effort is for naught.

Oh sure, applying for that venture capitalist funding is out, but the good news is that by working on the research first before writing or presenting a paper, you avoid irreparable damage to your reputation and career.  And go ahead, make the hat, just don’t wear it to the grocery store.

Smart Girls Avoid big generalizations: It didn’t work when you claimed that everyone was going to the beach house after the prom, and it won’t work now.

So begin with your idea, do the research, start the draft and very soon, not more than an hour or so into the project, your final thesis will emerge and you will feel very smart indeed.

Required – The Crappy First Draft

Many professors and writers I spoke with on this subject, and their numbers are too great to list here, all recommend the same thing: write a draft, then correct it, then turn it in. Did you see that middle action item?  Write a draft first. Know that it is a draft; feel that it is a draft.

Be the draft.

Draft means the work is not finished, it is not ready to turn in; it is crummy. A draft is fine piece of writing ready for its close up. Now you have something to correct, review and read out loud.   But it’s not ready for the field trip to the class or to your bosses IN box.  Those fellow students and co-workers who claim they dash off a paper and just turn in the first draft?  Those who must read those papers know those papers are only first drafts, and we know those papers to be crap. And we deal with the writers of that crap accordingly.

“I don’t fiddle or edit or change while I’m going through that first draft.” ~ Nora Roberts

Be a smart girl and edit that first draft at least once. Maybe twice. Three times if it’s a novel and you’d like to publish it.

Get comfortable with writing drafts, bad drafts, crappy drafts, and you discover how your writing will actually improve. Why?  Because when you give yourself permission to write a really crappy first draft, you simultaneously discard perfectionism and brain cramping.

All papers for school, business, grants, even the family Christmas newsletter should, at the very least, have two versions (and if you want to succeed in business without really trying, review emails at least once before sending). A paper should have three phases of evolution, draft, corrected, final.

A good example – more or less.

Let’s say you write up a paper extolling the virtues of a recently invented building material made from corn syrup, chicken beaks and left-over radium. And you want to write up a proposal for venture capital funding.

The first step is to research the benefits of corn syrup combined with radium.

Write down where you found the sources so you can return to the source and confirm that it really is legitimate and not written by a blogger who routinely wears an aluminum hat.

“It’s not plagiarism – I’m recycling words, as any good environmentally conscious writer would do.” ~ Uniek Swain

Once you’ve written down five or six of your sources and why the source supports your argument (or thesis) you have the outline for the proposal.

See how easy that was?  No really, it’s easy.

The Last Minute Essay

Even if you had the time to write a good essay, you still would have wasted it. The essay is due tomorrow morning. You’ve put it off as long as possible and now have what?  Seven hours (not counting the time to sleep) to write it and nothing to say. What do you do? First, stop wasting time reading this and start writing!  Oh, sorry.

Here’s what to do.

Begin by writing about how you are unable to write.

Here, let me help you:  This subject is so stupid I can’t even think of anything to say about it.

Write about how you really feel about the subject. Here’s what I think of this assignment, the teacher/boss is wacked and I am too smart to spend valuable time working on this essay/report when I could be watching dancing cats on You Tube.

Write, I hate this subject, and this is why.

Write, I can’t write about this subject and this is why.

Write.  Write as you would for a free write, just write and write.

Got it down?  Good. Now go away. 

Step away from the computer for about 20 minutes. Put down the white correcting fluid, you are not editing yet. Do not watch TV, do not watch You Tube. Don’t watch anything.  Rather, pet the dog, or wander around a bit. Vacuum. The carpet not the dog.  Open the refrigerator and look for additional inspiration. Inspiration rarely resides in the refrigerator but we all look there anyway.   But at least the view into the refrigerator is different than the blank computer screen. Plus, the chilly air will wake you up.

Now return to your writing and look at it again.

Deep in that diatribe, you will find something that will inform the paper. Some sentence, some germ of an idea will pop out and be your opening line, or the middle conceit or what you honestly did want to say. Now you have a starting point and you are warmed up.  Finish eating one of the pieces of pizza you found in the refrigerator that turned out to be pretty inspirational after all.  Now you can work.

One Damn Thing After Another

Life is just one damned thing after another.
Elbert Hubbard (1856 – 1915)

It’s not true that life is one damn thing after another; it is one damn thing over and over.
Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 – 1950)

I’ve also head that we date or marry the same man over and over, he just looks different each time.

What does your character do, or what do you do that ends up being the same thing over and over?  Is there a crisis point where that repetition finally breaks?  Write about that crisis point.  That crisis point is often the best way to begin a novel or essay.

Another place to find me

Hi,

I am very excited, I just took on a new gig with Women’s Radio.  In that space I post articles on writing as well as blog postings.  Visit me there for more on Don’t Write Like You Talk.

I will also continue to post information and updates here as well.  Come check out Women’s Radio

http://bit.ly/bI6c9e

I’ll Have the Usual

What is your “usual” drink?  Do you stick with white wine as a cocktail?  Do you have an elaborate coffee drink order that you can rattle off  in four seconds to the barista at Starbucks?

Are you a wine snob? Do you have expensive stem ware for each kind of wine? (not just white/red but the Pinot glass, the chardonnay glass, the port glass)  Do you grind your own espresso at home using only Fair Trade coffee beans grown by a women’s co-op in the song bird friendly mountains of Costa Rica?

Consider  James Bond, we all know how he likes his martini; shaken not stirred.  A drink or food preference in a fiction character can act as a bond or a running joke, or an anchor for the character throughout a series.
Write about your own drink obsessions, then see if the same doesn’t work for your character.

What happens if you can’t get your “usual” drink?  Does a dialogue ensue?  What does it say about a character when they are thwarted in the pursuit of a habit?

Review Link

Nina Amir’s blog, Reviewed the book and gave it a nice review!  I won’t paraphrase here, but rather, link you so you can explore what Nina is all about as well.

http://www.redroom.com/blog/ninaamir/for-grammatically-correct-writing-dont-write-you-speak

Love Gone Wrong

For fun – what inspires you to write?  Do you ever need a little prompting?   Every once in a while, I’ll post something here to inspire what I hope will be a writing frenzy.

If you like it, I send monthly prompts with a newsletter, just email me to sign up.

Love gone wrong.

The Cinderella story is popular.  But what if you missed the bullet?

Write about the one that got away, and the one you were relieved, in retrospect, that got away.  At my 20th HS renion, I finally (finally!) carried on a whole conversation with  a man I had a crush on for all four years of high school. During that conversation I discovered two things:  He loved camping, and was pompous.    Really, camping?  I get close to nature by staying at the Four Seasons.

Why? Asked my best friend as he grabbed me and whisked me away to the bar.  Why did you even speak to him?  Especially when your husband is so interesting.

I didn’t know, but I did know that I dodged a bullet.
Who was your bullet?  Are you thankful for a close call, or sorry for an opportunity missed?

Think About Writing

For fun – what inspires you to write?  Do you ever need a little prompting?   Every once in a while, I’ll post something here to inspire what I hope will be a writing frenzy.

If you like it, I send monthly prompts with a newsletter, just email me to sign up.

Scent is our most power memory trigger.   The first day our new gas stove was installed, the scent and sound (that clicking) of the stove starting up took me  immediately back to my grandmother’s kitchen in Sioux Falls. Oh sure, she was just boiling water, but the smell of gas connected with that kitchen of my childhood summers is forever linked.

What scents trigger your memory?  What scent can trigger the memory of your character?  A simple  scent –  can be a powerful moment or indicator of a character’s development or a window to a character’s past.

Are you close by?

Are you in the Sierra Foothills area for Easter?

Stop by for a quickie.
Free writing workshop at Tomes books,
in just one hour – write more better.
Come visit me, author and instructor Catharine Bramkamp

Sat. April 3 at 2:00PM  –
Tomes books, 671 Maltman Drive #3
Grass Valley CA

Catharine Bramkamp will run a short workshop so you can practice how to
not “write like you talk”.
You will learn to sound smarter and thinner.
She will also read from her new book  Don’t Write Like You Talk

For more information contact
Catharine Bramkamp
bramkamp@yahoo.com
707 478 1855